What's Your Stance on Activity Fees?

USG is going around getting votes to put increasing student activity fees on a referendum. I was asked by 3 different people to sign it and every time that I said, "No" they launched into their, "It goes towards clubs" routine and every time I said, "And it raises tuition." Then they said, "Are you in any clubs?" I said, "I'm in several but I don't use funds." I confessed that I wasn't totally sure what my stance was but that I didn't clearly see what the need was for and that it seemed more important to me to keep tuition down. Obviously this is where my mind is.
(Photo: Original CCNY, the Free Academy on 23rd Street).

There are plenty of people on both sides but I'm sure most of the school isn't in on the conversation. My view is this. The argument, that our school has relatively low student activity fees, is a poor argument because it's poor to compare something sad to something more sad and then say we should make it sadder. I'm in my fifth year of college and I've thought about this for a long time. A lot of these students are telling me the same thing, like, "Unfortunately money makes the world go round and we need money." So I'm telling them, "Why doesn't our generation have any Utopian hope? Why do we rely so much on money? We sound like 40 year olds! Don't you know there's no money in a Utopia?" I feel like my generation has no ideals, like we've given up or have never even tried. When you say free school to students, they act like you're from another planet but my friend in Sweden goes to school for free. I think the recession has jaded people, honestly.

In related news, the usual Walk Out (Annual Walk Out was the original idea) will this year be a concert and platform for voices on April 22nd during Club Hours at 12-2 and strangely, CCNY Earth Day will be right after at 2. Then, I think there's going to be a big Environmental Action during Rush Hour.

NYC Environmental Summit at CCNY this Saturday

Students for Environmental Justice, Food Justice, City Ag Network (which might change it's name to Food for Life, inspired by Relay for Life), and CCNY Green have been organizing with Columbia U, NYU, Queensborough Community College, Bronx Community College and other schools for this 60 or so person summit at CCNY. Ever hear of Power Shift? That was where 12,000 young folks all came to 1 conference in DC for the environment, at least the one in March 09.

This is like that man, except it's more immediate, NYC students, to create a network. Usually, groups are doing their own thing. SEJ goes to radical environmental rallies and wonders where the other students are. NYPIRG is the only example of an environmental network in NYC where students come from all CUNYs to rally or lobby together, but that leaves out private schools and groups like SEJ that are minority based and don't believe in carbon trading. Serious protests and actions will come out of this summit right away. We want to do something on Earth Day, (maybe later during Rush Hour).

There shall be Hydro Fracking Protests (anti-gas drilling), more coming together for Climate Justice at Last (that's my hope), and finally New Yorkers take a substantial stand against Mountain Top Removal (I've never heard of such an event). There will probably be frequent forums following this or even against nuclear. We are for something, renewable energy. The point is we will have a substantial new network.

It's free and open and there will be some vegan food so come! Search Amp Up Summit on FB, contact ampupnyc@gmail.com or just register here, https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGU4SW5NcXd0Wk82ZE1fY284dEQ2YlE6MA

Somebody is Against this Publication?

(Rewrite) My new idea about the posters being taken down for CCA is that there was never a club name on them. They were stamped but there is no CCA club. So the new poster says, "For authorship contact Shannon of Students for Environmental Justice." That way it doesn't look like SEJ owns the entire thing.
The administration is still under suspicion for taking us down though.

Post March 4 and City College Activist

This is a video from the second trip to Albany this semester that CCNY Students had access to going to to lobby for CUNY and SUNY. From City College, Davey Czyzyk from SER (Students for Educational Rights), me (Shannon from SEJ or Students for Environmental Justice) and Lisa Liu from USG were the CCNY students that went as well as Stanley Fritz, our new NYPIRG chapter project coordinator.

How was March 4th?

Click for CNN Photo Gallary of March 4

Click for CNN video archive of March 4, including us.

Our video captures the party/rally in the rotunda where I think we reached and appealed to more students than before with this new indoor/festival tactic. More students got involved. Our video doesn't capture the march that went across town to FIT. It was beautiful, the sun was setting as we crossed the major avenues with our signs.



We were in the middle of the march. When we got to the hearing at FIT we found ourselves stopped by a barricade that separated us from the front of the March. We couldn't hear the speeches, we were cut off so cars could go down 29th Street and the rally could be suppressed or made to look smaller. We begged the police to let us over. The concept of hopping over the gate was in the air but the police could arrest us. A woman encouraged us to go back and go around to the rally but after we started doing that the police gave up and opened the side gates. Still, when it was dark, they refused to let us into FIT to fight for the student metro cards and cuts to transit. We cheered, "Let Us In!" We found ourselves blocked again, this time trapped in front of FIT behind the barricade. We pushed the gate and the police pushed back. We pushed back and forth until finally, again, they let us out but as far as I know there was no ability for the crowd to get into FIT. There was mostly confusion at that point.

On Wednesday there will be a post March 4th general activism meeting in the Hoffman Lounge. All activist groups on campus are invited to discuss what we all are doing these next 2.5 months and how perhaps, we could support each other, or at least not compete with each other.