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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.
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