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Photos, Video: CUNY Cops Clash With Protesting Students At Baruch College
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 21, 2011
Modified Nov 22, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 21, 2011
Modified Nov 22, 2011
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Today, CUNY students protesting tuition hikes tried to crash a CUNY board of trustees meeting at Baruch College, only for the students to be confronted by baton-wielding campus security. Reports say that 14 to 15 students were arrested.
According to Baruch's student paper, The Ticker, the protesters—Students United For A Free CUNY, who are opposed to the tuition hikes—had met at Madison Square Park at 3 p.m. and then went to Baruch around 4 p.m.: "At approximately 5:30 p.m., the protesters rushed through the 25th street entrance, banging on the revolving doors against the resistance of the police. After they entered the lobby, at around 5:45 p.m., the police began to make arrests, a few of which required at least four or five police officers."
Apparently the campus cops used batons on students who had formed a line. According to CityRoom, "During the fighting, students on higher floors dropped books on the police."
One Hunter College student told the Daily News that he and over a dozen other students were pushed into a room when campus cops showed up, "I’m an Army veteran. I didn’t serve five years in the military to come here and see civilian people threatened this way. This is a complete disgrace to the ideology behind this country."
CUNY released a statement, "They refused, creating a public safety hazard. In order to ensure that public safety and access to the building was maintained for students who were attending classes this evening, the CUNY Public Safety officers secured the space and removed the protesters." Additionally a CUNY spokesman spoke to DNAinfo and "said although some protesters were from Baruch many came from area schools that "have been active in the Occupy [Wall Street] movement."
CUNY students are unhappy with the so-called "rational" tuition hike which would raise tuitions by $300/year every year for five years. Governor Cuomo signed the hike in August and the press release explained, "The new law enacts a rational tuition plan that allows each SUNY and CUNY campus to raise tuition by $300 per year for five years, replacing an era of sudden tuition increases with a system that is predictable and empowers students and parents to plan for college expenses. For the past 20 years, the average annual SUNY tuition increase has been 6.7 percent, well above the five-year, $300 increases included in this legislation. During that time, there were periods without tuition increases followed by sudden and dramatic tuition spikes of up to 40 percent. Such spikes and uncertainty in tuition is detrimental to students, families, and the university system. The NYSUNY 2020 legislation prevents these types of unpredictable tuition hikes from reoccurring."
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Baruch College
baton
campus police
CUNY
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tuition
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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