Just thought I would post about this, as I couldn't find another diary on it. A group of students (with support from some faculty, from what I hear) have occupied a building at the New School, a college in New York City.
You can find a brief article in the NYT here, and photos from the occupation here. There is a Web site set up here.
Here is the communique that the group has released:
We have just occupied New School University.
We liberate this space for ourselves, and all those who want to join
us, for our general autonomous use. We take the university in explicit
solidarity with those occupying the universities and streets in
Greece, Italy, France and Spain.
This occupation begins as a response to specific conditions at the New
School, the corporatization of the university and the impoverishment
of education in general. However, it is not just this university but
also New York City that is in crisis: in the next several months,
thousands of us will be losing our jobs, while housing remains
unaffordable and unavailable to many and the cost of living
skyrockets.
So we stress that the general nature of these intolerable conditions
exists across the spectrum of capitalist existence, in our
universities and our cities, in all of our social relations. For this
reason, what begins tonight at the New School cannot, and should not,
be contained here.
Thus: with this occupation, we inaugurate a wave of occupations in New
York City and the United States, a coming wave of occupations,
blockades, and strikes in this time of crisis.
Be assured, this is only the beginning,
With solidarity and love from New York to Greece,
To Italy, France and Spain,
To the coming insurrection.
-The occupied New School
Not copyright text, so OK to post in full.
The issues are broadly around University governance and financial dealing, although students also wish to lend their support to striking students in Greece, Italy and France, and understand quite well how the neoliberal university fits within neoliberal society in general.