Saint Cloud, MN – 30 students disrupted traffic at a Saint Cloud State University (SCSU) hockey game, Feb. 27, to protest student debt and the cost of tuition. Three weeks ago, members of the People’s Collective (PC) issued the call for a protest, and members of the University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society (UMN SDS), Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) General Defense Committee Local 14, as well as high school students from Champlin Park High School all joined in.

The protest demanded an immediate tuition freeze, a decrease in tuition, a $15 minimum wage in all public higher education schools in Minnesota, debt relief and bankruptcy options restored to students, free tuition at every public university in Minnesota for the first two years, and that the Minnesota state budget surplus be used to alleviate tuition costs.

Both SCSU and the University of Minnesota introduced new proposed tuition hikes, something protesters from both universities rallied against.

At the planning meeting, students discussed their student debt, with lower numbers around $20,000 and the highest around $300,000. Leading organizer Luna Gebriel of People’s Collective stated, “It is baffling to me that I don’t have a choice but to put myself through an education in order to have a better life for myself and my family, with a debt that will be hanging over my head for decades. I'm a first generation immigrant and my parents cannot help me pay for my education. I work two jobs and overnight shifts while I'm in school to provide for myself and it’s still not enough. We need change now.”

Protesters held off traffic at the Division 1 Men’s College Ice Hockey game between Saint Cloud State University Huskies and Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs for an hour, chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, student debt has got to go,” and “The students, united, will never be defeated.”

As traffic was redirected, protesters split up and quickly moved to block a second entrance to the parking lot, holding up traffic on both sides. Students finally ran to block the entrance doors of the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

Without issuing a warning, officers arrested two protesters at random, charging them with trespassing and holding them for eight hours. As activists both from Saint Cloud and the Twin Cities called in to the jail to demand the immediate release of the two, phone lines were disconnected.

Baillee Schwint of People’s Collective stated, “No one heard warnings from the police, nor did those arrested hear their rights being read either. Regardless, I think the protest did a good job. We targeted the hockey game because it’s a big investment to our school, yet students are not. We want to see money being used to help students.”

Another leading activist of People’s Collective, Isuru Herath, explained what the protest was about, stating, “The real goal of the disruption was to fight against the capitalist corporate powers running our education. This protest was organized and led by students of color, and as a non-white student I understand that Black and brown folks carry more debt burden than any other group. This protest showed that there is solidarity, and that students want to fight back against corporate profits running our education!”

After the protest, around a dozen students waited until 3:00 a.m. for the two protesters to be released from jail. In spite of his arrest, Matthew Boynton of UMN SDS said, “I'm excited to see people across the state protest in support of lower tuition, increased diversity, an end to overpaid corporate administration, and against student debt. SDS stands in solidarity with students in Saint Cloud. We look forward to working with them again in the future, and we hope this action becomes a precedent for the student movement.”

#SaintCloudMN #SDS #tuitionIncreases #SaintCloudStateUniversity #MNSCU #HerbBrooksNationalHockeyCenter

Gainesville, FL – Approximately 100 students rallied at Turlington Plaza on Nov. 17 with signs, bullhorns and petitions, demanding that the University of Florida halt its plan to implement Block Tuition starting Fall 2011. Block Tuition would force 60% of students to pay for more classes than they actually enroll in. Block Tuition would severely limit the ability of poor and working-class students to attend the University of Florida.

Gainesville Area Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) called for the rally in order to present the university president, Bernie Machen, with more than 800 signatures collected over a four day period. Students spoke out at Turlington Plaza around 12:30 p.m. before marching to Tigret Administration Hall holding signs reading “Tuition is too damn high! Students against Block Tuition!” and chanting “Education is a right – UF students, unite and fight!” The militant march culminated with a delegation of student activists forcing a meeting with University of Florida Provost Joe Glover and demanding that Block Tuition be stopped. An escalation is planned for Dec. 9, when the Board of Trustees will meet to make their final vote on Block Tuition.

