November 20, 2009
Chicago Students for a Democratic Society stands in solidarity with the massive protests and occupations that have been taking place over the past few days all across California. Once again, students and workers are facing the brunt of the costs of education while top administrators fill their pockets. This time, however, students and workers are forcing their campuses to a halt, even more so than the last University of California (UC) protests on Sept. 24.
Despite the UC Board of Regents raising tuition by 32%, students and workers have stayed strong and continue to occupy, blockade, protest, and raise hell. In the past few days, thousands of students have taken over their campuses at UCLA, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, and San Francisco State. On all four campuses, hundreds of students have occupied buildings and reclaimed their university, with Santa Cruz now occupying two buildings.
The UC protests and occupations are a powerful example of what students can do when they become organized. As the U.S. slips into even greater joblessness and more attacks are raised against workers and the poor, students need to stand up and demand the right to education.
It’s time to raise our fists and demand that enough is enough!
No Cuts, No Fees! Education Should Be Free!
Occupy Everything!
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- Santa Cruz
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- UCLA
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- Berkeley
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- San Francisco
On Wednesday, November 11, two of our members met with the Director of Student Engagement at Columbia College to discuss possibly being recognized on campus. The goal was to be able to organize on campus, make our presence known, and start working to raise awareness to issues and rally together with the students. We picked Columbia because most of us in SDS are Columbia students. At the meeting, we were informed that unless we wanted to go through all of the paperwork and and other steps to become recognized as an official Columbia student organization (and also live up to the continued requirements that come with such a title) we would not be able to do anything on our campus. While becoming officially recognized by the school might be helpful, it would also take away from Chicago SDS. We collectively decided that succumbing to the requests of the school would not necessarily correlate with our goals as a city wide organization. The icing on the cake, though, was when we were told that the only outside campaigns that are allowed to present on campus are corporations who are willing to pay the school to do so. We found a lot of problems with this, including that the policy excludes many organizations who are of potential benefit to students. At the moment, we are not necessarily sure how to counter this, but we’re working on a few things to get ourselves out there. We are working on making fliers and communicating with other organizations to begin working on the issues that are before us. More news to come.
Protest on Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Join students and youth across the country on Tuesday, November 10 as we raise our voices to demand an end to budget cuts, layoffs, and tuition hikes, and to say loud and clear: “Education is a right!”
Universities across the country are in a serious crisis. Many universities are responding to economic shortfalls by cutting vital university programs such as scholarships, women’s centers, and even jobs. Administrators are raising already unmanageable tuition and fees, while forcing staff to take furloughs.
Rising tuition, textbook prices, and extra fees, have made access to education even more challenging for poor, working class, immigrant, and oppressed nationality students. Many of these students depend on financial aid, or loans from bailed out banks that are now refusing to help low-income students pay for education. These attacks on working people are unacceptable, and must end.
We will not stand by while the rich are bailed out on the backs of students and workers. It is time for our generation to stand up to the plate and build a better future for ourselves and our children. Across the country, campuses are fighting back: from the historic walkouts and ongoing mass mobilizations at the University of California, to the Save our School campaign at the University of Minnesota, to the struggles against education cuts at Middle Tennessee State University, and at all points in between. Now is the time to carry the momentum forward into a nationwide movement for education rights.
We need to fight for the right to earn a living wage, the right to housing and healthcare, the right of self-determination, and the right to higher education for all people.
Send us your endorsements and let us know what you’ll be doing on November 10. Organize a local action, teach-in, protest, or march, or contact us to find out what actions are happening near you.
Contact us at edurtscampaign(at)gmail.com, or visit our blog: http://educampaign.wordpress.com/
Campaign for Education Rights
Network to Fight for Economic Justice
October 25, 2009
Fellow activists and comrades in the Chicago area:
The new Chicago SDS website is now up and fully functional. We will be updating the site with lots of cool stuff including upcoming events, a disorientation guide, flyers, among other things.
To join us in building a new society, come out to the weekly meetings, every Thursday at 7:30pm!
Email sdsofchicago(at)gmail.com for details!
Check back with us soon!
