There were two arrests, according to the AP, after NYPD cops blocked the group from reaching Kerrey's home. That comes on the heels of yesterday's arrests of 22 students after the cops rather brutally shut down a brief occupation of a New School building and then totally got caught lying about it.

The cops initially insisted that pepper spray wasn't used in yesterday morning's operation, telling the New York Time's City Blog yesterday that it was "untrue that pepper spray or mace was used in effectuating the arrests." When that was challenged, a spokesman later clarified that he meant no pepper spray was used to arrest people inside the building. But after being shown video footage of actual pepper spray actually being sprayed into the occupied building by actual cops, an NYPD spokesman offered this gem of a quote to the Times this morning: "Now, once I see it, I know what is going on."

At around 11, riot cops stormed the occupied building and started pulling out the protesters and arresting them. It looks like this occupation—the most reasonable one so far—is now over. Note to protesters: an end like this is far, far better for your cause than, say, the pitiful fizzle that happened at NYU. New School prez Bob Kerrey just sent out this email to the student body:

Subject: Announce from President Kerrey Concerning today's Break In at 65 5th Avenue

April 10, 2009

A Note to the Community

On December 15, 2008, an unofficial student organization calling themselves the New School in Exile occupied the cafeteria at 65 Fifth Avenue, barricaded themselves into the room, and issued a set of demands. Early on the morning of December 16, a group of students and non-students broke through a fire exit on 14th street and entered the building.

Although the occupants had violated a number of important security rules, the university made the judgment they were neither an operational or a security risk. Accordingly, we did not file a complaint with the New York Police Department to have the occupants removed. Instead we entered into a process of negotiations with our students and reached agreement on a list of demands including amnesty for all involved early on the morning of December 17. The students left peacefully at that time.

In January, this same unofficial student organization issued a public threat to forcefully shut down the university on April 1 unless the President and Chief Operating Officer were removed. Following this they were caught stealing an entire edition of the student newspaper on account of a story they regarded as unfavorable to them; and subsequently they vandalized the university's presidential residence.

During this time the university has allowed and accommodated every peaceful protest, teach-in, and demonstration. We have enforced our rules governing such events in such a way as to permit protests, so long as they don't endanger the safety of other members of the community or destruction of property.

This morning's illegal occupation of 65 Fifth Avenue was joined by a number of New School in Exile students as well as individuals without any affiliation to The New School. Their claim that this was a simple political protest is false. Their entry into this building was forced, they removed a man who was cleaning the building, took his phone, injured a security officer, and did physical damage to the building.

Accordingly, in this case the university asked the New York Police Department to remove and arrest those who were trespassing on our property. We suspended, pending administrative review, all New School students who were a part of this action.

The New School prides itself on civic engagement. We have been and will continue to be a refuge for open and critical political debate. Students and faculty who choose to peacefully and passionately oppose the policies of the university will have their rights to do so protected as strongly as we protect our right to safely and securely operate our university.

President Bob Kerrey

[Pic: yee.doris' Flickr. If you have video of the alleged police pepper spray rampage, send it here]

They want hated New School prez Bob Kerrey and his top crony to resign. They told him they'd do this if he didn't resign by April 1, and he didn't so here they are. Might have been even worse if they punked out. But at least the one kid who got interviewed on NY1 this morning sounded rather reasonable, so we'll give them some time to prove themselves. Send breaking revolutionary news here.

The Observer reports that tuition for the ELITE 45-student freshman class scheduled to start in September will range from $35k for the rich to a mere $1k for the token poor. Besides the Vanity Fair boss and the manic actor, the school is also backed by despised New School president Bob Kerrey! They'll start later, so the kids can sleep in (nice!). And most importantly, the kids can start enjoying the full benefit of string-pulling by their well connected overlords right from day one:

In an English class, students might read a recent piece from The New Yorker about a Shakespeare play studied in class and then meet the play’s director to further explore his or her ideas, work, and life. A chapter from a textbook might begin a study of world history, but students might also meet with a curator at the Museum of the City of New York to understand how artifacts complement the story.

