(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) A student strike at New York’s New School—an “elite” prestige institution—has morphed from a strike for higher faculty pay into demands that all students get A’s in their classes, Fox News reported.
The strike has continued despite the fact that the faculty pay matter has now been resolved.
Over the weekend, the protesting students issued a letter of demands, calling for every student to get an “A” in every class.
“We demand that every student receives a final course grade of A as well as the removal of I/Z grades for the Fall 2022 semester,” the students wrote.
“Attendance shall have no bearing on course grade.”
An “I” grade means “incomplete”, and a “Z” means “unofficial withdrawal”.
The students also demanded that the university pay for their time off to exercise as political activists.
“We demand all students be refunded for the loss of instructional time due to the strike,” they wrote. “This tuition refund will be proportional to the duration of the semester during which the strike is in effect.”
The students also voted to dismantle the university hierarchy, calling for the resignation of university leadership as well as a more “democratic” governance style.
“We demand the resignations of President Dwight McBride, Provost Renee T. White, and the Vice President of Business and Operations Tokumbo Shobowale,” they wrote.
The school is instead to be governed by the “TNS community”, which presumably means the student body.
“We demand the Board of Trustees be disbanded and a participatory process, as defined by the non-administrative TNS community, be initiated for the administration of the School, including the budget,” they said. “Members of this deliberative body can be reviewed and/or recalled by the non-administrative TNS community at any time.”
Amy Malsin, the school’s assistant vice president of communications and public affairs, said that the university supports the students as they attempt to dismantle the university.
“The university supports peaceful free expression by our students, and we are listening closely to all of our students’ concerns.”
