Students at the City University of New York rioted yesterday in protest of the school’s planned tuition hike. The proposed change: an extra $300 per year, bringing the total in-state tuition for full-time students to $5,430 per year – significantly less than the $8,244 nationwide average for in-state students at 4-year public universities.
The mob descended on CUNY’s Baruch College campus, where dozens were reportedly arrested. These videos captured some of the mayhem:
The riots were apparently orchestrated by a group called “Students United for a Free CUNY.” The group, as its name suggests, wants CUNY to accept students free of charge – or, more accurately, to bill New York taxpayers for the expense.
The group’s lengthy list of demands includes not only free admission, but lavish benefits for school employees, a change in state law allowing full time students to qualify for food stamps, a state resolution supporting public education for illegal immigrants, and increased funding for “the arts, humanities, and, especially, LGBTQ Studies, Africana Studies, Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, Women’s Studies and other departments that teach us about our histories and herstories.”
