Fund education, jobs for youth
By
Monica Moorehead
Published Mar 10, 2010 6:20 PM
On March 4 more than 100 demonstrations were organized in 33 states against
the devastating cuts, layoffs and tuition hikes as part of the National Day of
Action to Defend Education, including campuses such as the University of
Maryland and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The following reports are examples of some of these
significant protests, which are signs pointing to the potential of a
revitalized national youth and student fight-back movement reminiscent of the
1960s.
BAY AREA, CALIF.
Tens of thousands of youth, students, parents, teachers, school workers and
progressive allies took to the streets all over the Bay Area to “take a
stand for public education.” This protest was the united response to more
than $20 billion in state, federal and local cuts to public schools. The
success of the protest was largely due to a truly grassroots convergence of
protesters, from kindergarten students to the Gray Panthers.
The events began with major classroom walk-outs. At the University of
California, Berkeley, students disrupted classes and led a massive walk-out.
Students then marched to Oakland, where Bay Area students gathered for a rally
of several thousand people.
In Oakland and Davis, Calif., students marched across the freeway ramps and
blocked traffic on two interstate highways. More than 150 young people were
arrested in Oakland after occupying Interstate 880 during rush hour. One young
man suffered a head injury from falling from a freeway ramp after being chased
by the police.
Leafleting, rallies and teach-ins were held throughout the Bay Area. Many
teachers brought the protest into their classrooms. In West Contra Costa and
Berkeley, teachers rallied and leafleted on busy street corners throughout the
day.
The protests culminated in a massive multinational presence at City Hall Plaza
in San Francisco. Fueled by recently revealed plans by Mayor Gavin Newsom to
lay off more than 10,000 city workers, thousands gathered demanding an end to
budget cuts.
Chanting “Education should be free — no cuts — no
fees,” many held signs stating, “California 1st in prisons, 48th in
education.”
NEW YORK CITY
Even before the rally began at 4 p.m., hundreds of students had already
gathered in front of New York Gov. David Patterson’s office in midtown
Manhattan. The rally was co-chaired by March 4 Coalition members Larry Hales
from Fight Imperialism, Stand Together and Jackie Mariano, a Hunter College
student and GABRIELA activist. By the time the march stepped off a little after
5 p.m., a multinational group of at least 2,000 people, mainly students and
youth, took to the streets loudly demanding full funding for education.
Participating on the march was a strong delegation from the Professional Staff
Congress along with representatives from the Transport Workers Union Local 100,
Bail Out the People Movement, Peoples Organization for Progress and other
workers and progressives in solidarity with students and teachers facing
devastating budget cuts. The lead banner was carried by high school youth from
Lyons Community School and Pace High School. Once the march reached the Fashion
Institute of Technology — site of a Metropolitan Transit Authority
hearing — the police prevented the protesters from joining an outdoor
rally of the TWU and from attending the hearing. Minor scuffles broke out
between the youth and police for the next two hours. The MTA is threatening
major layoffs for the TWU, the elimination of free MetroCards for students and
more service cuts and fare hikes for the general public. Read more about the
NYC action in Hales’ interview on page 7.
BALTIMORE
Upwards of 1,000 youth and students, the majority of them African American,
held a spirited, militant protest at a juvenile detention jail. More than a
dozen youth carried out a heroic civil disobedience action inside the jail,
while many police looked on. There were no arrests. Organized by the Algebra
Project, the protest by these youth and their supporters, including the Bail
Out the People Movement, demanded that $100 million be spent on jobs and
education for youth, not jails.
NORTH CAROLINA
At the University of North Carolina at Asheville, the campus chapter of
Students for a Democratic Society organized a film screening of
“Walkout,” about the Chicano/a student movement in California
during the late 1960s. At Salem College in Winston-Salem, Salem Against War
organized a teach-in and community forum about public education, including
attempts to resegregate the schools. North Carolina State University students
organized a petition drive against tuition hikes and budget cuts, and dropped
several banners around campus against education cuts.
At UNC Chapel Hill, students organized a week of action leading up to a
demonstration on March 4. On March 1, the ad-hoc March 4 coalition organized a
street theater action on campus that showed the massive amount of student debt
— on average $18,000 per student in North Carolina. On March 3, a campus
discussion on local and national education cuts and tuition hikes was held.
