NYU SDS holds teach-in on the board of trustees
New York, NY – Students attended a teach-in about the NYU board of trustees, December 3, led by members of the Students for a Democratic Society at NYU. The teach-in talked about what the board of trustees were, their interests as a body, specific members of the board of trustees and the necessity to organize and take action.
A member of SDS spoke on what the board of trustees are and the role that they play. They spoke on how the body is an unelected board of 60 people, composed of several billionaires and multi-millionaires, who are unaccountable to the rest of the university. They dictate university policy and control university finances not only in education but also for the university’s vast real estate empire.
Tianyi Wang spoke on specific members of the board of trustees with incredibly controversial histories. She brought up Michael Steinhardt, who the NYU Steinhardt school is named after, and how he stole $70 million in artifacts from several countries throughout the world. He also helped to co-found Birthright Israel, a program that provides free trips to Israel for Jewish adults. She also brought up Laurence D. Fink, CEO of Blackrock, which has investments in several fossil fuel companies devastating the environment and indigenous people’s rights. In addition, she mentioned Ken Langone and Maria Bartiromo, people on the board who currently support Trump policies and platform his views.
Ebtesham Ahmed spoke afterwards on how well organized and powerful the board of trustees are. Board members maintain investments in weapons companies, buy up more and more land in the city displacing working-class New Yorkers, suppress student free speech and bow down to Trump’s attacks on higher education. Ahmed stated, “We may not win everything that we fight for, but everything that we have won was fought for.”
Members in the audience asked questions of the presenters and provided their own experiences and thoughts on the board of trustees. Afterwards, attendees were encouraged to join SDS and join the student movement on campus.