The Education and Empowerment Committee of Occupy Wall Street launched its national campaign of student debt refusal at Zuccotti Park Nov. on 21.
The goal of the new campaign is to gather one million signatures from students who are willing to boycott payments on their student debt.
“It’s a huge concern, because student loans are the biggest lucrative venture you can make in the financial industry right now,” said Andrew Ross, an NYU professor and a member of the Education and Empowerment group. “The 1 percent have enriched themselves by generating this debt.”
After the official launch and open forum in Zuccotti Park, members continued their campaign in Madison Square Park by marching with CUNY students, who were protesting the recently announced tuition hike. Students, alumni, supporters and faculty of New York City schools then marched to Baruch College.
Protesters believe that education is a right, not a commodity. The Occupy Student Debt Campaign focuses on four main principles: fiscal transparency within schools, zero interest on student debt, government-funded public higher education and the forgiveness of all existing debt.
“The government wastes about $70 million every year in unaccountable spending,” CAS senior Hilary Goodfriend said. “That same amount of money would be sufficient to make public universities free.”
The campaign further highlights the decreasing number of jobs, while student tuition is the only expense that keeps rising during these hard economic times. The cumulative student debt has almost reached $1 trillion, and as Ross notes, the lack of transparency in private schools has led to previous student protests where students demand the right to know how tuition money is allocated.
“What you’ve seen in the last 30 years is increasing solidarity in state and public budget,” NYU graduate student Christy Thornton said. “The decline of economy means less money for students, which is coupled with higher tuition rates.”
“Our aim is to create the possibility of a real conversation about student debt,” said Pam Brown, OSDC member and New School graduate student. “We have a predatory system where student debt surpasses credit card debt. We need to take back our future.”
The campaign was launched on Nov. 21 to coincide with the public forum on the tuition hike at CUNY, and it currently has nearly 1,100 pledges. Protesting is the first initiative on their agenda.
CUNY professor Ashley Dawson sympathizes with the protesters, but is also concerned that the campaign’s message will be lost within the CUNY protest.
“In terms of the CUNY protest, we’re hoping the board of trustees backs down with some of their decisions,” Dawson said. “If this demonstration is successful, CUNY is free. Our campaign takes a small issue like student debt and makes it wider. We have to fight on different levels. If our campaign is successful, schools around the nation will benefit from it.”