Chris G. Crews (born 1977), political scientist and activist, graduated from Ohio University with a BA in specialized studies (2000), an MA in political science (2007), and a Graduate Certificate in women’s studies (2007). He earned his second MA (2010) and PhD (2019) in political science from The New School. The title of his dissertation is “Social Movements and Earthbound People: Towards a New Politics of the Earth in the Anthropocene.”

Coming from a political activist background at Ohio University, Crews got involved in student activism at The New School in his first year of studies, in 2008. Closely collaborating with the Radical Student Union—a Eugene Lang College-based grassroots organization—he was an organizer and active participant in the 30-hour student occupation of the university’s 65 Fifth Avenue building on December 18, 2008, which started after the December 10 vote of no-confidence in President Bob Kerrey by the senior faculty of the university. As the occupation, which attracted several hundred students both from The New School and other universities, began, “The New School in Exile” was formed, its name invoking the 1933 founding of the University in Exile at The New School (which became the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science and was later renamed the New School for Social Research). Crews became an active participant and media liaison of the group.

The members of the New School in Exile demanded the resignation of New School president Bob Kerrey, executive vice-president Jim Murtha, and board of trustee member Robert Millard. Bob Kerrey, a former governor of Nebraska, former United States senator, and a Vietnam War veteran, became the president of the school in 2001, and his presidency marked large-scale, top-down structural reforms at The New School, characterized by a new emphasis on financial investment that, according to Kerrey's critics, paid little regard to the traditional involvement of faculty and student voices. Kerry also came under scrutiny for his involvement in a controversial raid during the Vietnam War that resulted in the murder of women and children.

Crews's experience with the 2008 occupation prompted him to become more involved in the institutional politics of the university. He successfully ran to become a member of the University Student Senate (USS) in 2009, and served as a member of the USS until 2012, including a brief period as vice-president, when he was instrumental in the restructuring of the senate, shifting it from a president/vice president leadership model to co-chairs of three. Crews was also a student co-chair of the Social Justice Committee, comprised of student, faculty and administrator members, in the early 2010s.

The Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR) was founded at The New School in 2009 as a direct result of students’ demand for greater transparency regarding the university’s endowment and investments. Crews became one of the first student members of the ACIR, serving in this position until 2014. ACIR’s role was to develop strategies and present recommendations for “incorporating consideration of social, environmental, and corporate governance issues into the management of The New School's investments.” The faculty, staff, student and trustee members of the committee, nominated by the respective university senates, directly advised the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees.

In the fall of 2011, as the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement was gaining momentum in New York City, Crews joined the occupiers of the New School study space at 90 Fifth Avenue and organized teach-ins, sit-ins, meetings and negotiations with administrators. He followed the occupation through until it was dispersed due to internal tensions and lack of support from the student body.

Around 2011, Crews joined the Nomadic University, formed to carry on the spirit of the OWS movement. The group, consisting of New School faculty and students together with participants from other schools, began to organize meetings and teach-ins around the city, working on the idea of a radical, nomadic, and free university that anyone could attend, anywhere, and that would organize education around creative, critical and radical ideas.

Although Crews was not among the main organizers of the unionization efforts of student workers at The New School that began in 2014, he actively participated in the meetings, rallies, occupations and strike that led to the official vote for and formation of SENS-UAW (Student Employees of The New School-United Auto Workers) in 2017, and the successful negotiations with the university administration for the labor contract in 2018.

While teaching in several different higher education institutions in the greater New York Metro area (Seton Hall, Fordham University), Crews also taught a class on Indigenous Environmental Politics at The New School, and was a research fellow of the India China Institute between 2012 and 2018. In 2011, he was awarded the Chiune Sugihara PhD Fellowship, and in 2013 the Eberstadt Dissertation Fellowship of The New School for Social Research. In 2014, he received the Social Justice Campus Champion Award.

After graduating from The New School in 2019, Crews went on to teach as a visiting professor and lecturer at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, California State University Chico, and, as of 2022, at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

Bibliography

Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility of The New School. “Annual Reports.” Accessed January 24, 2022. https://sites.google.com/newschool.edu/acir/acir/resources-and-links?authuser=0

Denison University. “CV - Chris G. Crews.” Accessed January 24, 2022. https://denison.edu/sites/default/files/contacts/files/2021/cv_chriscrews_aug2021.pdf

Crews, Chris G. “Activism at The New School Oral History Program.” Interview by Anna Robinson-Sweet. The New School Archives and Special Collections, March 5, 2020. Audio, 01:08:51. https://digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS070104_Crews_20200305

Gardiner, Aidan. “Student Senate Investigated by Administration.” New School Free Press, December 7, 2009. https://nsfp.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/student-senate-investigated-by-administration/

The New School in Exile Blog. “The Brian Lehrer Show / December 19, 2008 / Follow Up Friday: New School Occupation.” Accessed January 24, 2022. https://newschoolinexileblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/brian-lehrer-show-december-19-2008.html

The New School in Exile Blog. “The New School in Exile.” Accessed January 24, 2022. http://newschoolinexileblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/new-school-in-exile.html

Schwartz, Mattathias. “Pre-Occupied The origins and future of Occupy Wall Street.” New Yorker, November 20, 2011. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/11/28/pre-occupied.

Van Zandt, David E. email communication by The New School President to the school, November 22, 2011.

Vistica, Gregory L. “One Awful Night in Thanh Phong.” New York Times, April 25, 2001. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/25/magazine/one-awful-night-in-thanh-phong.html.