There is a suspicious package outside Cooper Union where NY AG debate is being held. Debate hall not being evacuated. I was ushered off block right before a live shot at 7:15. Will apprise. @NY1 pic.twitter.com/WZuHoK4nAG
— Josh Robin (@joshrobin) September 6, 2018
Under a plan approved by the board of trustees late Wednesday, Cooper Union would begin increasing tuition scholarships in two years, and aim to provide full tuition in 10. The additional outlay would be offset by unspecified cuts in expenses, more fund-raising and “other revenue increases necessary,” the college said in a statement.
“If we exceed the financial targets in any given year, we may be able to accelerate the plan; if we don’t meet the targets for any number of reasons, such as an economic downturn, we have built-in guardrails that allow us to slow the plan if necessary,” said Laura Sparks, Cooper Union’s president, who took office in January 2017.
Over two weeks the Cooper Union team, using power tools and socket wrenches, assembled 400 pieces into both sculptures. They used a wooden yoke to carry each of the 98 spikes onto the roof of each structure, which is 12 feet off the ground. The spikes — which weight about 100 pounds a piece —then project another 12 feet into the air. The framing of both sculptures is made of cedar timber, while the spikes are made out of sheet metal welded together.
To install the outdoor sculptures ... Cooper Union assembled a team of current students and alumni. Hejduk was a big believer in the “social contract” of architecture, so the school wanted to assemble his work in that spirit.
Over two weeks the Cooper Union team, using power tools and socket wrenches, assembled 400 pieces into both sculptures. They used a wooden yoke to carry each of the 98 spikes onto the roof of each structure, which is 12 feet off the ground. The spikes — which weight about 100 pounds a piece —then project another 12 feet into the air. The framing of both sculptures is made of cedar timber, while the spikes are made out of sheet metal welded together.
The exhibition Hélène Binet – John Hejduk Works will present seven of Hejduk’s built works as photographed by Hélène Binet, a renowned London-based photographer who was Hejduk’s photographer of record. Binet’s photographs of both permanent and temporary structures will be presented, including the Berlin Tower, Wall House 2, The Collapse of Time, Security and Object/Subject.
The exhibition will also include a chronology of the numerous realizations of Hejduk’s design for the Jan Palach Memorial, which was permanently installed in Prague in 2016. Comprised of two structures — House of the Suicide and House of the Mother of the Suicide — this work honors the Czech activist and dissident Jan Palach, whose self-immolation in protest of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 served as a galvanizing force against the communist government then in power.
Peter Cooper Block Party
Free & Open to the Public
Saturday, Sept. 3
Noon-5 pm
7 East 7th St., Outside Cooper Union's Foundation Building
Development, construction, demolition, re-development, re-construction, re-demolition, un-re-development, re-un-construction, de-un-remolition...Amidst the dust, it's hard to know: what's going on here?
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About Peter Cooper Block Party 2016
The Block Party is a relatively new tradition of coming together to celebrate, reconnect, and showcase the ongoing work of the Cooper community.
The theme of this year's Peter Cooper Block Party is a provocation:
“Under Construction:"
And a question:
"What’s Going On Here?”
2016 marks the completion of a decade’s worth of private and public redevelopments — architectural, financial, and cultural — at and around Cooper and the Astor Place area. This year’s celebration bears witness to the unfolding impact of these changes.
This year's programming also takes on an additional charge:
Reflecting while in motion.
Let's! Yet! Both!
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Programming
This family-friendly event will feature many alumni, student, and faculty projects, live music and performances, informational materials about the state of the Cooper Union and the re-development of Astor Place, a bouncy house and family craft table, and light refreshments.
Cooper Union’s finances are dreadful, and the fact that it charges tuition is a dereliction of everything Peter Cooper stood for. George Campbell, Jamshed Bharucha, and Mark Epstein should be shamed for what they did. It will take something approaching a miracle, or at least a couple of hundred million dollars, to get Cooper Union back to where it was.
Nonstop Cooper is a community residency at 31 Third Avenue. It will serve as a workspace for community engagement and a platform for public outreach.
Opening on September 7th, Nonstop will feature a wide variety of programming, and drop-in hours from noon to midnight. Community members are welcome to host and attend happenings.
