March 10, 2010
Vol: 17 No: 11

News

Protesters call for UW tuition freeze

by: Cydney Gillis , Staff Reporter

National day of action

Kayla Huddleson says she’s worried that cuts to the university Office of Minority Affairs will make it harder for students of color to get their degrees. The March 4 student protest was timed to accompany similar events at Seattle Central Community College, Evergreen, Western Washington University and many University of California campuses.

Photo by: Jane Austin , None

Printer-Friendly Version

Like it? Share it!

 

Even in a crowd of 500, it wasn’t hard to pick out James Peterson at the March 4 protest march at the University of Washington. He looked a little older than the students around him, and a little stouter, and seemed a bit out of place in his ski shades, shirt and nearly new leather jacket.

The hand-lettered cardboard sign in his hand – “No Layoffs” – didn’t fit the picture, either. But that, the 37-year-old says, is because he found the sign. He picked it up and joined in the protest against the UW’s budget cuts and tuition hikes because the message fit him, he says.

On Jan. 29, Peterson got laid off from an information-technology job he had held for six years at a Seattle shipping company that hired an outside firm to do his job more cheaply. He didn’t waste any time re-enrolling in the UW to finish a social sciences degree that he’s pursued on and off in evening classes since 2004 and now plans to finish in the next two quarters.

But when he first started, he says, the cost for a single evening course was $700 to $800. Now it’s up to $1,100 to $1,200, or roughly $4,000 a quarter to take three night classes – something he’s borrowing $8,000 to pay for. It was enough, says Peterson, a married Navy veteran with a child on the way, to get him out on the march, not only to protest tuition increases for the young, but for “people like me who are older and have been outsourced.”

Last year, in an effort to close a $9 billion budget gap, the Legislature cut $400 million in higher-education funding, including $73 million at the UW that resulted in 700 staff layoffs and tuition increases of 14 percent for regular students. With tuition slated to go up another 14 percent this fall and more cuts or fee increases expected, the protesters say the university has lost sight of its public mission: providing an affordable education for all.

The event, which included a march through campus and up University Way, was part of a National Day of Action to Defend Education that took place on campuses across the nation, including Seattle Central Community College, Evergreen State College, Western Washington University and many University of California campuses, where students have been protesting tuition increases since last fall.

Instead of raising tuition or fees, say members of the UW Student Worker Coalition, which organized the March 4 event, the university should trim the salaries of administrators who make more than $150,000 a year, with many participants calling UW President Mark Emmert’s $906,000 salary excessive.
The group is also calling on the university to freeze tuition and provide real financial aid instead of loans that bury students in debt.

During the march, participant Jessica Boone, 20, said she is the first in her family to go to college and currently works two jobs to pay for her schooling, but is having a hard time keeping up. She wants to get a degree in sociology and go on to the UW School of Nursing, she said, but is considering enlisting in the Navy as a way to get her nursing degree.

“Mark Emmert makes over $900,000 a year. I don’t think I’ll make that in my lifetime,” she said

Kayla Huddleston, 21, said she’s worried that the cuts that have been made to the university’s Office of Minority Affairs, which funds retention and mentorship programs, will make it more difficult for people of color to get a university education. “If tuition goes up any further, it will be less affordable for those without scholarships,” she said.

“It’s ridiculous we’re balancing the budgets on the backs of students, workers and people of color,” said Steve Hoffman, an electrician at North Seattle Community College and member of the Washington Federation of State Employees, which also represents UW trade workers. “There’s a better solution, which is taxing the wealthy and corporate profits.”

The university has done the best job it can in protecting its core educational mission, says UW spokesperson Bob Roseth, but “the budget cuts were unprecedented.” Mary Ann Curtis, a student counselor who has seen positions cut in the UW’s Jackson School of International Studies, says it’s how the university has gone about making the cuts, however, that doesn’t make sense.

“Students end up paying a whole lot more for fewer services,” Curtis says. And while the university lays off custodians and office staff, she says, “they are still hiring top-paid administrators.” 

----

Comments

I am really impressed by your posting. It is very much authentic hp2-t16 and useful information. keep up the good work. we need more vcp 410 braindump good statements. i have bookmarked your site for future reference. I really appreciate your way of presenting such a excellent apc training suggestion. I want more in to it and will come back often to see more updates citrix training in future as well so keep it up. Thanks

awesome | submitted on 05/12/2010, 3:49am

Sixteen people were detained and 15 were arrested during the afternoon rally,News Blog, university spokesman Tom Luljak said.Acne, The rally coincided with rallies at colleges nationwide that criticized the rising cost of higher education.Art

Warnerbros | submitted on 05/22/2010, 1:22am

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

Search Our Archives

Real Change on Facebook

Real Change on Twitter


Follow realchangeorg on Twitter


Nominate a Vendor of the Week