SUNY students stand against tuition hikes

STUDENTS at 10 schools in the State University of New York (SUNY) system walked out of classes on March 4 to protest the renewal of so-called "rational tuition" legislation that would continue to raise annual tuition at public colleges by $300 a year every year for the next five.

The day of protest was called by New York Students Rising (NYSR), a student organization advocating affordable higher education. At SUNY New Paltz, the walkout drew a crowd of some 400 students, and included organizations such as Democracy Matters, the Black Student Union and the International Socialist Organization (ISO).

The walkout began with students gathered outside the Humanities academic building, where speakers criticized the planned extension of tuition hikes supported by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and SUNY administrators, and the rejection of legislation that would have required the state to assume more of the cost of public college.

Students then started marched into the village of New Paltz. Walking down Main Street with chants of "Raise hell, not tuition" and "Students united will never be defeated," the protesters brought traffic to a halt with their presence. As the march continued down residential streets, it caught the attention and support of onlookers.

Rising tuition costs has a direct and immediate effect on students. "I've only a [household] income of $17,000," one protester said, "so tuition increases can only hurt me. It needs to stop."

In 2011, Cuomo signed the rational tuition legislation, which led to $300 annual increases at SUNY/CUNY campuses over the past five years. Tuition is thus $1,500 higher after five years, yet there has been no increase in professor salaries, leaving many to wonder exactly where the extra money was going.

This trend has been going on for decades. In 1954, the average cost to be a full-time SUNY student was $144 per year, or less than 5 percent of average yearly income. Now, the average cost is $6,500 per year, or 11 percent of the average annual income. The rational tuition law expired this year, but the legislators are set to vote in April on extending it for another five years.

In December 2015, Cuomo dealt another blow to New York students by vetoing alternative legislation that would have required New York to pay more SUNY/CUNY operational costs and fund any additional cost increases as a result of collective bargaining with unions. Cuomo vetoed the bill despite a unanimous vote in favor of it.

After the march, the protesters returned to campus and gathered for a speakout. Though the protest was based around the issue of tuition and NYSR is a single-issue organization, that didn't prevent protesters from discussing the economic struggle as a whole.

SUNY executives make an average salary of $600,000 a year. The money to subsidize student tuition is clearly there, but the neoliberal elite would rather continue to feed the old narrative of "rugged individualism" than help the people they're supposed to serve.

Total student debt in the U.S. is currently at roughly $1.3 trillion, with the average being $26,000 per graduating student. Even if someone declares bankruptcy, they are still obligated to pay their student loan debt.

Be it working more hours, working two jobs or simply feeling the strain of stress and anxiety from the economic instability, working-class students are hit especially hard. In the words of NYSR member Brandon Missig, "[Cuomo] decided to use debt as a tool of oppression."

THE SUCCESS of the walkout is evidence of what students can do when they come together and plan for an event.

Over a month before it took place, NYSR began heavy advertising through flyering and social media. As the event approached, weekly tablings were held, and members went to individual dorm rooms to advertise. Before long, non-student members interested in the event were handing out leaflets and advertising. The campaign has won many to the side of NYSR--the SUNY New Paltz Student Association gave the walkout its seal of approval, and several teachers ended their classes early so students could participate.

This NYSR protest is just one part of a growing movement to demand affordable higher education. On March 11, New York Assemblymen James Skoufis and Kevin Cahill came to the New Paltz campus advocating for a tuition freeze. They discussed a budget proposal that includes a two-year tuition freeze and $1.7 billion of state investment in SUNY schools.

In addition to the walkout, NYSR is organizing a "20 Days of Noise" campaign that includes call-ins to Cuomo's office, social media bombardment opposing the tuition hikes, and another march, in collaboration with the CUNY Grad Center, on March 30. The New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), a political organization that lobbied to ban fracking in New York a few years back, has gotten 28,000 signatures on a petition advocating for a tuition freeze.

The SUNY walkout also took place in the context of global activism by students. In Quebec, students organized the Maple Spring that effectively shut down campuses, to protest the provisional government's plans for tuition hikes. And in South Africa, students won a tuition freeze in 2015 after a mass struggle.

Currently, NYSR is only calling for a tuition freeze. However, many feel that this is just the beginning of a student movement to demand free tuition, not just for the SUNY system, but across the U.S. As Brandon Missig put it, "We should keep pushing our demands because the Board of Trustees, the legislature and Cuomo are scared."

The time to build that student struggle is now, and the student body knows it. Solidarity gets results, and having 400 New Paltz students--more than 6 percent of the undergraduate population--come together is evidence that students are ready to stand in solidarity for their right to an education. "This is evidence of what we can do," said a member of NYSR and the ISO. "This is the beginning of revitalizing the student movement in America."