Effective Tuition Protest
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Andrew Finnerty
Jun 4, 2010, 12:32:24 AM6/4/10
to Student Association of Michigan
One of the greatest non-violent protestors was MLK II. Part of the
reason his Birmingham Bus Boycott was so successful - was because he
hurt the dollar of Birmingham Boycott. We must remember too - that it
took a year before Black people could sit in the front of a publicly
owned bus. It took immense organization and persistence.
That being said. The best way we might protest tuition is to hurt the
dollar of the University (non-violently of course). There are ways
this can be done grassroots and from above.
This year at Ferris, my group will be advocating that students take
back their student fees (all the ones they can, $81) and keep it
rather than give it to the school, consequences be damned (apparently
I will miss out on cheap racquetball this year). It's a little, but
hopefully the student government will take the threat as reason to
start using their resources to help all students - rather than to
continually side w/ the University and manufacture consent among the
population.
Besides that...
When I was at GVSU - I was told that 1/2 the freshman class never
returned. That's pretty disgusting if you ask me. That means that 1/2
the students (about 10,000 at GVSU) were sort of never worthy to go in
the first place, or maybe needed to mature. And for the 10,000 that
never came back - there were thousands of applications turned down of
people who might have stayed. This is truly sad, but it goes to show
you: What incentive does a college have to care about who attends the
school - when they know a whole new batch (worthy or not) is right
behind them willing to go thousands of dollars in debt for the
opportunity. The loan money is constant.
This percentage must be tracked at schools - and curved considerably.
If that means standards must be raised - we have to watch what our
schools do. And this is unfortunately why it is ineffective to drop
out of school in order to protest tuition hikes. Have you ever had a
school call you and extremely worried about losing your business and
willing to try and work a deal with you? I bet you've complained to a
few businesses and had some gift cards sent right away though, haven't
you?
Please discuss below:
reason his Birmingham Bus Boycott was so successful - was because he
hurt the dollar of Birmingham Boycott. We must remember too - that it
took a year before Black people could sit in the front of a publicly
owned bus. It took immense organization and persistence.
That being said. The best way we might protest tuition is to hurt the
dollar of the University (non-violently of course). There are ways
this can be done grassroots and from above.
This year at Ferris, my group will be advocating that students take
back their student fees (all the ones they can, $81) and keep it
rather than give it to the school, consequences be damned (apparently
I will miss out on cheap racquetball this year). It's a little, but
hopefully the student government will take the threat as reason to
start using their resources to help all students - rather than to
continually side w/ the University and manufacture consent among the
population.
Besides that...
When I was at GVSU - I was told that 1/2 the freshman class never
returned. That's pretty disgusting if you ask me. That means that 1/2
the students (about 10,000 at GVSU) were sort of never worthy to go in
the first place, or maybe needed to mature. And for the 10,000 that
never came back - there were thousands of applications turned down of
people who might have stayed. This is truly sad, but it goes to show
you: What incentive does a college have to care about who attends the
school - when they know a whole new batch (worthy or not) is right
behind them willing to go thousands of dollars in debt for the
opportunity. The loan money is constant.
This percentage must be tracked at schools - and curved considerably.
If that means standards must be raised - we have to watch what our
schools do. And this is unfortunately why it is ineffective to drop
out of school in order to protest tuition hikes. Have you ever had a
school call you and extremely worried about losing your business and
willing to try and work a deal with you? I bet you've complained to a
few businesses and had some gift cards sent right away though, haven't
you?
Please discuss below:
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