No cuts. No fees. Education should be free.
The chants of students from the N.C. Defend Education Coalition rang out as they marched from the Pit to the Spangler Center protesting the proposed tuition increase on the agenda of the Board of Governors meeting.
The UNC Board of Governors passed the tuition increase, which averages $284 across all 17 institutions at UNC-Chapel Hill Friday morning. The protestors arrived thirty minutes after the Board meeting was over.
Despite being late, protestors felt it wouldn’t have made a difference if they were 30 minutes earlier.
“They meet at these times. They don’t get students involved,” Dante Strobino, an N.C. State alumnus who still works with the N.C. Defend Education Coalition at N.C. State. “The Student Body Government themselves don’t necessarily represent the students.”
The Chairwoman of the Board Hannah Gage and President Tom Ross both agreed to meet with the protestors, but negotiation was necessary to get the entire group inside.
“We want to make sure that everyone who came out today will get their voice heard and their story told because this is really important in our lives,” Laural Ashton, a student in women’s studies and anthropology at UNC-Chapel Hill, said in defense of the other protestors.
The protestors came to demand that the UNC system defend education.
”The UNC system has some of the strongest lobbying powers and we believe that the decisions that North Carolina is making on its budget are going to hurt education, students, middle class people. We ask that you start lobbying.”
Ashton pinpointed some of the group’s priorities as H.B. 11, the decreasing availability of need-based scholarships and privatization of sectors of campus.
“We are starting to see lots of things that make education inaccessible,” Ashton said. “We ask that you stand for public education and that you oppose the privatization of our education.”
Students also shared their suggestions and stories of their lives at their schools, from UNC to Appalachian State.
High-level administrators receive a higher salary. A student from UNC suggested Chancellor Thorpe and other administrators cut their salaries.
“Chancellor Thorpe makes $420,000,” the student said, “We asked him to lower his salary before and his answer has always been, ‘That’s not possible.’ Why is it not possible for somebody who already makes that much money?”
The coalition also wanted the UNC system urge legislatures to close corporate tax loop holes and make corporations pay state taxes.
“The burden of this economic crisis should not fall on the backs of students,” Ashton said.
Chairwoman Gage explained that despite the distance between the Board of Governors and students, the Board is aware of the difficulties on students and their families.
“One of the things that happens on this board is we are fairly isolated from students. A Board of Trustees is not, but the Board of Governors is. So we don’t hear the real concerns because students can’t make it to our meetings,” Gage said. “The things we’ve felt we’ve had to do in these past couple years has hurt not only low income students, but middle class students as well. We are very aware.”
The three legislative priorities of the Board of Governors are to protect the academic core, fund enrollment and increase financial aid. The UNC system has already had $600 million cut from its budget, and N.C. State is expecting a 15 percent budget cut.
“We know the cuts we’ve made have hurt the academic experience,” Gage said.
Chairman Gage urged the coalition to speak to other organizations and the legislature, other than herself and Ross, but was welcome to continue the conversation.
“There has to be some venue for your voice to be heard beyond just the two of us,” Gage said, “because they are strong and they are powerful and that’s why we are here.”
The North Carolina Constitution requires a public system of higher education and that it should be funded enough to be as free as possible to citizens. Ross says he is committed to the constitution and keeping tuition down.
“Raising tuition continuously puts some question to our commitment to our own constitution,” Ross said. “But I hope we can do everything in the state to keep tuition as low as possible. Not only is it our constitutional responsibility, it’s what we owe to you as North Carolina’s future.”
For more information about the UNC Board of Governors motions- https://www.northcarolina.edu/bog/index.php
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