‘Urination, defecation, and masturbation’ outside NYC college

By Kevin Fasick and Beckie Strum

July 30, 2015 | 11:55pm

The scene outside a Cooper Union building in the East Village. Photo: Natan Dvir

The glass facade of Cooper Union’s $111 million academic building offers a remarkable view — of a back alley packed with vagrants.
“I have seen drug deals, public urination, defecation, masturbation in broad daylight in the Taras Shevchenko alley,” a Cooper Union faculty member told The Post.
“It’s a place where many homeless congregate to sleep — right in front of a church and between a high school and a college,” the faculty member added.

Photo: Natan Dvir

Students, visitors to the East Village building’s multiple art galleries and even small kids who attend Preschool of the Arts housed at Cooper Union are greeted daily by a motley crew of drifters who bunk down on the pavement along Taras Shevchenko Place from about sunset through the morning rush hour. The geometric, asymmetrical architecture of 41 Cooper Square provides the perfect cover from the elements as drifters spread out under the building’s protruding angles, cops said.
And the web of glass that makes up its facade offers a perfect view of a parade of quality-of-life offenses.
“These conditions are unsavory, at best — particularly when you’re looking out your window in the morning and see something like a drug deal happening. Or when you’re sitting in a classroom and someone urinates right in front of you,” said the Cooper Union professor.
Rosa Hernandez, 48, of Park Slope, sees the group of loiterers every day as she drops her 13-year-old son off at La Salle Academy nearby.
“I’ve seen them drinking beer in the morning,” said the mom.
Nine of the drifters were splayed out on bits of cardboard Thursday morning, and began hurling insults, water and bits of cookie when approached by a reporter.
“I was going to chase him down and beat the s–t out of him,” one thin, bedraggled man spat in anger.
“If I ever see you or that photographer again, I’ll kick the s–t out of you,” he threatened.