Protests at the New School turned chaotic today, The New York Times reported on its City Room blog, and student demonstrators claimed in updates on a pair of Web sites to have occupied at least two university buildings. The protesters, who had barricaded themselves in a dining hall on Wednesday night, threatened to remain on the campus for a second night, despite being told to vacate the buildings by 11 p.m.

The New York university has been roiled by controversy surrounding its president, Bob Kerrey, who was the subject of a faculty no-confidence vote last week after the provost abruptly departed and Mr. Kerrey announced that he would fill that office on a temporary basis.

The New School students are demanding a stronger voice in university decisions and full disclosure of its investments. They also want Mr. Kerrey and two other senior executives removed from office. One of the student protest sites linked to a letter Mr. Kerrey had apparently drafted earlier in the day stating that the protesters constituted a security threat. The student site dismissed the letter as “full of outright lies and distortions” and posted videos of the protests, encouraging the “public to watch and decide exactly who is using force against whom.” —Aisha Labi