The Occupiers are getting feisty. Last night an email was sent out from their alias (which shows up as “Lee Bollinger”) to the offices of Dean Hinkson, President Spar, President Bollinger, and various contacts from Jezebel, Gawker, Gothamist, and the New York Times, demanding an explanation from the administration for the increased police presence during last week’s General Assembly. Occupy CU’s attempt to organize a meeting at Barnard was thwarted by dispersal from Public Safety, while the NYPD kept a close eye on the entrances to campus:

We demand that Barnard administrators promptly and directly respond to their serious acts of repression with an explanation. We will accept a response in writing or in person at our next Barnard General Assembly, Wednesday, November 30th, 12:00pm at our originally intended location, outside Barnard Hall. We hope that this statement and administrators’ subsequent response can begin a productive dialogue and framework under which we can discuss and express our concerns freely and be heard, not repressed.Our movement here on campus, in our community, and in our city is growing. The issues we face in this University are not independent from those of the movement at large. This is the time for meaningful change, and Occupy Columbia University welcomes all who wish to participate. An injury to one is an injury to all.

While Occupy Columbia have been making a lot of noise, it’s not clear that their numbers are growing significantly. There were only around 30 45 people at the Barnard GA, despite the overreactive security measures. Spec published an interesting piece last week on divided perspectives among students on OWS, which explores why some people care more than others. Whether the executive offices that OCU is targeting will care remains to be seen. We’ve contacted some members of the administration for comment. You can read the full email below.

On Tuesday, November 22nd, Occupy Columbia University was to hold a General Assembly in front of Barnard Hall at 8pm. The focus of the GA was to be Barnard-specific issues, and, as always, this GA was open to all members of the university community including students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the the community. However, students were met with a public safety and NYPD lockdown of the Barnard Campus called for by the administration. We relocated to the Diana Center, where we were met with further police screening and questioning.

For twenty minutes, public safety officers and administrators, including Dean Avis Hinkson, questioned students, “Why are you here? What are you doing?” before retreating behind a wall to “listen in” on the General Assembly, despite invitations to participate in the discussions. Photos can be found in Bwog’s coverage of the event.

Tuesday’s events, while not physically violent like the recent repression of students’ rights and freedoms at UC-Davis and CUNY Baruch, demonstrated that Barnard administrators too desire to silence voices critical of their policies and practices. This kind of message is utterly opposed to the type of open, caring community that Barnard claims to promote. Our discussions, however, cannot and will not cease.

We will shed light on the violations of student rights by individually and collectively reexamining the framework under which we attempt to grow and learn. We will call out the individuals who neglect their responsibilities to the students of Barnard College and Columbia University.  Their ruthless disregard for student opposition to policy changes and lack of transparency regarding actions that affect the daily lives of students cannot be tolerated.

Claiming that the lockdown and NYPD presence were necessary for students’ safety does not convince us. NYPD on campus does not make us feel safe. You will find that during recent acts of student activism, the only source of physical violence was the police, and it was committed against students. We must also remember that state violence and repression go on every day in the prison-industrial complex, in stop-and-frisking, and in racial profiling that occurs even on our own campuses. We stand in solidarity with all our student sisters and brothers and everyone who is targeted through systematic repression.

We demand that Barnard administrators promptly and directly respond to their serious acts of repression with an explanation. We will accept a response in writing or in person at our next Barnard General Assembly, Wednesday, November 30th, 12:00pm at our originally intended location, outside Barnard Hall. We hope that this statement and administrators’ subsequent response can begin a productive dialogue and framework under which we can discuss and express our concerns freely and be heard, not repressed.

Our movement here on campus, in our community, and in our city is growing. The issues we face in this University are not independent from those of the movement at large. This is the time for meaningful change, and Occupy Columbia University welcomes all who wish to participate. An injury to one is an injury to all.