Protestors Demand Administration To Address Labor Abuses

By Ryan McNamara

On Monday, about 25 students climbed the stairs to the 12th floor of Bobst to demand a meeting with President John Sexton, Vice Chancellor Al Bloom, and Chair of the Board of Trustees Martin Lipton. The group of students is concerned about what they see as the administration’s lack of meaningful response to the labor abuses during the construction of NYU Abu Dhabi’s new campus on Saadiyat Island.

Kristina Bogos, a senior in CAS, spoke with the officer guarding the administration offices. She asked on behalf of the group that President Sexton or an assistant of his come out to schedule a meeting. When the group was refused, they began a sit-in on the 11th floor, chanting loudly.

Many students held signs reading statements like, “Compensate Deported Workers” and, “NYU: You Are Responsible.”

“You realize Sexton isn’t here, right?” said one administrator to the group.

Bogos replied, demanding that an assistant or administrator from the Office of the President “schedule an hour-long meeting with us and President Sexton, Vice Chancellor Bloom, and Chairman Lipton between April 12th and April 24th.”

Another administrator spoke, saying, “I think it’s best if you just send [John Sexton] an email directly.”

“We’ve been doing that for three years and he’s never responded,” replied Gallatin junior Robert Ascherman.

Students then read from a prepared statement, accusing the administration of a lackluster response to the allegations, and failing to take meaningful steps to prevent future abuse.

Every 10 minutes or so, a guard came and asked them to quiet down. “People are studying in the library,” the officer said. “Don’t you care about the students?” A member of the group responded, “If the administration want us to be quiet, than they should schedule us a meeting.”

“What do we want? A meeting! When do we want it? Now!” chanted the students.

The guard replied, “They’re not coming down. You can be here all day.”

After 45 minutes, the students delivered a petition with a little over 600 signatures and left without a meeting being planned. Representatives from the office repeatedly claimed that no one capable of scheduling a meeting for the students was present.

The students requested a meeting to be scheduled 5pm Friday the 10th.

The administration has yet to acknowledge that 200 to 300 workers were detained and deported without trial for striking, as The New York Times, Human Rights Watch and other groups have reported. They have, however, offered an apology to any worker “who was not treated in line with the standards we set and whose circumstances went undetected and unremedied.”

[Photos by Claire Heaps]