SDS master of ceremonies Dave Schneider said, “An organized student resistance to Block Tuition is the only way to stop this assault on public education. The administration is united in supporting these changes and if we hope to defeat it, students must unite in their opposition.”

The struggle for education rights that is surging around the globe has come to Gainesville and the students promised to continue to fight for their rights by any means necessary.

#GainesvilleFL #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #tuitionIncreases

Chicago, IL – Music and chanting rose outside the Illini Union building on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), May 15, as 100 workers, students, and supporters marched on the Board of Trustees meeting.

The target was the high salaries paid to administrators and a handful of faculty. These rich “rock stars” were serenaded by the members of Local 73 Service Employees International Union, including Willie English and chief steward Judy Jones, to the tune of Elvis Presley's “Hound Dog”:

You ain't nothing but a rich man

Crying all the time

You ain't nothing but a rich man

Crying all the time

You ain't never froze your wages

You ain't no friend of mine!

Job Cuts and Wage Freezes

The coalition of groups is angry because the state has a budget crisis, and the politicians, along with University administrators, are aiming to shift the crisis onto the backs of working people. According to Shirley McIntosh, Local 73 steward, who came along with 18 coworkers from the Patient Accounts department, “We have been working harder than ever in recent years as budgets have gotten tighter. It's not right for us to face losing our jobs and having our wages frozen.”

But that's exactly what is coming down on workers, faculty and graduate employees. University of Illinois President James Stukel has stated that 600 jobs will be cut from the three campuses. At the UIC Medical Center, job cuts have already started. “We're 18 admitting officers, and they're only going to have 6. It'll be tough for those left,” said Naomi Colon, whose position was eliminated in the Dental Clinics.

Eighteen more positions were reported cut in Psychiatry. In April, nearly 20 adjunct professors in the English Department lost their jobs as well. The unofficial word on wages is that workers should expect no raises for 2 years.

Finally, at the Board of Trustees meeting, a 10% tuition increase was passed.

Why is Money So Tight?

If you ask Governor Ryan, he'll say it's because of Sept. 11. If you look at the business pages, you'll read that there is less taxes being collected because there is a slowdown in the economy overall.

No one is telling the real truth: in the state of Illinois, even more than most states in the U.S., rich people and corporations pay almost no taxes.

The state has expenses – such as helping fund health care for the poor, educating our children, and paying the wages of the workers in state agencies. There is only one way to make up the difference now that less taxes are being collected. Those who have been raking it in over these years should have to cough it up.

Wins and Losses in the Budget Fight

5000 workers rallied at the state capitol on April 24. They told the politicians not to balance the budget by attacks on workers. They called for more taxes on the rich, like the tax on the estates that multi-millionaires leave to their children when they die.

Greg Hardison, a UIC union steward, said it best at the Local meeting before the Springfield rally – “Make the rich pay!” Local 73 President Christine Boardman, at the rally, echoed this message, and the crowd roared back its approval.

The fight by unions and community forces was partially successful. The legislators and the governor had to restore some of the cuts proposed earlier this year, and the rich took a $200 million hit. But the bulk of the billion-dollar budget shortfall will be at the expense of working people and the poor.

Struggle for Fairness and Equality

The battle lines are being drawn at UIC. At the May 15 rally, Rodney Telomen, Illinois Nurses Association co-chair said, “We've already informed the hospital directors: if they tell nurses to expect a wage freeze when we go to bargain, I predict we'll take a strike vote.” Both nurses and clericals have contracts that expire in August.

Local 73 members have a message for the bosses as well. “When jobs are cut, workers have more work to do. Plus, patients suffer,” said Tom Terranova, Local 73 staff representative. “That's why we said the only place to cut in UIC's budget is the top administrators' salaries.”

#ChicagoIL #News #SEIU #IllinoisNursesAssociationINA #UniversityOfIllinoisAtChicagoUIC #bugdgetCuts #tuitionIncreases