It's the normal nepotism and bald connection-mongering of the New York media and entertainment worlds writ small! No price is too high to pay to secure your child's seat at the table! Their tai chi and yoga teams will be the envy of downtown! They "hire superior teachers"—far superior to the teachers at your kid's school! Because let's face it, if you don't know or haven't slept with one of these people you're not getting in. It's a good lesson for the real world, all around. [NYO]

Here is the most outrageous instance of security guard brutality shown on the protesters' website:

"How dare you? Shame! Shame!" Is it me, or do these kids sound like Puritans who just found a witch? Sure, the guy is acting like a prick. But the response... eh. I don't see any blood. I didn't even see any punches. Come now.

What did the occupiers win as their greatest victory? Amnesty for themselves! That was their number one demand. What else did they win? Promises from Bob Kerrey—who is not resigning!—to really urge other people to consider possibly doing something about the things the kids are interested in.

Now for some true journalism: I happened to be walking down 14th street at 2:30 a.m. last night and stumbled on the scene of the occupation! I heard the chanting. I asked one girl what was going on. "I have no idea," she said. So I went to one of the police officers and asked if kids were still in the building. "I really don't know," he shrugged. "I'm just standing out here."

Many more cops were standing out there, at the door, on the street, and around the corner, looking bored. Students were chanting. I took some cell phone pictures (which won't work now, unfortunately, because they are Ansel Adams-like) and left about ten minutes later, with a newfound sympathy for cops, and their boring jobs, and the people they must deal with.

But! The students, as patently ridiculous as they are, were a bit inspiring too. The siege ended not too long after I left. But there were 50 or more kids out there, dancing foolishly, chanting foolishly, and hollering foolish slogans, which ultimately came to naught, just because they believed they could accomplish something. Which is more than you can say for most of us.

Now everybody go get laid!

"For safety and security reasons, I have decided to cancel The New
School's University Student Senate Forum scheduled for tonight, December
18 at 8:00 p.m.

Bob Kerrey
President"

You're a war hero, Kerrey! Man up! Ominously, the student occupiers of the faculty building report:

Real Time: 4:57
Things are heating up again! But we will continue to hold our position! We will NOT give in now.

I smell tear gas!

At 9:45, the activist blogger-in-chief reported that "The Administration has capitulated to our demands. The Police have backed off and Seurity has begin to let people back into the building." They've followed up with this, laying out their reasonable demands:

Open Letter/Communique
From within the occupied New School in Exile, 65 5th Avenue, New York City:

We have been in occupation of the Graduate Faculty building of the New School University since 8pm Wednesday the 17th of December. More than 100 of us have taken over a student building, including our only library, which the administration has marked for demolition without creating any equivalent new space on campus. We have opened the building as a student-run autonomous space, in protest against the administration of President Bob Kerrey who recently received a vote of no confidence from the majority of faculty in this school. Details of our multiple grievances against Kerrey, his vice-President Jim Murtha, and treasurer of the board of trustees Robert Millard are laid out in our first communiqué. This morning we have an update on our situation. At around noon today New School security moved to block our access to the fire exits, preventing us from allowing in our fellow students of the Inter-University Consortium to whom they had refused access to the building in a violation of the Consortium agreement. When they failed to remove us, the NYPD were sent in to violently evict us from the fire exit and one of our fellow students was arrested. The police entered the building at the same time as President Kerrey arrived and offered to speak with us, we responded by refusing to negotiate with him and repeating our demand that he immediately resign. He left and took his police with him. At the moment our security has returned and our numbers have doubled, but we expect future incursions on our space and encourage all who support us to come to the Graduate Building at 65 5th Avenue and 14th street.

Signed,
The New School in Exile

Damn Kerrey and bourgeoisie "negotiations"! I trust you are all rushing to join them in their just and lawful occupation. Please send videos, slouches. [New School In Exile, Previously]