Since last Wednesday, students at Cooper Union, a private free university in New York City, have staged a occupation of the president’s office in protest of the announcement that the school will begin charging tuition. As the occupation now goes into its second week, let me recall my eight-hour visit during its first full day: Thursday, May 9.

Will the U.S. join the rest of the world and guarantee workers paid sick leave?

A bill in Congress is stuck, but momentum is building. Four cities and Connecticut have passed sick leave provisions since 2007, with New York City passing a bill May 8. Active campaigns by unions and worker groups exist in 20 other jurisdictions, including Massachusetts and Illinois.

Anger at the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the harassment and violence it inflicts on communities of color reached a new stage in March when police shot and killed 16-year-old Kimani Gray. The police murder led to consecutive nights of protest in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East Flatbush. Yet politicians like billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city's media continued to take the NYPD side against the victims of police brutality.

Barack Obama is promising to do something he had the last four years to do, and never did.

Last week, Obama announced that he would close the U.S. prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. "It's not sustainable," Obama said at a White House news conference. "The notion that we're going to keep 100 individuals in no man's land in perpetuity" makes no sense, he added. "All of us should reflect on why exactly are we doing this?"