Ukraine: Expertise, Responses, and Resources from The New School

The New School
5 min readMar 10, 2022

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Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, and war broke out across the country, the New School community has been connecting, reflecting, and expressing solidarity through scholarship, dialogue, creative expression, and public engagement. Below is a roundup of this work as well as a list of resources for students, faculty, and staff.

Message of Solidarity and Support from President McBride

In a recent message of solidarity and support, New School President Dr. Dwight A. McBride shared his own heartbreak for what is happening in Ukraine, his commitment to our community members struggling during this time, and a list of resources for students, faculty, and staff.

The accounts of human suffering, displacement, and insecurity are harrowing. Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine and to the people of Russia who are protesting their government’s actions at enormous personal risk.”

–Dr. Dwight A. McBride, President of The New School

A Concert for Ukraine

The Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street
Friday, March 11, 2022, from 7:30–9pm
Join us for an evening of music featuring duo Laurie Anderson (vocals) and John Zorn (saxophone), Phillip Glass (piano), and more. This benefit concert is hosted with the goal of raising funds for the people of Ukraine, and all attendees encouraged to donate to one of the following causes:

Teach-In on Ukraine for Artists, Activists, and Arts Workers

Virtual | Saturday, Mar 12, 2022 from 11:00–1:00pm ET
What does solidarity look like, with the Ukrainian people and oppressed people internationally? Join the Vera List Center for a free teach-in that asks the questions: How did we get here? What are anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-settler colonial pathways forward? What does solidarity look like, with Ukraine and oppressed people internationally? And what might the role of artists and art workers be in this struggle?

The Politics of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Hosted by the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs, this event called together some of the university’s top thought leaders in international affairs to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The event featured New School faculty members Nina Khrushcheva (Professor, International Affairs), Jessica Pisano (Associate Professor, Politics), Everita Silina (Assistant Professor, International Affairs), and Peter J. Hoffman (Associate Professor and Director, Graduate Programs in International Affairs).

Nina Khrushcheva on National News

Nina Khrushcheva, Professor of International Affairs
As a Russia expert and great-granddaughter of the Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev, Khrushcheva has been vocal about the invasion across national news outlets where she’s shared her thoughts, expertise, and insight with Vanity Fair, the New York Times, WBUR radio, CNBC, and MSNBC. For more from Khrushcheva you can follow her on Twitter: @ninakhrushcheva

NY1: Ukrainian-born New Yorker reacts to the Russian invasion of his native country

Featuring Ihor Andriichuk, NSSR PhD Politics student
Andriichuk talks to Spectrum News NY1 about his family who are still in Ukraine and shares his thoughts on the war.

Politico: Why Didn’t Putin Invade Under Trump? It Wasn’t Personal.

By Jessica Pisano, Associate Professor of Politics
Why is Putin invading Ukraine now and not during the Trump administration? In her latest Op-Ed for Politico, Pisano argues that it has less to do with Trump’s friendliness and more to do with his policies.

Jacobin: Russia’s Feminists Are in the Streets Protesting Putin’s War

By Anastasiia Kalk, NSSR PhD Politics student
In her latest with Jacobin, New School student Anastasiia Kalk shares that in today’s Russia, feminists form one of the most active social movements defying state repression. Now they’re uniting to resist Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

Critical Theory in Context Podcast: The Nascent Anti-War Movement in Russia

Featuring Grigory Yudin, NSSR Politics PhD candidate
In late February, Yudin was beaten and detained by police at an anti-war protest in Moscow. In this podcast, he discussed the reactions of Russians to the war in Ukraine, possible fractures in the Russian elite, prospects for resistance, & responses of the Western left.

Yudin also spoke to Meduza about his experience. You can read that interview here.

The New Republic: The American Pundits Who Can’t Resist “Westspalining” Ukraine

By Jan Smoleński, Politics PhD candidate, and Jan Dutkiewicz, PhD Politics 2018
In their latest essay for The New Republic, Smoleński and Dutkiewicz explain how foreign policy figures are treating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine like a game of Risk.

Past and Present Podcast: The Russia-Ukraine War

Featuring Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Associate Professor of History, Eugene Lang College
In this episode, hosts Natalia, Niki, and Neil discuss the American response to the escalating war between Russia and Ukraine.

BBC: Family of seven refugees now live in volunteer’s flat in Poland

Featuring Zuzanna Krzątała, MA Liberal Studies 2019
Krzątała spoke to BBC about her experience sharing her home with a family fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Public Seminar

NSSR PhD Politics candidate Mariia Shynkarenko has published OpEds with Public Seminar over the past few weeks. Read her work:

Anastasia Shteinert, MA student in Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism at NSSR, also shared an OpEd with Public Seminar. Read her work: The Russian Resistance to Putin Has Just Begun.

In addition to Shynkarenko and Shteinert’s work, Public Seminar has been sharing Ukrainian writers’ thoughts and insights on the war, read more here.

Democracy Seminar: What explains Bolsonaro’s position on Russia’s aggression to Ukraine?

By Felippe Ramos, NSSR PhD Politics student
In his latest for Democracy Seminar, Ramos looks at Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro and his stance of “fierce neutrality amidst the most serious threat to world peace and security in the twenty-first century.”

The Democracy Seminar is based out of NSSR’s Transregional Center for Democratic Studies (TCDS) and brings together political actors and thinkers who support democracy against the looming global threats of authoritarianism. In addition to Ramos’ writing, their recent forum explores and condemns Russia’s war on Ukraine.

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