FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!!!CONTACT:  Emily Stainkamp (336-207-8318, emilystainkamp@gmail.com), Fahrah Khimji (214-277-3879, fmk205@gmail.com)

TAKE BACK NYU! MAKES GOOD ON ITS NAME, OCCUPIES KIMMEL CENTERTonight at approximately 10:00pm about seventy students blockaded the entrances to the dining hall on the third floor of the Kimmel Center for University Life. They are refusing to leave until their demands, including budget and endowment disclosure, tuition stabilization, and a number of others, are met.

Take Back NYU!, a coalition of two dozen student groups at NYU demanding transparency, democracy and accountability spearheaded the action, which continues the wave of university occupations worldwide. Take Back NYU!'s twelve demands, available in full on their website (www.takebacknyu.com), include the coalition's three broadest demands—public disclosure of the operating budget and endowment; the inclusion of students on the school's Board of Trustees. Students also demand that NYU provide aid to Gaza and investigate the school's investments in Israel and all war/genocide profiteers. The remaining demands deal with student empowerment (through the establishment of a student-run socially responsible finance committee), tuition reform, and fair labor and union rights for all university employees.

"We've reached a point in the campaign at which attempting to work within the system is futile; occupation was the logical next step for us," says Paige Campbell, a first-year at Tisch.Take Back NYU! encourages activists citywide to join them inside, protest on the outside, and post their demands everywhere. At least a hundred activists have gathered on the street in solidarity with the group in the hours following the occupation. Better yet, empower yourself by occupying your own school!

  "We have received statements of solidarity from student groups across New York state and New Jersey, as well as the University of Glasgow, University of Tennessee, UC Irvine and the International Workers of the World. Likewise, we support existing campaigns for social justice and student empowerment the world over," reports Ellie Kahn, Gallatin senior.

A rally in support of the occupation is scheduled for 12:15 Thursday afternoon outside the Kimmel Center at 60 East Washington Square Park.  Negotiations with the administration are expected to begin by the end of Thursday.

"Show me what democracy looks like!" screamed students as they barricaded entrances with tables and chairs. "This is what democracy looks like!" And it is.