Faculty members at The New School in Manhattan this week set up what may be the first professor-led pro-Palestinian encampment on a college campus since the Israel-Hamas war has prompted waves of protests at schools across the country.
The New School’s urban campus in Greenwich Village lacks the open spaces and green lawns of other universities that have been the site of protest encampments, so the professors set up their camp inside the lobby of a university building on Fifth Avenue.
On Thursday afternoon, eight tents were visible on the same spot where some of the school’s students had previously set up a lobby encampment for several days. The university called in the police last week to remove it and arrest the student protesters.
One green-and-white tent had “faculty against genocide” written in red on it. A number of posters were affixed to the building’s windows, including one that read “All Eyes on Rafah,” an area of Gaza where many have taken refuge and where Israel has made incursions and is threatening a ground invasion.
“We call on faculty across all universities to escalate and take risk in solidarity with the student movement, their demands, and the people of Palestine,” the protesting faculty wrote in a social media post. A spokesman for the group declined to comment further on Thursday.
