After a long winter’s absence, Occupy Wall Street came back to town for May Day and, along with the usual paraphernalia of progressive public protest, brought with it a new offering: college. Intrigued by the prospect of returning to school, but initially aiming only casually to observe, I sauntered onto the campus in midtown Manhattan’s Madison Square Park to take a closer look.
Ten minutes after it was supposed to have opened, the “Free University,” as it had been christened, was still in the process of setting up. It was a forlorn sight. Lonely red balloons flew at various points around the water fountains, and bored policemen sat on benches looking bemused and coordinating their patrols with the parks department. It was raining. In its infancy, the scene resembled a ramshackle village fête in a sleepy English village, of the sort that Bertie Wooster might have popped into in hopes of finding a Guess Your Weight competition and some free samples of strawberry jam.
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