Over the last 15 days, I have visited 12 college campuses from Massachusetts to New Hampshire to Texas and only saw one group of protesters. I expected to see more activity given all the media attention on the Occupy movement spreading the country.
Today’s event may increase the momentum on college campuses:
On November 17, Occupy Colleges will coordinate a national day of action and student strike on campuses across the United States. Unlike past student actions in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street,these college demonstrations specifically target issues surrounding tuition increases, financial aid and the diminishing quality of education and student services. This strike was called on by the schools that comprise the State University of New York SUNYnetwork. It is supported by the ASL-CIO labor movement and the California Faculty Association. Occupy Colleges and Occupy Wall Street have joined SUNY in order to make this strike a nationwide event.
On November 17th, students, faculty and administrators concerned with these issues will gather at a central campus location or a nearby Occupy Wall Street camp at 3:00 pm EST in strike. Over 80 colleges signed up for the last call to action on November 3-4. Occupy Colleges expects a similar turn-out for this event. Colleges already signed up to participate in the Occupy Campus StudentStrike include, NYU, Rutgers and most CUNY and California State University CSU campuses.
via Press Release : Occupy Colleges : PRICES TOO HIGH, STUDENTS STRIKE : Occupy Colleges.
I will continue to watch for colleges that are added to this list of protesters. I am curious about which campuses view themselves as aligned with these issues of tuition, financial aid, academics, and student services. An interesting report on NPR this morning about the Occupy Harvard protests quoted this senior:
There’s a perception among people that if you’re at Harvard you should be trying to be in the 1 percent and if that’s not what you’re aiming for, you’re kind of doing it wrong.
Perhaps that explains the lone two students I saw manning the Occupy Dartmouth station in the photo.
