Public Advocate Jumaane Williams visited on Thursday the faculty-led New School pro-Palestine encampment as it entered its second day.
Professors erected tents inside the lobby of 66 West 12th St. on May 8, making it the last active university encampment and the first to be organized by a school staff. The faculty say they pitched the tents following weeks of student unrest that was quashed by the NYPD and other campuses — and are picking up where the young people left off, by calling for divestment from Israel.
Williams spent the morning of May 9 visiting the tent town erected feet from the New School’s security desk. Here he said he endeavored to learn more about the demands. The public advocate put a lot of blame on Mayor Eric Adams’ handling of the situation.
“We have a mayor that hasn’t mentioned the word Gaza, as I mentioned, the word Palestine, hasn’t mentioned the word ceasefire,” Williams said after visiting the encampment. “People are not feeling heard.”
Williams noted that the encampment was made up of a diverse group, including Jewish students. Despite an NYPD presence outside of the New School, as of Thursday morning, Williams says the group had not yet been threatened with removal.
However, he hopes the encampment will avoid the kind of removal Columbia University saw on April 30, when the NYPD moved in to dissolve the encampment and a student siege of Hamilton Hall. Williams still believes both the April 30 and April 18 dispersal of encampments at Columbia were wrong decisions that only spread the unrest.
“What I think needs to happen is folks to just recognize and stop ignoring what they’re trying to say that what’s happening in Gaza in Palestine is wrong,” Williams said. “For some reason, they’re making people feel like you can’t say that and denounce what happened on Oct. 7.”
Despite Williams stating that the protest at the New School is well-meaning, some students told amNewYork Metro that the increased activity has disrupted their studies.
“It does impact me getting around and getting inside,” said Jaden, a student. “I don’t know when it is going to end or how long it is going to go in for.”
amNewYork Metro contacted the Mayor’s office for comment and is awaiting a response.
