Last week was the peak of a month of "Tent State Universities" (TSU) held on college campuses across the country. Billing Tent State as, "more than just a protest," organizers say the tent campuses are the product of a system of higher education gone homeless, as the federal and state governments abandon public education in favor of war spending and corporatization. Participating campuses included Rutgers, UMass Amherst, and Michigan, among nearly a dozen others.

Skyrocketing tuition is fueling the Tent State fire, and students at two of the country’s largest state school systems have felt the brunt: Since 2002, tuition has increased over 67% for the California State University system, over 79% for the University of California system, and over 136% for the California Community Colleges, while increasing at rates ranging between 56% and 72% at the University of Wisconsin system.

As a national movement, the wave of protests advocate full federal and state funding for public higher education and increased accessibility to public institutions of higher education, especially for people of color and the poor, as well as greater democracy in campus governance and life. Many Tent State Universities have developed a strong anti-war sentiment, as activists see higher education as one part of the collateral damage of war.

Now finishing their second year of national operations, the Tent State University organizers have linked up with Liberty Tree and the Democratizing Education Network in an effort to create a national movement of students, faculty, staff and community members dedicated to the democratization of higher education.

More info:

Read more about Tent State University and the Democratizing Education Network.

Areas of Focus:

Right to Organize, Corporatization, Full Funding, Free Speech, Civic Education, Campus Democracy, Affirmative Action, Tuition Abolition, Democratizing Education (Liberty Tree)

---

---

User Comments

No Comments.

Please login at the top of the page or register as a Democracy Square member if you would like to comment.