New School unions continue fight against cuts and layoffs
Entering the Spring semester at The New School, the New Students Workers Union (NewSWU) and the Academic Students Worker Union (SENS-UAW) held their first meeting of the spring semester on Friday, Feb. 27, at The New School’s Albert and Vera Academic Center.
Students, staff, and faculty were invited to learn about the newly formed unions and how to fight for better conditions and a more democratic university. Over 40% of full-time faculty received “voluntary separation” buyouts in December 2025 due to falling international enrollment.
The unions announced their second “Stop the Cuts” rally on March 4 at at the New School University Center. The rally will be similar to one held in December 2025. Full-time and part-time faculty, students, and staff will hand-deliver a collective letter against unilateral restrictions to New School President Joel Tower. The letter has over 1600 signatures.
“On March 4th, we plan to hand them a petition with our different demands regarding the restructuring process,” said Daniella Twiss, a second-year PhD student in Economics, a teaching fellow, and part of the organizing union committee. “At the last rally, we were organized specifically around halting the cuts: cuts of faculty, of student health resources, of retirement contributions for faculty and staff,” as well as the closing or restructuring of options and majors for undergraduate and graduate programs, Twiss added.
According to the SENS-UAW Instagram, “restructuring” refers to the recent initiative being carried out by President Joel Towers and Provost Richard Kessler. The initiative affects current students and faculty by cancellation of classes university-wide, pausing PhD admissions, and elimination of part-time faculty and student workers, while overworking current un-unionized full-time faculty.
Any questions about the unions, the upcoming rally, and meetings can be sent to the union’s email, [email protected].
City council sign proposal
Intro 310 would require the Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish a program to ensure each sign in Chinatown has the street name in Chinese and English. DOT would conduct a study to determine the Chinatown borders and then add the Chinese name of the street to each English-only sign within the borders.
This bill would also require DOT to replace any damaged bilingual street name sign in the City with a new bilingual sign, and enable a Council Member or the Public Advocate to request DOT add a street name in English and another language. In addition, this bill would require DOT to create and maintain a page on its website regarding bilingual street name signs, which would provide an online portal for Council Members and the Public Advocate to enter sign requests, a searchable map, and a searchable database.
The bill comes as Chinatown’s historic bilingual signs have increasingly been replaced with English-only signs, despite their longstanding role in helping residents and tourists navigate the neighborhood and reflecting its cultural identity. Intro 310 would establish a framework for bilingual signage in Chinatown, require accompanying studies of Chinatown’s boundaries, and allow Council Members citywide to request bilingual street signs in their own districts. It would also direct DOT to create a citywide map of bilingual street signs.
Westbeth dance performance
On March 22 at 4 pm Beth Soll & Company is presenting a showing of three premieres and one repertory dance. The performances will take place at the Martha Graham Studio Theater, 55 Bethune St. on the 11th floor.
The dances in this performance will focus on the inevitable changes that happen as time passes, and how, for example, professional dancers dance differently as they move past their student years. Before each dance, choreographer Beth Soll will provide information about her choreographic process. Afterwards audience comments will be welcomed.
Dancers: Abby Dias, Caroline Frank, Emma Greenspan, Lindsey Miller, and Beth Soll. New music by Eka Chabashvili and Kathryn Woodard.
International Women’s Day
On March 8 from noon to 3 pm, the Hungarian House of New York at 213 E 82nd St. will celebrate International Women’s Day: Salon sYmphoNY:
NYC-based women and non-binary artists, from across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe, will pay homage to women artists from their homelands by performing pieces of their work.
The first year of collaborative “Art Peace” project, launched at sYmphoNY ‘25 to sustain a positive message amid the swirl of chaos we live in will be presented. Artist Connie Perry will return with Dear Cards for healing coloring actions. There will be an immigrants’ advice table.
Fab 5 Freddy at Cooper Union
When Blondie declared 45 years ago that “Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody’s fly” in their hit song “Rapture,” they introduced the world to the pioneering cultural icon Fred Brathwaite.Join Fab 5 Freddy for a special Cooper Union Gardiner Foundation Great Hall Forum event celebrating the release of his first memoir, Everybody’s Fly: A Life of Art, Music, and Changing the Culture.
Brathwaite lives in Harlem, where he continues to make visual art and produce and direct projects for film and television.
The event will be in The Great Hall, in the Foundation Building, 7 East 7th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 7 – 8:30 pm. Admission is free but Eventbrite registration is required.
For registration and more information go online to http://bit.ly/4u4RWQG