About 60 students, workers, and faculty members gathered on March 4 for a
“Funk the Cuts” rally followed by a march to the administration
building. Chanting “No cuts, no fees, education must be free” and
“They say cutback, we say fight back!” the march swelled up the
front steps of the building. Once there, a group of nine students held a sit-in
inside the building, presenting the chancellor with a statement and list of
demands, including chop from the top, no privatization or commercialization of
the university, an increase on corporate taxes to fill the budget shortfalls,
and for full and equal access to education for undocumented students.
The students read articles aloud from Workers World newspaper during the
sit-in, which ended after nearly an hour with no arrests. The chancellor agreed
to meet with students to discuss their demands in two weeks.
The statewide coalition that formed around March 4 is building for another
action on March 9 at the meeting of the Joint Legislative Education Oversight
Committee, where tuition hikes approved by the UNC Board of Governors will be
voted on.
DETROIT
A diverse group of labor, community and students rallied at Wayne State
University followed by a march through the campus with more students joining
in. Chanting “Bail out the students, not the banks” and hoisting
signs such as “Money for education, not War,” “Cancel student
loan debt,” “Schools, not prisons,” and “Jobs
NOW!,” the march ended with another rally at the Detroit Public Schools
administration building to protest the ongoing union-busting, charter school
implementation and privatization of DPS schools.
Speakers at the rallies included members of the Union of Part-Time
Faculty-American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of
University Professors-AFT at WSU; FIST-Detroit; Michigan Emergency Committee
Against War & Injustice; Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures,
Evictions and Utility Shutoffs; Veterans for Peace; Graduate Employee
Organization-AFT, University of Michigan Ann Arbor; Restaurant Opportunities
Center of Michigan; Solidarity; Critical Moment and By Any Means
Necessary.
MILWAUKEE, WIS.
A protest organized by the Education Rights Campaign at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee was physically attacked by the police, resulting in the
arrests of 15 protesters. The ERC, initiated by Milwaukee SDS, consist of more
than 20 organizations demanding to lower high-level administrative salaries,
democratize the school, and establish just policies for workers and
students.
As the protesters peacefully marched to the chancellor’s office to
deliver petitions and make a statement that students and workers will fight
cuts, the chancellor and university administration locked their office doors,
called the police, and then watched from their windows students being maced and
beat up by campus police.
The 15 people charged with “unlawful assembly” face a total of
$4,255.50 in fines — almost a semester of tuition at UWM! Milwaukee SDS
is demanding that all charges be dropped; an apology from the police for
excessive use of force and for a public hearing with the chancellor on the
impact of the economic crisis on the university. Go to www.sdsmke.com.
BOSTON
Teachers, students, community activists, bus drivers and unionists endured
bitter cold winds at a March 3 protest and press conference in front of the
Boston School Committee office held by the Coalition for Equal Quality
Education. The rally opposed the committee’s plans to cut $50 million
from the budget, close schools, lay off and fire teachers and expand
privatized, for-profit education at the expense of public schools.
The rally was chaired by Sandra McIntosh of Work for Quality, Fight for Equity
and the chair of CEQE. City Councilor Chuck Turner condemned the inadequate
funding of education in the communities of Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan. He
declared that charter schools failed to serve English language learners and
special education students, and created a two-tier education system. The Bail
Out the People Movement, Women’s Fightback Network, International Action
Center, Workers World and other groups called for full funding for education;
no to privatization and charter schools; money for schools, not bank bailouts
and war; and no resegregation of the Boston schools.
Phebe Eckfeldt of the Union of Harvard Clerical and Technical Employees and Ed
Childs of Local 26 Unite/HERE, Harvard Cafeteria Workers, linked the banks
dictating cutbacks and layoffs at Harvard to the bank privatization of public
schools.
Miya X of FIST called on youth to participate in the upcoming budget hearings
and a demonstration on March 24. Andre Francois of USW Local 8751, the Boston
School Bus Drivers, condemned the attack on services for the students,
including transportation and limiting parents and students choices of schools
to attend as a racist attempt to further resegregate Boston schools.
On March 4 more than 100 students rallied at the University of Massachusetts
Boston against budget cuts and privatization, layoffs and outsourcing. After a
spirited rally they marched through the campus buildings, garnering an
enthusiastic response from students. Later, the students participated in a
teach-in on how to continue the struggle against budget cuts and fee
increases.
