Campus and Community groups across the nation will protest price of education today

Student groups nationwide say that they have had to bear the brunt of the increasing costs of public education, even though they didn’t create the recession that caused them.

They will demonstrate today to protest increasing education costs and to call for change from state governments and school administrators.

Almost 90 campus and community groups across the country plan to gather today for the National Day of Action to Defend Education, which was created in December when two California groups called for a state and national protest against budget cuts that hurt public education systems.

Individual organizations on campuses and in communities nationwide — including at UNC — have responded by planning various events for the Day of Action, ranging from student strikes to teach-ins and campus meetings.

“We think education is a right that all people should have access to,” said UNC student Ben Carroll, a member of Raleigh FIST, a community group that is supporting various events for the day.

Raleigh FIST, which stands for Fight Imperialism – Stand Together, has been involved in planning a march at UNC and a petitioning event at N.C. State University, just a few of the many events that will occur today.

“It is going to involve everything from kindergarten to Ph.D.,” said Richard Walker, spokesman for SAVE Berkeley, a faculty organization at Berkeley University.

Walker said that Berkeley staff and students will hold a strike today, and he expects as many as one half to two-thirds of classes to be canceled.

He also said that 750 students and faculty members will travel to the state capital, Sacramento, to rally for the cause alongside other groups.

“Students didn’t create the recession that led to these cuts. They shouldn’t have to pay the price for them,” said Ian Morgan, an organizer with the Student/Worker Coalition at the University of Washington.

The coalition will hold a student strike today, which will involve students, community members and workers at the University.

Morgan said that the University of Washington undergraduates experienced a 14 percent tuition increase this year. One of the group’s demands is a freeze in tuition hikes.

Bob Hayes, an organizer for Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Maryland, said that as many as 250 Maryland students will hold a rally and teach-in to protest decreased funding for public education.

“We’re left with fewer opportunities that cost more,” Hayes said. “The value of a degree is decreasing, but the costs are increasing.”

George Mason University in Virginia will hold a discussion forum today to organize students for beginning conversations with the University about budget cuts that have led to larger class sizes and fewer teachers.

“One of the first things on the chopping block is education,” said Gavin Mueller, an organizer at George Mason.



Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.