The Facts: Students at several public universities in California have protested a tuition increase since Thursday. A Board of Trustees meeting Friday approves tuition and fee increases at N.C. State with little to no student activism or protesting.
Our Opinion: Students should take note of the voracious protests in California and remember that the tuition and fees process is not yet complete.
Since Thursday, thousands of California students have protested a decision by the University of California Board of Regents to increase fees — what UNC System schools call tuition — by 32 percent.
The response by the students, notably at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, has received national press coverage for its tenacity and commitment. According to the New York Times, as many as 50 students have engaged in a sit-in at Berkeley’s Wheeler Hall with tremendous support from other students at that university. Hundreds of students circled Wheeler Hall in the rain Friday in support of the holed-up students and in open protest to the Board of Regents’ decision.
Meanwhile, back at N.C. State, the Board of Trustees voted Friday for an approval of a $150 tuition increase and $283 fee increase.
The BOT did support students’ efforts — in particular those of Jim Ceresnak, student body president, and the other student body presidents of the UNC System — to change the $200 legislatively-mandated tuition increase to a campus initiated $150 increase, but there is no guarantee the Board of Governors or legislature will acquiesce to that request.
Students were notably silent and didn’t seem to exude any sort of emotional response about the proceedings — they should have.
The $433 potential increase at the University is almost paltry in comparison to the nearly $2,500 increase the California schools stand to see, but it is no less important.
The year has seen a tremendous amount of economic hardship thrust upon students and families by the recession. Many students were outraged, and rightfully so, when the Student Senate voted against students’ wishes and recommended a fee increase for the Talley-Atrium expansion, but that was a relatively small skirmish in a much larger fight.
Students must understand that they can still influence decision makers at the BOG and general assembly. The tuition and fees battle has left the University level but is far from over.
Students should take a lesson from the students at Berkeley and other schools in California and show some resolve for increases that serve to increase the burden on students now and into the future.
Peaceful protesting and civic unrest is certainly not a desirable outcome, when these issues could have been resolved through reasonable debate, but sometimes the means are necessary to reach the end. Students should take note.