President-Elect Van Zandt: The New School Needs a Library

UPDATE: PETITION DEMANDS GRANTED!

As of 10/24/2010, this petition has led to...

1.)  The full disclosure of the library budget: http://nsfreepress.com/story/consortium-cost-complicates-librarys-future

2.) Expansion of New School student's rights to use Bobst.  NYU can no longer kick you out because the library is "too crowded," heckle you because of your New School ID, or deny you remote access to online resources.

3.)  Extended hours at New School's Fifth Avenue Study Center.

4.) Guaranteed, prolonged meetings between President Van Zandt and petition endorsers.  (This will allow us to actively increase New School's library independence through discussion and action.  Want to come to a presidential meeting?  Send an administrator of "New School Students Building University Libraries" a Facebook message!)

5.)  Compromise talks regarding the NYU consortium contract.  (It has been agreed that the contract will not be ended IMMEDIATELY, but a gradual, multi-year "phasing out" plan is being discussed.  Want to come to an administrator-student meeting?  Again, shoot an administrator of "New School Students Building University Libraries" a Facebook message!  All are encouraged to attend.)

THANK YOU, AND KEEP SIGNING TO SUPPORT OUR LIBRARY!

 

Dear President-Elect Van Zandt,

 

Most petitions are long, elaborate, and formal.  This one is not.  Formalities have dominated student-administration discourse at The New School for too long, and we, the undersigned, feel it is best to be blunt:

Our university needs a functioning library.

With you as our new president, The New School's activist community is buzzing with excitement over the potential for progress.  We firmly believe that your outstanding experience at Northwestern will guide the university to continued prosperity.  But it is critical that The New School - which is legendary for its experimental teaching, civic engagement, and gifted alumni - have a library that honors its collegiate legacy.

We do not want to walk to Bobst.  It is unacceptable that a university as prestigious as The New School needs to pay NYU a hefty price every year to "borrow" a library.  When a student activist asked Ed Scarcelle just how much we pay NYU to use Bobst, he responded: "The university does not disclose how much it pays for contractual agreements."

 With all due respect, this is our university, and our tuition money, and we have a right to see these "contractual agreements."  If the fee were reasonable, the administration would not cover it up.  Each September, our families' backs break under the weight of a renewed $50,000 tuition, and the administration cannot "disclose" its budget?  This is corruption.  This is red tape.  This is totally unacceptable at The New School.

We believe that you will change this.  We, the undersigned, request that 1.), a new space for Fogelman and Gimbel be acquired, that this space be furnished with ample study room, and that it be adequately stocked to meet the rigor of our university's undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate curricula.  We also request that 2.), the student group New School Students Building University Libraries, which operates on Facebook, be granted ample storage space for their book donations.  Their work greatly cuts financial and environmental costs.  Funds for these two initiatives can be amassed through the board of trustees, alumni appeals, and other fundraising events %u2013 but the administrative tasks must be done.

Students do not pay $50,000 a year to go to a college that red-tapes us out of a library.  This holds especially true for the class of 2013, who are currently threatened with the prospect of never seeing the opening of a renovated 65 Fifth Avenue.

We are placing our faith in you, the incoming president of The New School, to actively pursue this initiative while engaging students.  We hope that you will provide badly-needed resources required for students to excel.

 

Sincerely,

the undersigned 

 

 

 

Dear President-Elect Van Zandt,

 

Most petitions are long, elaborate, and formal.  This one is not.  Formalities have dominated student-administration discourse at The New School for too long, and we, the undersigned, feel it is best to be blunt:

Our university needs a functioning library.

With you as our new president, The New School's activist community is buzzing with excitement over the potential for progress.  We firmly believe that your outstanding experience at Northwestern will guide the university to continued prosperity.  But it is critical that The New School - which is legendary for its experimental teaching, civic engagement, and gifted alumni - have a library that honors its collegiate legacy.

We do not want to walk to Bobst.  It is unacceptable that a university as prestigious as The New School needs to pay NYU a hefty price every year to "borrow" a library.  When a student activist asked Ed Scarcelle just how much we pay NYU to use Bobst, he responded: "The university does not disclose how much it pays for contractual agreements."

 With all due respect, this is our university, and our tuition money, and we have a right to see these "contractual agreements."  If the fee were reasonable, the administration would not cover it up.  Each September, our families' backs break under the weight of a renewed $50,000 tuition, and the administration cannot "disclose" its budget?  This is corruption.  This is red tape.  This is totally unacceptable at The New School.

We believe that you will change this.  We, the undersigned, request that 1.), a new space for Fogelman and Gimbel be acquired, that this space be furnished with ample study room, and that it be adequately stocked to meet the rigor of our university's undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate curricula.  We also request that 2.), the student group New School Students Building University Libraries, which operates on Facebook, be granted ample storage space for their book donations.  Their work greatly cuts financial and environmental costs.  Funds for these two initiatives can be amassed through the board of trustees, alumni appeals, and other fundraising events - but the administrative tasks must be done.

Students do not pay $50,000 a year to go to a college that red-tapes us out of a library.  This holds especially true for the class of 2013, who are currently threatened with the prospect of never seeing the opening of a renovated 65 Fifth Avenue.

We are placing our faith in you, the incoming president of The New School, to actively pursue this initiative while engaging students.  We hope that you will provide badly-needed resources required for students to excel.

 

Sincerely,

the undersigned 

 

 

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