Tuition Hike Approved Amid Massive Protest

Occupy CUNY couldn't stop the Board of Trustees from raising tuition by $300.Even as hundreds of CUNY students and faculty marched outside of Baruch College in midtown Manhattan on Monday, inside the building the board of trustees approved a controversial hike in tuition.The vote was 15 to 1, with only the student representative against the hike. The increase will raise tuition by $300 every year over 5 years.Encircled by an army of police officers and TV cameras, protestors marched along 25th Street and around Baruch, chanting "Tuition Hike, Students Strike" and "1, 2, 3 Set CUNY Free, 4, 5, 6--Let's Tax the Rich." During the boisterous, 4-hour rally, traffic was stopped in Gramercy Park as hoards of Occupy Wall Street protestors, alerted by social media and word of mouth, marched alongside CUNY students and faculty.Though the crowd was lively but orderly, according to media reports, police arrested three demonstrators.CCNY's presence at the rally was minimal. Only a smattering of City College students marched, though a handful of faculty members chanted and carried signs, including psychology professor Bill Crain. He caused a stir when, according to NY 1, Crain disrupted the trustee meeting and was escorted out by the police. He was released and later re-joined the crowd outside.Last week, another protest at Baruch led to more than a dozen arrests as demonstrators tussled with police. To avoid a repeat and to keep the trustee meeting peaceful, Baruch president Mitchel Wallerstein cancelled his college's classes, starting at 3 PM.CUNY's faculty and staff reacted strongly, opposing the closure and calling it an attempt to crush student dissent. Earlier in the day, union president Barbara Bowen urged the CUNY community to go to Baruch and march."It is inconceivable to us as faculty and staff that a college would cancel its primary activity—teaching—on the grounds that doing so will ‘ensure the safety of all students, faculty and staff during the period surrounding the meeting of the CUNY Board of Trustees,'" wrote Bowen in an email to CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein."What creates unsafe conditions," she continued, "is not the presence of peaceful protesters on a college campus, but rather the college’s approach to policing: confining student protesters to an inadequate area and limiting access to public space at this public college.”In anticipation of Monday's meeting and the protest, President Lisa sent an email to CCNY students, faculty and staff, calling the tuition increase reasonable."Although no one I know wants a tuition increase," she wrote. "I do not believe that the support that we are likely to receive from New York State will improve any time soon, and I believe that these gradual tuition increases are rational and necessary at this point in time to continue to improve the educational experience at City College. My commitment to you is that we will do everything in our power to mitigate their adverse effects."