Early Round-up of March 4 Actions * Slide Show: Students Protest Education Cuts * What's March 4 Looking Like So Far? * Roundup of the Day So Far * March 4 Map Updated, With Much More to Come
========== Slide Show: Students Protest Education Cuts http://www.thenation.com/slideshow/20100315/student_slideshow With the economy struggling to recover, funding for public higher education has taken an inevitable hit. To close billion-dollar gaps in statewide funding, governors have asked their university systems to cut their budgets, causing ripple effects detrimental to students' lives. All options are on the table--tuition hikes, furloughs, job cuts, eliminating majors, eliminating student programs--and all options mean less money for education and less investment in students. In the slideshow that follows, The Nation offers a window into some of the states making those calls--and the student response. In Washington state, students are seeing double-digit tuition increases. In Nevada, students are petitioning the legislature to prevent financial exigency. In Minnesota, students are seeing their protests make actual change. Around the country, be it a protest or a walk out, the argument is the same: Think twice before depriving us, and your state, of our futures. ========== What's March 4 Looking Like So Far? StudentActivism.net - March 4, 2010 http://studentactivism.net/2010/03/04/whats-march-4-looking-like-so-far/ Reports from the field are still scattered and incomplete, but a picture of the March 4 Day of Action is beginning to come into focus. Dozens of campuses are reporting rallies and actions, and dozens more have announced plans for forums, teach-ins, and other events. I've learned of a number of actions that weren't on my national map as of last night, and there are surely more I haven't heard about yet. This is big. California is clearly leading the way, as it has since this movement began to bubble up last semester. The biggest, best-organized, and most dramatic actions reported so far are all happening in the Golden State. In part that's a reflection of the depth of the crisis facing California higher education right now, but it's also a reflection of the head start that California's campus organizers have compared to the rest of the country. Almost every campus reporting huge demonstrations today has seen multiple rallies and protests over the last few months. (The California schools that have not been active before today are generally reporting actions that resemble those taking place in the rest of the nation.) This gap between the ten or fifteen most active California campuses and the hundred or so others taking part in today's events suggests that for many activists today is a beginning rather than a culmination, and indeed students at more than a few campuses have portrayed today's rallies as kickoff events for upcoming campaigns. Students are looking to jump-start their local movements today, and with some traditionally quiet campuses reporting participation measuring in the hundreds of students, they may have done just that. Last September's coordinated protests at the ten campuses of the University of California system were followed by a statewide lull that lasted for several weeks - it was not until November that the state's organizing began to pick up momentum. But I will be surprised if the aftermath of today's protests follows a similar pattern. Students from coast to coast are feeling their power today. They are envisioning themselves as part of a movement, many for the first time. The next few hours will no doubt be very interesting, but I expect that the days and weeks that follow will be too. ========== Roundup of the Day So Far StudentActivism.net - March 4, 2010 http://studentactivism.net/2010/03/04/roundup-of-the-day-so-far/ It's almost noon in California, and closing in on mid- afternoon on the East Coast. I'll be posting a review of the events of the first half of the day here ... starting now. * University of California Santa Cruz | Students blocked both entrances to the campus to vehicular traffic early this morning, prompting the university to send out an alert urging staff and students to stay away. Administrators are passing along reports of intimidation and property damage by students, while students have claimed that two cars attempted to break through the throngs of protesters, injuring one. * Hunter College, New York City | Multiple accounts on Twitter suggest that hundreds of students have been rallying at Hunter College in Manhattan, and it's been reported that one arrest has been made. * Sacramento, California | An estimated two thousand people are already gathered at the State Capitol building. * California, Statewide | Student demonstrators are entering classes to urge students to walk out at several campuses. * University of Maryland College Park | Students have hung a huge banner from a campus building reading "March Forth: Life Sucks, Let's Change." I'm seeing reports on Twitter and elsewhere from dozens of different campuses across the country, but details are scarce for most of them - students are out marching, not home blogging, and the ones who are updating on Twitter are often posting short cryptic messages. I'm going to go gather some more info, and report back later. ========== March 4 Map Updated, With Much More to Come StudentActivism.net - March 3, 2010 http://studentactivism.net/2010/03/02/march-4-map-updated-with-much-more-to-come/ http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=studentactivism.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmaps.google.com%2Fmaps%2Fms%3Fhl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF8%26msa%3D0%26msid%3D100699183535493605143.0004803150149ba47807d%26ll%3D38%2C-94%26spn%3D10%2C70%26source%3Dembed The above map, an ongoing project charting all of the events in tomorrow's March 4 Day of Action, currently includes well over a hundred actions in some thirty-two states, with more being added all the time. If you click on any "pin" on the map, you'll be taken to a short description of the action, along with links to further details and contact information for the folks involved. For new readers, the March 4 Day of Action to Defend Education is a grass-roots event in which students, faculty, and others are coming together around the country to speak and act. The Day of Action was originally conceived in California as a response to the current crisis in higher education in that state, but it has since grown to encompass students and others at educational institutions at all levels in all parts of the country - from Berkeley and San Diego to Portland, Maine and Montgomery, Alabama. Please see this post for updated information going forward. ========== _____________________________________________ Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. 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