* The below statement was originally posted here by Katie Andriulli, CP Communications Manager
WASHINGTON, DC — Campus Progress Senior Advocacy Associate Pedro de la Torre III released the following statement today in response to the final passage of HR 4872, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.
“Today Congress took action to eliminate an inefficient and corrupt student loan system and finally put the interests of students over banks. Young people overwhelmingly support health care and student aid reform, and are heartened to see that the change they voted for has become a reality.”
Campus Progress has fought hard over the past year to support these vital reforms on behalf of young people. Last summer we launched a campaign, Students Over Banks (studentsoverbanks.org), to educate young people about proposed reforms of the student aid system and to provide them with opportunities and resources to take action. The campaign also featured print and online advertising, and a video ad which aired on CNN, MSNBC, and during Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” Additionally, we published numerous hard-hitting articles and fact sheets debunking loan industry claims.
We also worked with the United States Student Association, US PIRG, and the Campaign for College Affordability to organize 50 national groups to sign a letter of support for reform, host events, organize days of action, and send tens of thousands of emails, faxes, petition signatures, and tweets to Congress.
To support health care reform, we published numerous articles examining the impact reform would have on young people, and worked as part of the Y.I. Want Change coalition to raise awareness of these issues in the public sphere. Through coordinated action campaigns, events, and lobby days, our coalition mobilized 40,000 young people to take action demanding Congress pass reform. We also had a strong and consistent presence on Capitol Hill, and at rallies, town halls and campus events across the country.
See more on the win in student loan reform here. See more on the win in health care reform here.
Today, students across the country are going on strike, attending rallies, engaging in civil disobedience, and more as part of the National Day of Action to Defend Education. You can read more about it and find local actions here, read Campus Progress’s statement here, and take action here.
The latest updates:
Protestors in Sacramento being beaten, tased, gassed by police as they try to march forward.
-via @ CaliforniaAggie on Twitter
500 High School students and supporters in Baltimore, as part of the Algebra Project, marched to a youth detention center in order to draw attention to the “school-to-prison” pipeline. They’re insisting that money for the youth detention center be diverted to education.
-via SocialistWorker.org
Hundreds at UCLA convene in the Chancellor’s office to present their demands to Gene Block: lower fees and less layoffs.
-via Huffington Post
200 students at UMass-Amherst had the same strategy as UCLA. Disrupting the chancellor is a popular tactic today.
18 students arrested at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee after rallying with 250 others to deliver signatures to the chancellor. Police are accused of using excessive force. Video here and here.
400-500 UW students in Seattle marching in the streets demanding to see UW President Mark Emmert.
-via @JayBeeStarkey on Twitter
Fire alarms are being set off across several campuses in a symbolic effort to represent the state of emergency in higher education.
- via @reclaimuc on Twitter
Crowds are steadily increasing at CSUN for the March 4 higher education walk out while hundreds more gather at Berkeley and Laney College in Oakland.
- via @dailysundial, @NSNS, and @dailcal on Twitter
A Washington Post article highlights the student protest efforts that have taken place throughout the day noting the increased tuition rates and the drastic budget cuts that have sparked students to protest.
Approximately 2,500 people are already gathered at the State Capitol in Sacramento, CA to protest.
-via @mrdaveyd/loxocele on Twitter
Several hundred students at Hunter College in Manhattan faced police resistance when trying to enter buildings to encourage more walkouts. A march on Governor Paterson’s office may occur after this afternoon’s rally.
-via Socialistworker.org
More than 100 students turn out for the teach-in for education at Brooklyn College, still 3 hours to go until official demo begins
-via @SocialistZine Twitter
Service workers at UC San Diego are marching with the students in protest of layoffs and budget cuts.
-via @JenMeanIt Twitter
California’s Electronic Disturbance Theatre has initiated a virtual sit-in on the UC Office of the President. The simple action (available at the link above) involves just leaving your computer on.
