New School parents flooded to a private Facebook group to express concerns over the recent demonstrations and arrests on campus. 

Early Friday morning, 45 students from the Gaza Solidarity Encampment were arrested on criminal trespassing charges. At around 9:30 a.m., the university announced that all academic buildings would be closed and classes were moved online for the day. While the students arrested have now been released, they are facing temporary suspensions from the university. At 9:16 a.m., parents were sent an email from Interim President Donna Shalala’s office describing the police action on campus.

The Facebook group titled, “New School Parents/Guardians/Emancipated Students,” was started in 2020, and the New School’s parent community has turned to the platform to express frustrations with the administration in the past. 

More recently, members of the group have been sharing articles and information regarding the demonstrations on campus and the university’s reaction to the encampment. Some in the group have praised students for demonstrating, while others shared concerns about disruptions to their child’s education. Many argued over the administration’s actions and whether information about heightened police presence on campus was appropriately communicated to parents.  

One group member, David Good, is a parent of a sophomore at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts. “I think [the university] has communicated in the typical New School way, which is not a whole lot,” he said. 

Despite noting that the university handled the demonstration “fairly well,” Good added that he didn’t have much information to work with. 

“Where I would plead ignorance is, I don’t know how [the encampment] was cleared. I don’t know when it was cleared, I don’t know the method. So I can’t say I’m comfortable or uncomfortable with that,” he said.

Good said he wasn’t sure if having officers on campus made him feel like his child was being protected. “Police presence is a double-edged sword, I’m not sure protected would be the word I’d use,” he said. 

Officials from the New York Police Department (NYPD) were first seen on campus at a demonstration that took place during the fall 2023 semester. Since the encampment was cleared this morning, multiple officers have been stationed outside the entrances of the University Center and the Parsons School of Design building on 2 W. 13th St, with about 40 officers on the scene at 6:00 p.m. during the peak of the ongoing demonstrations. An officer on the scene told the New School Free Press that the NYPD wouldn’t leave the school “unattended.”

Kim Marcelle, the parent of a New School student at Lang, said that she hadn’t received any emails from the university concerning NYPD presence on campus or the arrests.

Marcell was following the news on social media and referred to the TNS Parents Facebook group for information. Based on what she was able to gather online, Marcell said she was “really disappointed and sad,” but is in “absolute support” of the student organizers. “I think it’s amazing and I couldn’t be prouder of these students,” Marcell said. 

Another parent in the group shared Marcell’s sentiment of pride. Her child has been active at a number of the demonstrations. The New School Free Press granted her anonymity due to concerns over her child’s safety.

In a written statement, the mother said, “I am angry with the school and proud of the kids putting their academic careers and bodies on the line for their beliefs.”

“My child chose the New School because she believed that it was a place that celebrated social justice and encouraged activism — a mantra they state over and over again,” she said.

However, not all parents were as enthusiastic about the demonstrations. Molly Maher, the parent of a sophomore BAFA student at Parsons and Lang shared her frustrations with the New School Free Press. 

“As a parent, I am feeling frustrated at this point just because there are finals going on and the buildings were closed today. The things that needed to be accessible were not and that was a frustrating experience,” she said. 

If given the choice, Maher said she would “prefer for there not to be police presence,” but “when it gets to a situation that is this agitated and potentially could bring in nefarious individuals from the outside, then I would prefer that there be some sort of security,” she said.

Maher said that she’s “not happy with what’s happening with Israel and how things are playing out there.” While she believes in the right to protest, she is unsure if protesting at school “is the best use of everybody’s time and money.”

For her, in the face of all the ongoing discussions between parents, the Facebook group has turned into a “cringy” platform. “There’s some self-righteousness, as if if we aren’t supporting this then somehow we’re for genocide,” she said.