New York's attorney general has reached an agreement that would end a suit against Cooper Union and create an independent monitor into the financial management of the engineering and architecture school.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is expected to announce the agreement Wednesday.
He says he hopes it could eventually lead to the school restoring its tradition of free tuition.
“I have seen drug deals, public urination, defecation, masturbation in broad daylight in the Taras Shevchenko alley,” a Cooper Union faculty member told The Post.
Nine of the drifters were splayed out on bits of cardboard Thursday morning, and began hurling insults, water and bits of cookie when approached by a reporter.
“I was going to chase him down and beat the s–t out of him,” one thin, bedraggled man spat in anger.
“If I ever see you or that photographer again, I’ll kick the s–t out of you,” he threatened.
[EVG file photo]The probe includes a look at several decisions by Cooper Union’s past and present trustees, according to people familiar with the investigation. Among them: a $175 million loan, using the Chrysler building as collateral, to help finance more than $100 million in new Greenwich Village facilities, the people said.
Mr. Schneiderman’s office is also reviewing the terms of the school’s lease agreement at the Midtown skyscraper with real-estate company Tishman Speyer, a bonus that the board approved for former President George Campbell Jr. and potential inaccuracies about the board’s financial decisions on the school’s official website, the people said.
Cooper Union will officially start charging its undergraduates tuition, after the Board of Trustees rejected a 54-page report compiled by a Working Group of alumni, staff, students and trustees that outlined a plan to keep the school free.
The minute that Cooper starts charging tuition, it loses its soul. It becomes a second-choice college in the most expensive part of the most expensive city in the world, which will never regain the kind of love and loyalty among its students and teachers that produced the summer’s sit-ins and the fall’s Working Group Report.
The Student Residence offers apartment-style housing for 178 students. Units range in size to accommodate from three to five people, with the majority of the apartments being two bedroom units shared by four people. Each unit contains a bathroom, common living area, and kitchenette. The building amenities include a study room, laundry room, the Residence Hall Office, and the Menschel Room.
Free Cooper Union has received a collection of anonymously leaked confidential documents pertaining to The Cooper Union’s Board of Trustees and the Administration of Jamshed Bharucha. For the next two weeks we will be releasing one document per day to our press contacts.
Bharucha and the college’s trustees have claimed to run a transparent and accountable administration, yet the community has unilaterally been barred from participation in decision-making and access to financial and organizational information. On Nov. 11, the Board prematurely cancelled the election of a student representative because the process adopted by students was too democratic. Transparency without accountability means nothing, and Cooper’s Board has demonstrated that they are accountable to no one.
In addition to documents queued for release in the next two weeks, Free Cooper Union is calling for additional leaks pertaining to the mismanagement perpetrated by Cooper Union’s past and present Board and Administration. Information may be emailed to cooperunionsos@gmail.com or sent to our voicemail at 917-746-5634.
In celebration of open flows of information, on Nov. 24 from 6 to 9 pm, students will be performing a second reading of the Board transcript leaked this summer by The Village Voice at e-flux, 311 East Broadway.
Today’s document is a guide of “Helpful Information for Administrative Assistants” to former president George Campbell. The guide is highly indicative of the oppressive corporate culture and the luxurious wasteland of hierarchy and bureaucracy that have come to characterize Cooper Union’s administration:
“Office Cautions:”
“The blinds in the Reception Area must be drawn to the same level at all times...This is the President’s pet peeve.”
“Unless you like being admonished by the President about using his office as a highway, it’s advised that you refrain from [walking through] while he’s around.”
“When ordering lunch, ask to have all salad ingredients brought separately (GC is allergic to cucumbers, Lawrence and Ronni do not eat onions). That also allows you to construct the salad yourself and make it look nicer.”
“He likes weak coffee, black. Place coffee thermos and mug to the left of his computer.”
“Hotels: Dr. Campbell likes to stay at nice hotels when on College business: Ritz Carleton is his favorite, especially while in LA (he always stays at the Ritz Marina Del Rey when in the LA area — make sure to book the executive level suite, ocean view room).”
“Cars: Dr. Campbell prefers to drive a luxury SUV during the winter and a luxury Cadillac in the summer/spring or in warm climates. If a luxury car isn’t available, order a convertible. He likes to have a car on almost all of his trips as he prefers to drive to different venues.”
