Tuition Strike at Columbia U. Co-opted by Anti-Police and Anti-Israel Activists
“demands include cutting ties with the NYPD and pushing an anti-Semitic message and agenda through BDS measures”
This happens on the left pretty frequently. A protest starts about one thing, and then radicals take it over with another agenda.
The College Fix reports:
How Columbia’s tuition strike has been co-opted by efforts to break ties with NYPD and push anti-Semitism
In a January op-ed in Fortune magazine, Columbia University student Townesend Nelson made what seems like a compelling case for the ongoing, months-long tuition strike against Columbia.
Columbia’s publicly advertised cost of attendance for the 2020-21 school year is $80,339—including $61,671 for tuition and fees. And, as Nelson argues, much of this money goes to infrastructure expansions and administrative costs.
The strike was launched in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has left many Columbia students in financially precarious positions; as Nelson wrote, “Student testimonials are bleak—lost jobs, hundreds of thousands of dollars of tuition debt, working multiple jobs to make ends meet, and constant anxiety about losing financial aid.”
Unfortunately, Nelson’s column is most notable for what it leaves out—the strikers’ sweeping demands for social-justice measures that have nothing to do with tuition rates. For example, part of the demands include cutting ties with the NYPD and pushing an anti-Semitic message and agenda through BDS measures.
While there are many students who are sympathetic to the notion of high tuition rates, the activism has not only turned off and upset many in the campus community, but also excludes them from participation in the original cause.
The tuition strike formally began in November, when the Columbia chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America began circulating an online petition.
Among other things, the petition calls for reducing the cost of attendance and increasing financial aid by at least 10 percent.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
There is likely substantial overlap between these groups. That they spun into the usual stuff is not surprising.
“Co-opted by Anti-Police and Anti-Israel Activists”
So it’s really “leftist scumbags”, as usual.
They’re not paying their tuition? Doesn’t that mean they’ve withdrawn from school? Don’t let them attend class until they’re up-to-date with their tuition payments. They certainly shouldn’t get credit for any classes they’ve attended while not paying tuition until they’re current.