The building formerly known as the triangle shirtwaist factory is now owned by NYU, much like the rest of manhattan between 14th and chambers. The factory has been renamed "The Brown Building." The Triangle Shirtwaist Company's abrogation of workers' rights cost hundreds of lives. Today the owner of the Brown building is dishonoring the memories of the dead, hiding behind the Brown decision to

attack the rights of thousands of other workers. What's at stake is collective power over the conditions of production. I don't mean to ignore the very real fissures between 1911 garment sweatshop workers and 2006 graduate teachers and researchers, but it seems to me that NYU is here embodying all the contradictions and connections of New York's informatized economy and deindustrialized politics of space.