Excelsior

Media Credit: Maria Parra FIGHT THE POWER: Matthis Chiroux, along with other Brooklyn College Students, voices frustration about tuition hikes and budget cuts on the Quad.

Media Credit: Maria Parra MOBILIZING: NYPIRG gets student support.

Normally, you wouldn't find Richard Lee Vargas, a sophomore majoring in political science and film production, bellowing his opinions across Brooklyn College's campus with a microphone and a few thousand watts of amplification.

But on Tuesday, he was "inspired," and joined fellow Brooklyn College students and staff on the quad to speak out and rally against the $600 CUNY tuition hike and budget cuts proposed by Governor Paterson.

"This doesn't affect a small portion of us," said Vargas over the loudspeaker. " This affects every single person walking here, every single person listening to my voice, every single person on this campus right now."

Along with the tuition increase, Paterson's proposal is drafted to cut the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) by $65 million, increase full-time student status from 12-15 credit hours, and slash $88 million from the CUNY operational budget.

The rally, which occurred during common hours, was sponsored by the newly formed Brooklyn College Student Union, NYPIRG (New York Public Interest Research Group, and the PSC (Professional Staff Congress) with the immediate goal of preventing the tuition increase proposal from being approved in April, as well as encouraging students to join the Student Union.

Members of the Student Union initiated the rally by presenting their mission statement, and emphasized the message that Brooklyn College is "our school," referring to the student body, and that students have a right to have a voice in issues that directly effect Brooklyn College.

Matthis Chiroux, a political science major, member of the Student Union, and full-time activist, views education as a "human right", and frequently addressed the crowd citing that through unionizing, "student's won't have to put up with this bull crap from on high anymore.

"What a union allows us to do is put all our voices together behind one issue, and when it becomes necessary, say that we are not going to take this," said Chiroux. "There are big fish in Albany, there damn big fish. And we may be a bunch of little fish, but when we get together, we are a swarm of piranhas, and we will rip that budget to shreds…we will tell them to give us a fair cut because it is on our backs that this society is built."

During the rally, one student shouted out," Keep Brooklyn College the poor man's Harvard." When a member of the Student Union asked the crowd if anyone was on TAP, one student replied, "I'm on broke."

Catherine Troy, nutrition major, was one of the first students in the crowd to step forward and speak out on the microphone.

"CUNY has a history of being affordable for everyone, and raising tuition goes against what CUNY stands for," said Troy. "This is a real big issue, and I feel like more people need to be involved."

Scott Dexter, Computer Science Professor at Brooklyn College, as well as acting chapter chair to the Professional Staff Congress passed out stickers that read: "PSC: NO tuition HIKE, and argued that taxing CUNY students during these grave economic times contradicts reasons why schools like Brooklyn College were created in the first place.

"Brooklyn College started during the Great Depression, so there was this need for educated people to bring them out of it…now, it's completely unacceptable to raise tuition and cut the budget and resources to CUNY. We need to reinvest in CUNY," said Dexter.

With the tuition increase and toll that the economic recession is taking on the declining newspaper industry, Jack Malloy, Graduate student in Computer Science and Production Manager of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Newspaper, is unsure how he is going to make his tuition for next semester. He was not hesitant to address the crowd at the rally, and discussed how important it is for students to organize against the tuition hikes and budget cuts.

"If you think that education is expensive, why don't you try ignorance," said Malloy. "Here at Brooklyn College, you have professionals who have established credentials in their field, and are available to you as undergraduate students. The way to keep that going for yourselves, and for the next generation is to organize."

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