LOS ANGELES
Thousands of K-12 teachers and support staff joined the angry voices of the
education community statewide to protest the serious cuts and attacks on free
public education and other vital community services in California. Elementary
and secondary teachers started off the long day with informational pickets
before school, some starting as early as 5:30 a.m. Then after a full day of
teaching, teachers spread out to various locations to join the protests.
United Teachers of Los Angeles already suffered losses of 1,000 teachers last
year. If the district and state government have their way, student-counselor
ratios will be 1,000-to-1, student-teacher ratios will be 29-to-1 for
kindergarten-to-3rd grades, and the number of school nurses and librarians will
be slashed. Go to www.utla.net.
SAN DIEGO
A militant and angry protest was held on the University of California, San
Diego, La Jolla campus in response to the latest racist outrage — a Ku
Klux Klan hood placed on campus (Read article in last week’s Workers
World). In mid-afternoon in Balboa Park, several thousand students, teachers
and area activists of all ages assembled for a rally and spirited march
downtown to the State Office Building. The level of militancy at the Balboa
Park rally, already high following angry speeches and political presentations
by youth rappers, became further energized when a large group of chanting
students from UCSD marched into the rally area. As they passed the city jail,
marchers chanted, “Money for education, not incarceration!” Then,
at the State Office Building, the crowd of nearly 5,000, overwhelmingly youth
of color, closed off the street, forcing police to redirect traffic.
PROVIDENCE, R.I.
Providence students, groups such as PRISM (Providence student and youth
movement), DARE Youth, supporters including Councilman John Lombardi and
representatives from the George Wiley Center, and RI Tenants & Homeowners
Association endured cold rain and snow in an action in front of the Providence
School Department against plans to close seven elementary, middle and high
schools over the next two years. Many of the students took the mic to decry the
closings and to call for more funding for public education. Then, as James
Brown’s music blasted over the sound system, they went onto Westminster
Street waving their placards, getting honks and ‘shout-outs’ from
passing motorists.
The event was emceed by Jauz Everliving of The 420 Crew, which promotes
education with hip-hop culture. The event was co-sponsored by Save Our Schools
Coalition and The RI Unemployed Council.
SEATTLE
Fighting against 26 percent funding cuts and a 14 percent yearly tuition
increase, students walked out at the University of Washington. More than a
thousand students, joined by university workers, rallied on campus. They then
marched to the nearby business district. The action was called by the Student
Worker Coalition, which demanded an end to economic attacks against students of
color and low-income students. They also protested speedups and layoffs of
campus workers. The action was endorsed by three campus unions.
UPSTATE NEW YORK
Two hundred students and their supporters marched in the streets from the
Liberty Pole to Rochester City Hall protesting the proposed takeover of the
city school district by the mayor. The community sees this attempted mayoral
control as a first step in privatization of public education here. The march
was initiated and organized by Rochester SDS.
SDS and the New York Public Interest Research Group organized a 12 hour sit-in
in the Syracuse University Bird Library calling for lock-in tuition rates,
student representation on the Board of Trustees and a limit on
administrators’ salaries.
Ryan Hickey, SDS spokesperson, said the money should go to teaching assistants
and graduate student faculty with low salaries and few fringe benefits.
In addition, protesters set up a “snowman army” in front of SU
Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s office, to reinforce their demands. The sit-in
also addressed the State’s $148.8 million in budget cuts toward State
University of New York.
At Onondaga County Community College, current and former SUNY OCC students and
members of Syracuse Solidarity Network held a demonstration under the slogan:
“No tuition hikes! We didn’t get a bailout!”
At Ed Smith School, local schoolchildren, parents and others rallied to protest
cuts in state education funding. Rally organizers included Syracuse Teachers
Association and Citizens Action of New York. The Syracuse school system faces
an $18 million shortfall in its 2010-11 budget.
In Buffalo, a protest was held in front of the downtown Erie County Holding
Center by the Erie County Prisoners Rights Coalition.
Bill Bateman, Lydia Bayoneta, Sharon Black, Ben Carroll, Sara Catalinotto, Ellie Dorritie, Judy
Greenspan, Bob McCubbin, Jim McMahon, Frank Neisser, Bryan G. Pfeifer and
Minnie Bruce Pratt contributed to this roundup.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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