Faculty at UC Irvine have released a statement encouraging faculty to participate in any action they see fit: “…announcing the events in class, allowing the students to participate in these activities without any penalty, teaching about the current crisis in public education.”
-via UC Regent Live
Children in Redwood City get in on the protest action. At the rate we’re headed now, they won’t be able to afford college once they reach that age.
-via @ StudProtest Twitter
A UCSC professor writes an open letter urging for the end of racism, sexism and homophobia at UC San Diego. The letter not only condemns recent racist events that have occurred on campus but also calls for an increase in African American student enrollment, increased funding for organizations that support underrepresented students, and an upgrade to the universities diversification office.
-via @NSNS on Twitter
The Washington Post has put together a guide to the March 4th protests including a list of events and key protests around the nation.
The Huffington Post has compiled a list of the largest tuition increases in public universities. Public universities have seen tuition increases up to an astounding 32%, which have added heavily to student debt.
Today, students across the country are taking action as part of the National Day of Action to Defend Education. You can read more about it and find local actions here, read Campus Progress’s statement here, and take action here.
The latest updates:
The national day of action to defend public education kicked off this morning with a blockade of the entrances to the University of California at Santa Cruz. Approximately 400 students are blocking the entrances to the school, infuriating commuters. As one car tried to tag along behind a police car to get through the crowd the driver has “run over” 4 students ending in at least one broken leg.
-Via @occupyca on Twitter
Students protesting at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, demanding free education for poor citizens, were dispersed by the police when they were sprayed with water hoses.
-Via iafrica.com
To get students excited about action all over the UC system today a prominent building at UC Riverside has been “decorated” with an encouraging banner.
-Via Occupy California
Tomorrow, students from around the country will be taking action against budget cuts to education, and all of the tuition hikes, enrollment caps, cuts to statestudentaid, lay-offs, wage cuts, furloughs, and other problems that they have caused. Here at Campus Progress, we hope that college administrations, state governments, and Congress are paying close attention: students are hurting, angry, and organized. You can see if there are actions planned in your area here.
There are already some great ways to follow this mobilization (for example, http://studentactivism.net/ has a great maps and a great blog), but I wanted to add two more options (below). We will also be posting some updates on this site tomorrow.
Ben Miller at the Education Sector has a great post up today explaining how student loan giant Sallie Mae has inserted itself (with help from a corrupt Bush administration official) into virtually every nook and cranny of the federal student loan system. The result is that they can squeeze money from taxpayers regardless of whether the loan is paid or put into default.
Basically, there are three different kinds of private actors involved in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP – the larger and more expensive of two federal student loan programs):
Lenders: These organizations raise and lend money to students. The government gives them subsidies and promises to pay 97% of the loan if it goes into default.
Guaranty Agencies: These organizations administer the guarantee against default for lenders, and prevent default on federal student loans. They are also paid by the government to do collections or rehabilitations on defaulted loans, which, as many have pointed out, is a conflict of interest. They typically contract this work to a…
Collections Agencies: These firms are contracted by guarunty agencies to track down borrowers in default, and collect as much of the outstanding debt as possible.
We disagree. No paranoid rhetoric about indocrination can hide the facts (via the Wonk Room):
Conservative projections on the real fiscal rate of return on public educational investments are high:10% for high quality preschool programs, 15% for innovative K-12 reforms like First Things First, and 10.3% for investments to encourage college access and graduation.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Other research has shown that increasing education levels means less incarceration, higher wages, less unemployment, and even longer life spans. Hopefully, lawmakers and the public will remember the following words of wisdom from Derek Bok, a former president of Harvard University:
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
Funding our Future is a campaign to pass a progressive federal budget for 2010 and ensure that our nation.s key economic choices invest in our education, spark reform of our health care system, and address climate change through cap and trade and clean energy investments. Click here for more info.
Conservative projections on the real fiscal rate of return on public educational investments are high: