Board of Trustees Votes Unanimously to Increase Tuition

By Shawmaf Zane Khubba

On July 26, 2012, the Board of Trustees of Montclair State University unanimously voted to increase tuition (including the “elected” Student Trustee Alex Bychkov) by 3.9%, making tuition over $11,000, and increasing the trend of making education a privilege of the wealthy and not a right of citizens of a democracy.

This decision would have passed over in silence—as intended by the administration, who barred students from speaking at their meetings—were it not for members of the student activist group on campus, Students for a Democratic Society, and several of their allies, who voiced their opposition. The activists showed up at the meeting with dissenting picket signs in their hands and black duct tape over their mouths, in accordance with the no speaking rule. They waited as each of the trustees voted until Alex Bychkov, the student trustee, showed his loyalty to the administration by voting in favor of the tuition increase. At this point, the dissenting students, outraged (but not surprised), began to shout: “SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!”. They shouted until the board members adjourned the meeting early and slithered out of the room. Susan Cole, the President of MSU, left the quickest, before any light was cast on her extravagant salary and benefits, which have been increasing just as steadily as our tuition. On her contract for the year of 2011, a $125,000 bonus was justified as an “incentive” for her to stay. Apparently the incentives of our educators are of no comparable import, as their salaries and benefits have stagnated, despite inflation.

About a week following the meeting, several members of SDS, some of whom were not even at the meeting, received a letter from Dr. Karen L. Pennington, rebuking them for their protest and admonishing them that further such actions would result in “disciplinary action”. Moreover, in a comment infused with irony, Pennington informed them that their actions constituted censorship of the board members. Apparently it is not censorship to squelch the voice of students at meetings addressing matters which concern them directly, like where their tuition money is going to be spent.

ANTIWAR RESOLUTION RAISES EYEBROWS, AND PULSES

By Carter Pan-Jacobs

This past Wednesday, the 26th, the SGA Legislature heard a
controversial resolution in which Montclair State's student
government, the representatives of the students' interests, speak out
against the war in Afghanistan, which "celebrates" its eleventh
anniversary on October 5. The resolution was met with strong
resistance by the Student Veteran Association, who read it as
anti-military. The resolution's author, Mark Ludas, defended his
positions, noting that he employed the input of a veteran, Chief
Justice Gil Balanzat, in writing the resolution in order to maintain
neutrality towards the armed forces while directing the disapproval
squarely at the endless war itself.

In a tense back-and-forth, Ludas admitted the validity of the
Veterans' desire to be involved in the writing of such a bill. Rather
than force the issue and see it fail among an increasingly negative
narrative, the resolution was tabled pending collaborative revision
between Ludas and the Student Veterans. "I feel more came out of it
this way than if we'd just pushed through a resolution that left some
people feeling hurt or ignored," Ludas said. "The new resolution will
have even more legitimacy."

Interview with Missa Ferguson

By: Greg Tuttle
Greg: As a commuter do you feel that there are services that could be implemented better?

Missa: Parking is a stick up my ass. I also have terrible food allergies and I can't eat anything on campus (gluten free food). Any service for commuters is not well advertized. There should be some sort of short term parking that doesn't cost an arm and a leg for students who are only on campus for a short period of time. 

Greg: What is the atmosphere like here at MSU?


Missa: It's not as welcoming as it could be. Campus is unattractive, not charming when they're ripping my school apart its not happy. It's like high school but bigger and uglier and I have to pay for it.

Letter from the Administration About the Action Against Tuition Hikes

The informal "NOTES" are by SDS member Aldo Guerrero


 Dear [Insert Name Here]
During the course of the past year you and other members of the student body have shown an interest in University issues, and it is perfectly appropriate to seek to understand and to express views about matters that have an impact on your life. Until this last Thursday, you and a small group of others often identified as SDS, have with few exceptions expressed your views in a manner that was reasonably consistent with University policy, and the University has been accepting and accomodating *(NOTE#1) of your chosen form of expression. However, on Thursday, July 26, 2012, your actions crossed a line and were in clear violation of University policy because they disrupted an important University activity, the meeting of the Board of Trustees, and because they deprived other members of the University community of their rights.


Differences of view and expression of differing views in a University community are completely acceptable. However, it is never permissable to shout down others when they are speaking in order to prevent them from being heard because that action does not constitute the exercise of free and open expression of views, it constitutes censorship *(NOTE#2). Quite simply you do not have the right to prevent the duly elected representative of the students from performing his role in speaking as a member of the Board of Trustees *(NOTE #3), or to prevent any other member of the Board from participation in his or her responsiblities *(NOTE #4). As Winston Churchill said, "Everyone is in favor of free speech *(NOTE #5). Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage."


I encourage you to take the time to familiarize yourself with the University' "Policy and Procedures Concerning Demonstrations and Aseemblies," *(NOTE #6) and if you have any questions about that policy, you are welcome to contact the Office of the Dean of Students to discuss those questions. Please note that any further violation of the University policy will make you subject to disciplinary action.Sincerely, Karen Pennington Pc: Rose Mary Howell *(NOTE #7)


 *1 Yes, they helped us by bureacratizing the process to have the occupation, threatened us with phony security fees, gave us only half of the quad, and refuse to let students speak at BoT meetings


 *2 Because not letting students speak at BoT meetings totally constitutes "the exercise of free and open expression of views." I bet it's also not "censorship."


*3 This guy voted FOR the tuition increase and did not speak out against it.


*4 I don't quite understand how we PREVENTED anyone from participating in "his or her responsibilites." This is the third time we do such an action and they blatantly ignored us to continue their bureaucratic responsiblities. They also blocked 3 students from participating in the tuition hearings.


 *5 Here we go, administrators pretending to be EXPERTS on free speech. Do they expect us to not be "outraged" by the fact that they undemocratically raise tuition every damn year without having students voice out their concerns in every board meeting? What about raising it over a conference call last year without the full board or even the "elected" student trustees being present?


*6 Perhaps in our response, SDS should encourage them to read a book about democracy or something along the lines of "Who Rules the University." lol


 *7 Dean Howell hasn't had enough of us since the "Town Meeting" and SGA elections huh. lol

SDS Protests against Tuition Hikes

On July 26, the Board of Trustees of Montclair State University unanimously voted to raise tuition (including the so-called "elected" Student Trustee Alex Bychkov) by 3.9%... but not without a fight.


The video includes AFT Union President Richard Wolfson speaking against tuition hikes unless the administration considers "managerial cuts" in the administration aka "Chopping from the Top." This is something that SDS has been advocating the entire year in light of Susan Cole's bonus along with other perks (free housing, free car, free housekeeing, free driver, free credit card, extra compensation after her resignation etc.) The FULL contract can be found here.

SDS members along with supporters shouted "SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!" repeatedly to express their disapproval. And as is standard practice with this Board of Trustees, they completely ignored the students and continued with their bureaucratic meeting.

SDS Rallies Against NATO in Chicago

Mark, Maf, and Adam on enjoying the bus ride

By Lisa Grab

Summary

On Thursday, May 17th at 2 am, 12 students from Montclair State University's SDS chapter travelled into New York City to take a 17 hour free bus ride to Chicago. 99% Solidarity and the National Nurses  Union supplied the buses.

The SDS delegation consisted of Adam Cetiner,

Esha, Mike, Jon, and Emily on the bus

Jordan Fullam (adjunct professor), Emily Fox (community member), Lisa Grab, Jon Husarik, Esha Kallianpur, Shawmaf Khubba, Mark Ludas, Mike Pacyna, Thea Stelzle, Leah Stone, and Justin Wooten. The SDSers later met up with their comrade and student from MSU, Brennan McFarlane, who travelled from Washington DC.

The buses finally arrived around 8pm in Chicago. The SDS members gathered their belongings and trekked to the community space where they would be spending the night. Finally, around midnight, everyone was able to go to sleep for the night. 

SDS delegation at the NNU rally on Friday

The next day--Friday--the SDSers went to downtown Chicago for the National Nurses United rally. At the rally, some members went around and did interviews to gain publicity for SDS and to reveal NATO's true intentions as a terrorist organization. Press coverage included Associated Press, National Turkish TV, local Chicago press, and RT. 

After the rally, SDS met up with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn for lunch at a local cafe. While at the cafe, Bill and Bernadine got to know some of the newer members and caught up with everyone they already know.

Later in the day, SDS travelled to north Chicago to the Left Lounge and attended a lecture about Libya. 

On Saturday, the SDS delegation attended a rally to protest the entrapment of fellow activists and police brutality. Although organized in a short amount of time, the rally was successful and drew in hundreds of protesters taking the streets in Chicago. Specifically, the protest was against the arrests of activists for terrorist charges. These activists were infiltrated by an undercover cop, who suggested making molotov cocktails. When the activists jokingly agreed, they were arrested.

Screen shot from the front page of RT America

Next, SDS attended an anti-capitalist march that lasted late into the night. This march included numerous confrontations with the police, where the police backed down and allowed the protesters to go where they wanted. However, later in the night, a police van hit and injured a protester from New York. 

Mike, Lisa, and Brennan peacefully sitting in front of a line a cops who temporarily blocked protesters from continuing down the street during the anti-capitalist march. The cops later backed down and allowed the protesters to march. 

Lisa speaking at the No NATO rally on May 20th

SDS with banner on the news

Sunday, May 20th was the main rally against NATO. Several thousand gathered in Millennium Park to listen to the speakers. Among the speakers was Lisa Grab, who spoke on behalf of National SDS. At the rally, the SDSers ran into socialist candidate for US Senate, Greg Pason. Pason also travelled from Montclair to be at the rally. Shortly after the rally, there was a massive march, led by US veterans. At the formal end of the march, the veterans returned their metals of "honor." Many of the protesters continued marching, but were blocked off by police. The police pushed groups of protestors and threatened them with the L-rod. Many protesters were beaten in the head. 

Lisa and Mike Marching against NATO

Although the police successfully dispersed most of the crowd, smaller marches broke off and regrouped toward the evening. Everyone met up in front of the Art Institute in Millennium Park, where Michelle and Barack Obama were supposedly having dinner. Protestors gathered outside and chanted, but multiple rows of cops blocked protesters from going near the building. Unable to decide on the next move, the protesters had a general assembly to discuss whether they should march or occupy the space in front of the Art Institution. The final decision was to continue marching, although the final destination was not decided. The marching continued. At one point, a group of cars escorting members of NATO (we are not sure which members) drove through the crowd. Angry protesters yelled at the car, one man punched the window, and another person threw her sign onto their window. After some time, someone led the march north claiming that the protesters should go for jail support. As protesters marched northward, there were less and less bystanders around. Cops in riot gear began to run up from behind and grab and arrest protesters from the back. The crowd of marchers was getting smaller and smaller. Eventually SDS dropped out and returned to the hotel to escape the rain and get rest. 

Monday, SDS spent most of the time relaxing. A group went to University of Chicago to walk around. Another group stayed at the convergence space, where all the occupiers from other cities gathered to catch the bus. At around 10pm, the buses left and SDS returned to New York City at around 3pm the next day. 

Reflection

Overall, I thought the trip to Chicago was a worthwhile experience. While our chapter was not at the forefront of the actual organizing, we played an important role by bringing numbers, creating a visible SDS presence, and networking with other individuals and organizations. 

It is difficult to organize an action that is half way across the country. I think we made the right decision by being in the foreground instead of the background of the operations in Chicago. There will be other opportunities to do more actual organizing closer to home. We successfully were in the foreground and actively sought out the media. We provided a banner for the front of marches when there were no other banners. We wore our SDS pins and many students approached us seeming interested in our organization. One aspect of our outreach that I think could have been better would be to have contact lists for the national SDS prepared so we could actively gather contact info from interested students and youth instead of waiting for them to approach us and then take down their names and numbers in our phones. 

Jon, Mike, Jordan, Maf, and Adam chilling in Millennium Park

The trip to Chicago was also a great experience for the SDS members to bond with one another (especially with the new members) and form connections with others across the country. The trip demonstrated our organization's ability to tolerate one another, share, and look out for each other. Although we split into groups, I think it was for the better as long as no one was by themselves. It is difficult to do as much with a large group and breaking into smaller groups allowed people more freedom. One criticism is that we could have communicated better when we split up into groups. There were several times when it was difficult to get in touch and meet up.

I really enjoyed getting to know some of the newer SDS members. It was really cool watching them grow as people and thinkers and take on positions within the organization. We discovered that Mike was great at leading chants, carrying the US distress flag, and filming the action. We discovered that Maf knows a lot about philosophy and was great at looking out for his comrades. 

We also met some cool people from across the country. Cole was from Washington DC and had a local occupy group on his college campus. Dan had a newly formed SDS chapter in Boston that was not yet connected with National SDS. Moondog was from Vermont and dedicates his life to participating in movements across the country. Anya was an anarchist from Colorado who flew in for the Chicago protests. I was reunited with someone I briefly met at Occupy Vegas--Luis. Luis had an SDS chapter at UChicago and now works with a union in Portland. 

Overall, it was amazing that we got 12 people to Chicago and back safely. We have yet to debrief the trip--things have gotten kind of crazy since the trip because people have been looking for jobs and trying to find money so we can meet up again.  

Next time, I think it would be productive to discuss our goals for the trip beforehand and encourage more leadership in organizing the logistics for the group's travel plans. However, I am pretty sure that everyone learned something valuable.

Senator Menendez Roundtable 5-2-12

By Lisa Grab

Today, Senator Menendez came to speak at MSU. I am not sure who organized the event, but they decided not to tell students until the day before. Hence, only 5 students were in the audience most of which were SDS members. It seems like the School of Economics or Business put the event on because the panel consisted of: the Financial Aid Advisor, the Chair of Economics, two business students, and a grad student (I forget her major). The whole event also had an economic tone (ie: Why fix the education crisis? Because we want to continue dominating the world)

President Susan Cole showed up to introduce Menendez and then snuck out. 

Then, each person on the panel spoke. The Financial Aid Advisor talked about how loans are a worthwhile investment, but we shouldn’t double the rates. Then, the Chair of Economics talked about why he thinks we need to keep education accessible--so America can continue to lead the world. (Not because education is a human right or anything like that... I never thought I would disagree with someone over why education should be accessible, but OK.) After that, Menendez spoke about how he is against doubling rates. The students who spoke talked about how tuition is crippling them, how they have to work multiple jobs, and how they are unsure if they can go to grad school because it is so expensive.

Afterwards, Menendez accepted questions from the audience. I introduced myself and said I was speaking on behalf of NJUS and asked the first question: I appreciate that you are against doubling interest rates on federal loans. However, there’s another bill in the house--HR 4170--that would forgive student loans after 10 years of small income-based on-time payments. If this or a similar bill were to reach the senate, is this a policy you would support? 

Menendez responded saying he needs to know more about how much it would cost the government to forgive those loans. His response was either a politician answer, where he is afraid to commit to saying anything in public that he can’t promise, or his priorities are in the wrong place. Cutting the war budget will pay for any money the government lost with student debt. Keeping rates from doubling hardly does anything. It prevents the student debt crisis from getting drastically worse but does not do anything to fix it. That is why it is important to keep pressuring these politicians to always do more.

After that, Carlo Rossi and Justin Wooten--also in SDS--asked questions. Justin’s question addressed how students in Cuba and Libya don’t have to pay for education. Menendez responded with a typical patriotic answer about how they don’t have “freedom” like we do. (... but what about their free education...?) Justin walked out after his answer to protest Menendez’s justification for imperialism. 

At the end of the event Leah, Carlo, and I did interviews with NJTV.