Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at The New School organized a walkout last Thursday in solidarity with Palestinian victims of the ongoing violence in Gaza. The New School’s SJP was joined by multiple SJP chapters from across New York and New Jersey, including Fashion Institute of Technology, School of Visual Arts, and City University of New York, in a show of unity among student activists.
“Something we wanted to do from the very beginning is cross-collaborate across schools,” said Jonas, the President of SJP at FIT, who chose to identify themselves only by their first name, due to safety concerns. “This is not individual small groups of students. This is a united movement that’s going to keep going until victory,” they said.
The walkout began at 2 p.m. outside the University Center and continued with a march to Interim President Donna Shalala’s townhouse on 11th Street, where SJP’s demands were read aloud to the group. From there, the marchers continued on to Washington Square Park, where they joined others participating in a student demonstration organized by New York City’s chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement. The action concluded with a march to Bryant Park on 42nd Street.
The students’ most recent walkout included many of their former demands to the university to disclose and divest from corporations that aid and benefit from the ongoing conflict, refuse to allow NYPD on campus, allow students to demonstrate without institutional retaliation, and drop the student conduct charges TNS SJP is facing as a result of their previous action during the Fall 2023 semester.
The specific charges against the group were not disclosed during the protest, but if TNS SJP members are found to violate The New School’s Student Code of Conduct, this could result in being “subject to dissolution of the organization and revocation of their charter to operate,” according to the TNS Student Code of Conduct handbook.
At the President’s townhouse, the group was met with movers who appeared to be packing up the contents of the house. The walkout occurred just one day before the Free Press announced that the townhouse was being prepared for sale. Nevertheless, the students chanted, “Donna, Donna, come outside, we won’t pay for genocide!” while movers hurriedly shut the doors to the Shalala’s townhome, as at least a dozen NYPD officers who had followed the march from the University Center, hovered around the crowd in cars, on bikes, and on foot.
TNS SJP was supported by students, faculty, and New School Alumni. “We demand The New School meet the updated demands of [SJP]. Until these demands are met, we will withhold donations, not partner with the university, and will not attend events on campus unless they directly support SJP and other struggles for liberation,” said a representative from New School Alumni for Justice in Palestine, who identified herself as Laura.
Throughout the march and the protest, TNS SJP and other SJP organizers emphasized the importance of group safety, advising students to pay attention to “march marshalls,” who were identified by pale yellow patches that read “Long Live the Intifada.” “Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe!” the leaders chanted before directing the group from the president’s townhouse to Washington Square Park.
At the park, marchers were met by larger swarms of NYPD officers, including NYPD Community Affairs and NYPD Legal, and counter-protesters in support of Israel. The students gathered on the left side of Washington Square Park, joining around 300 others, where leaders, including those from the Palestinian Youth Movement, Resist4Return, and other SJP chapters made speeches and led chants.
“[Institutions] are waging a war on our collective imagination. They are waging a war on memory,” currently suspended NYU professor Amin Husain said. Husain was placed on leave following statements he made during a TNS SJP teach-in he volunteered in early December. He stood in solidarity with multiple professors from other New York universities to support the collective rally.
Husain was followed by multiple other activists, students, and faculty speakers, who were all supported by chants of solidarity. “We’re not going to give up,” said Jonas, “We are going to stay united, we’re going to stay learning from each other, and we are going to stay growing.”