I used to teach at Hunter, so I feel moved to let everyone know about this awesome and important action they are taking this afternoon to protest the tuition hike.
Students at Hunter College, led by the Hunter Student Union, will walk out of classes on Thursday, March 5th at 2:00 pm to protest a proposed tuition hike, budget cuts, and faculty and staff layoffs at CUNY. The event is being staged in advance of a 3:00 pm rally at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) and the demonstration at 4:00 pm at City Hall organized by the One New York coalition, which includes the United Federation of Teachers and 75 other unions.'This proposed tuition hike will make the financial situation of many students substantially worse, if not preventing many students from going to school next semester altogether,' says Hunter College sophomore and Hunter Student Union organizer Leanne Sajor. 'Conditions at this institution are getting worse, resources for students are a joke, and are adjunct professors are hired and fired at will. This walkout not only raises consciousness, but also unites students to work against something that directly affects us. We need to keep Hunter accessible!'
As the economy continues to falter and federal and state funding for higher ed is threatened, it's critical that students organize--alongside staff and teachers--to make sure that folks can actually afford college. Community colleges are especially under threat, and especially important to Americans without a lot of money lying around for tuition. Good luck Hunter community!
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Breaking News: Hunter College Students Walk Out to Protest Tuition Hike.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/12303
Thanks for posting this! I'm a student at LaGuardia Community College, and we had many smaller rallies during the fall semester over this. I'd just like to point out, though, that if you're not familiar with the CUNY system, this post seems to imply that Hunter is a CC, and not a public 4 year institution.
I went to Hunter and it rocked! It's an extremely important institution in that it's one of the few places (along with the other CUNY colleges) where working class and poor students can get an affordable education in NYC. The student body is mind-bogglingly diverse in terms of age, race, sexual orientation, and just about everything else, and the vast majority of those students are working their way through college with at least one paid job. Many, many are parents, spouses, or family caretakers working a second or third shift at home on top of their paid work and homework. There was at least one student organization for 'returning' students and students older than traditional college-age.
In short, it's a place where just about any kind of person can feel at home, and it's one of the few places most of those people can afford. I tutored at the Writing Center, and just thinking about all those diverse, hardworking, wonderful people I met not being able to get a degree and fulfill their dreams because of a fucking tuition hike makes me want to cry. I myself had to drop out of a fancy, expensive private college due to money issues, and if it weren't for Hunter, I might not have a degree today.
And yep, Hunter is a four-year college, but the proposed tuition hikes will affect all the CUNY schools.
I go to Hunter currently and was at the walk out today. It was great! (and I am graduating with my four year degree this spring).
HOLY YES! I was there. the actual rally at city hall was in the tens of thousands!
Can somebody please explain why protesting tuition hikes and demanding more resources/better teacher pay are not at odds?
In response to your question.... this extra tuition money is not going to help the school at all, its going to help make up the NY budget deficit. The students won't see the perks at all.
I was at the rally today and its also important to be aware of the budget cuts through out New York because of all the funding that the schools and hospitals will be losing. Gov. Paterson's proposed plan would cut over a billion to hospitals (not to mention outside health services) and lay off about 14,000 teachers. It doesn't take much to figure out that with more unemployed New Yorkers our economy will not be in a good place. Personally I'm really disgusted that they're balancing the budget on the backs of children, seniors, teachers, students, and the ill and injured.
Well said.
It makes even less sense to raise tution and cut postions than to not raise tuition and not cut positions.
Thanks for clarifying.
SFSU has a walk out planned for March 12.
Rosie's right -- NY is one of the few places where public university fees and tuition do not go directly to the schools.
And these cuts are not just because of the economy; Paterson doesn't want to restore income tax levels to what they were under Cuomo. Gov Pataki turned NYS income tax into one of the more regressive in the country, benefiting millionaires. And now Paterson is being a coward, refusing to take this on when it could solve the crisis. It's easier to go after the money of poor and middle class people.
People at state schools all over the country should be fighting back. Thanks for posting the info on SFSU!
That is ridiculous. Why do CUNY students protest the $2000 a semester tuition when private colleges/universities charge close to $20000 a semester? What difference would a tuition hike of a few hundred dollars really make to these students? Not much. Would these stupid protesters rather public institutions to close down because of a lack of funding? They're making such a fuss over a few dollars. Think about how much more private college/university students are paying for their education! Geez!
1)What is ridiculous is David Paterson's and Mayor Bloomberg's budget that looks to fill in the state deficit by cutting funding to poor and underprivileged people while continuing to feed banking companies who caused this mess millions of our dollars. Quite literally, Mayor Bloomberg will use 80% of the revenue generated from CUNY tuition increase to backfill the deficit. ridiculous yet?
