The New School University Student Senate announced yesterday that they will lift their temporary funding halt due to the administration processing nearly 90% of their fall 2024 budget and will officially support the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility’s (ACIR) proposal for divestment from military industry companies.
The decisions were announced in a university-wide email communication, and according to the student senate, were intended to reflect their commitment to representing students’ values and responsibly managing their funding duties.
The decision to support the ACIR proposal came after a near-unanimous vote from 23 senators on Sept. 27, in favor of endorsing the proposal for divestment, with the senate encouraging students to show support by signing a petition. Another unanimous vote on Oct. 11 decided that the USS would reinstate all external funding and end the temporary halt on funding requests that was enacted in August.
The temporary halt on funding was originally put into place to pressure the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees to push for divestment. According to the student senate, the Investment Committee’s vote to divest has been delayed, despite being anticipated to take place in late September.
It was previously reported that responsibility of the funds would be temporarily transferred to Student Success. Since the temporary transfer, Student Success has allocated nearly $90,000 out of the student senate’s $100,000 external funding budget, according to the USS fall 2024 budget sheet.
Groups that received funding after the temporary transfer included The New School Women’s and Non-binary Club Basketball, Self Defense Club, and the Badminton Club, as well as multiple other student organizations which the USS stated, “do not fully align with [their] funding criteria this year.”
The student senate expressed that although they “recognize that athletics are meaningful to student life and wellness” at The New School, their main focus is funding student-run groups that do not have alternative routes of funding outside of relying on the senate.
USS also stated this year’s new funding structure does not allow students to receive individual support through emergency, material, and creative funds, saying they had no control over this administrative decision.
The student senate said they “are concerned about the loss of this direct lifeline, which allowed students to access financial support without navigating multiple administrative processes,” and that they are currently looking into alternative options to support students.
The USS concluded their email saying, “We have communicated our frustration to the Administration regarding their rapid approval of specific funding requests and are actively pursuing an accountability process to recover those funds.” They also said that they will continue to keep The New School community updated regarding alternative options for providing individual student support and invited community members to share their feedback as they reopen funding for the semester.
The New School Free Press has reached out to the university for a statement regarding the Student Success division’s allocation of USS funds but are still awaiting their response. This story will be updated once a statement has been received.