National Day of Action

Students attending the NewSchool, and across the country, walked out of classes on March 4th as part of the National Day of Action to Defend Education, which originated in response to drastic education cuts in the state of California.

The walk out was part of a much larger action occurring all over the country. In New York City particularly, there were multiple protests at the New School, NYU and a particularly heated protest at CUNY Hunter. Each protest had somewhat similar themes, such as protesting against the removal of MTA student cards and tuition hikes.

The overarching concept behind the walk out and similar actions began on December 14th of last year, when a call was made for a National Day of Action on March 4th by the California Coordinating Committee. Since that call was made, the word of action spread across the country and reaches as far as the other coast.

Some people feel that these protests and walk outs, while making a statement, will not accomplish much on a grand scale. Rhiannon Auriemma, a sophomore at Eugene Lang College in the NewSchool, said “I personally don’t think one walkout will accomplish much.” She continued “but when you have schools doing it across the country, it makes a statement.”

But a question that comes to mind with some people is, what do actions such as walkouts actually do? Professor Michael Pettinger at the NewSchool states “My question is, how does walking out of a classroom in New York help students change tuition hikes? Does this actually do anything?” Professor Pettinger went further to ask what students who walk out think they are accomplishing.

Some students, such as Kristen Turner of the NewSchool, states that the overall protests are helpful. One protest that she attended in particular had 100’s of attendees, signaling the significance of the issues at hand. Turner stated that at the protests “speakers addressed core issues such as budget cuts for schools and tuition hikes, as well as the taking away of free student Metrocards.”

But even Ms. Turner did not understand the point of some of the events across New York City, such as the NewSchool walk out. “Im not really sure why there was a walk-out at 11:30. There were several walk-outs yesterday, at a few different universities.” She continued “I really don’t understand how it relates at all.”

While some non-students did attend, the overwhelming majority of witnessed action occurred from students. Multiple students have been arrested for disorderly conduct. Some of the chants, such as “make the bosses take the losses” were peaceful, while other chants such as “f*ck the police” were not quite as peaceful. Overall, the protests held a wide variety of attitudes and took different approaches.

Regardless of the questionable organization of the Day of Action, these protests have received national attention, such as from CNN, the USA Today and the Washington Post. Regarding the student Metrocard situation, more hearings will be scheduled by the board in the future.