2) Private colleges shouldn't be charging 200,000 over 4 years. That's an injustice. Identify it and fight it like TakeBackNYU is doing at the moment. Don't try to justify one criminal act (raising CUNY tuition) with another (the prive of Ivy League schools).
3) what would a few hundred dollars do for these students? Well, considering that the vast majority are some combination of underprivileged, poor, work to go to school, work for their housing and food, go to school full time to make the $2000 cut, and have like...lives, raising the tuition would constitute a purging of tens of thousands of students from CUNY. For what purpose? to establish gentrification. $300 extra per semester is not a fuss to POOR PEOPLE. what are you stupid?
4) As a CUNY school at the forefront of this fight, your ignorance is appalling. Go fix it.
1)What is ridiculous is David Paterson's and Mayor Bloomberg's budget that looks to fill in the state deficit by cutting funding to poor and underprivileged people while continuing to feed banking companies who caused this mess millions of our dollars. Quite literally, Mayor Bloomberg will use 80% of the revenue generated from CUNY tuition increase to backfill the deficit. ridiculous yet?
2) Private colleges shouldn't be charging 200,000 over 4 years. That's an injustice. Identify it and fight it like TakeBackNYU is doing at the moment. Don't try to justify one criminal act (raising CUNY tuition) with another (the prive of Ivy League schools).
3) what would a few hundred dollars do for these students? Well, considering that the vast majority are some combination of underprivileged, poor, work to go to school, work for their housing and food, go to school full time to make the $2000 cut, and have like...lives, raising the tuition would constitute a purging of tens of thousands of students from CUNY. For what purpose? to establish gentrification. $300 extra per semester is not a fuss to POOR PEOPLE. what are you stupid?
4) As a CUNY school at the forefront of this fight, your ignorance is appalling. Go fix it.
1)What is ridiculous is David Paterson's and Mayor Bloomberg's budget that looks to fill in the state deficit by cutting funding to poor and underprivileged people while continuing to feed banking companies who caused this mess millions of our dollars. Quite literally, Mayor Bloomberg will use 80% of the revenue generated from CUNY tuition increase to backfill the deficit. ridiculous yet?
2) Private colleges shouldn't be charging 200,000 over 4 years. That's an injustice. Identify it and fight it like TakeBackNYU is doing at the moment. Don't try to justify one criminal act (raising CUNY tuition) with another (the prive of Ivy League schools).
3) what would a few hundred dollars do for these students? Well, considering that the vast majority are some combination of underprivileged, poor, work to go to school, work for their housing and food, go to school full time to make the $2000 cut, and have like...lives, raising the tuition would constitute a purging of tens of thousands of students from CUNY. For what purpose? to establish gentrification. $300 extra per semester is not a fuss to POOR PEOPLE. what are you stupid?
4) As a CUNY school at the forefront of this fight, your ignorance is appalling. Go fix it.
1)What is ridiculous is David Paterson's and Mayor Bloomberg's budget that looks to fill in the state deficit by cutting funding to poor and underprivileged people while continuing to feed banking companies who caused this mess millions of our dollars. Quite literally, Mayor Bloomberg will use 80% of the revenue generated from CUNY tuition increase to backfill the deficit. ridiculous yet?
2) Private colleges shouldn't be charging 200,000 over 4 years. That's an injustice. Identify it and fight it like TakeBackNYU is doing at the moment. Don't try to justify one criminal act (raising CUNY tuition) with another (the prive of Ivy League schools).
3) what would a few hundred dollars do for these students? Well, considering that the vast majority are some combination of underprivileged, poor, work to go to school, work for their housing and food, go to school full time to make the $2000 cut, and have like...lives, raising the tuition would constitute a purging of tens of thousands of students from CUNY. For what purpose? to establish gentrification. $300 extra per semester is not a fuss to POOR PEOPLE. what are you stupid?
4) As a CUNY school at the forefront of this fight, your ignorance is appalling. Go fix it.
damn, woops! comment overload. sorry peeps.
Price increase of educational equipments and other services tend to increase the tuition fee. That is painful for the students whose parents are victims of unemployment. Unemployment is such a lousy condition that most people would rather endure infectious disease before enduring unemployment. It makes all kinds of things far worse than they used to be, such as late fees or real estate taxes. You can't even get a payday loan if you're collecting unemployment insurance. You may even have to take an unplanned vacation to find another job. It is never pleasant to contemplate, worse to endure. The numbers of those afflicted are becoming pandemic, and it includes the kind of people you'd never suspect – lawyers, nurses, teachers, police officers, firemen, normally stable and noble careers are susceptible. Let's hope the debt relief from the stimulus can reverse the unemployment trend.