Slowly but surely, the economic crisis is beginning to be felt far and wide across our class. Last week, news reports revealed that 1.25 million people had lost their jobs in layoffs over the past three months alone. Today’s news reported that unemployment claims keep going through the roof, with 4.1 million collecting. That is a 15-year high. And that does not include the permanent crisis those in our communities that have given up looking for work or cannot collect benefits at all.
I am a student at Bronx Community College, part of the City University of New York. I am a mother of two. I count on financial aid not just to pay tuition, but to help with the bills while I am in school. But Patterson proposed having tuition go up by $600 a year. It is worth mentioning this all comes just a few months after the federal government handed over nearly $1 trillion to the banks to keep their profits rolling in. But when it comes to us, we’re supposed to tighten our belts.
But I am not really here tonight to tell you how bad things are. We have known that. For some of us, the crisis is not just hitting now, we have been there.
I am here to talk about fighting back. When I found out about the proposed tuition hike in the beginning of November, I went right to work. The Board of Trustees had their meeting set for Dec. 8 to vote on the tuition increase. I wanted to make sure that they would hear from the students. They will not put this crisis on our backs, not without a fight.
As a member of the Student Government Association at Bronx Community College, I proposed our body take up the struggle against the tuition hikes. From there, the University Student Senate, which represents students from each of the CUNY campuses, unanimously passed a resolution in support of the cause.
About 200 students and their supporters showed up outside the Board of Trustees meeting rejecting all tuition hikes. We had student speakers from every CUNY campus. Barbara Bowen, President of the Professional Staff Congress and Charles Barron, City Councilman from Brooklyn, also spoke.
This was definitely a strong showing as an emergency response to the Board meeting. But we need to step up the organizing. On the day of the protest, the Board voted for the tuition hikes of up to $600 for senior colleges and up to $400 for community colleges. This vague wording means that if we push next semester, we can make sure that the maximum turns out to be minimum.
In the coming period we have to help organize and lead the struggles against the ruling class efforts to push this crisis onto our backs. Let’s make sure that wherever we are at our job, in our communities, at our schools, we show that we are ready.
