From the moment the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education announced that yet another tuition increase was inevitable, the CCSU Student Government Association took it as its personal responsibility to oppose it at all costs. The current senators were more active in this mission against a tuition hike than any others that the Recorder’s editorial staff could recall.
On three separate occasions this semester, the SGA put on or helped organize a demonstration that was aimed to oppose this latest raise, which would amount to about $800 for students attending CCSU. The first was held in the Student Center Circle here on campus. The turnout was decent considering how many people usually attend these sorts of events. It drew about 100 students and faculty that held signs and voiced their issues about paying more for an education.
The second rally was more of a conglomerate between the CSU schools. It was held at Eastern Connecticut State University, which was where the BOR meeting took place that ultimately saw the tuition increase approved. Despite the cold weather and constant snow, the group of almost 200 protestors remained strong with a much more boisterous movement than the last one. On several occasions, the demonstrators marched through the Student Center including once with tape over their mouths that read, “No tuition hike.”
The protest concluded with the members neatly filing into the Regents’ meeting at which point the board opened up the floor to the public.. Multiple students told the BOR why they couldn’t afford a tuition increase of the proposed volume. CCSU SGA Senator Chris Marcelli assured the board that the student body wouldn’t give up the battle against this hike. To his praise, he held that pledge true.
The SGA spearheaded yet another protest this past Monday with other state institutions participating as well. The sad part about this latest demonstration was the poor turnout. Even with the best intentions, this latest event could hardly be considered a rally. Only 15 people turned up outside the State Capitol Building in Hartford. The cliché chants that are normally heard at these occurrences weren’t even attempted given the small group of people that totaled the attendees.
It was an embarrassment to the Connecticut State College student body. In all fairness, the event was supposed to take place last week, but was rescheduled due to the horrific events that happened in Boston. This clearly had a negative effect on the turnout, but nevertheless this last rally clearly indicated that protests should be avoided in the future until the fall semester. At this point, if students still want to oppose the approved increase then one-on-one lobbying would be a much more effective method. To the credit of the SGA, the senators have already started doing this.
According to SGA Senator Bobby Berriault, the senate paid $225 for the bus on Monday that provided transportation for students. Dishing out that kind of money for only two students, excluding media members, is not a very valuable use of those funds. There’s plenty of clubs on campus that would appreciate that money and probably put it to better use.
This most recent demonstration was put together with a bit too much optimism on the part of the senate. The SGA members should stick with the lobbying in their continued attempt to get more money for the state’s higher education budget.