Rally and March to Reclaim Public Education at the U of M on March 4 National Day of Action

****UPDATE 9pm: Photos from U of M protest; In California: Demonstrators block freeway; 150 arrested; universities shut down; widespread police brutality and militant resistance.  Read more at Indybay or LA-IMC. || 18 Arrested at Education Rally in Milwaukee****

from the open publishing newswire: On Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 12pm at Morrill Hall on the U of M East Bank campus, there will be a march and rally to defend public education.  The protest was initiated in response to a call for a National Day of Action to Defend Education.  The call initially emerged out of struggles across California last fall against the 32% tuition increases and corporate administration there.  There are hundreds of protests planned at universities and colleges across the country tomorrow.  A list of protests by state shows them planned in at least 31 states as of March 3rd.

Planning for the march and rally was coordinated by the University of Minnesota's Chop-from-the-Top Campaign and the Save our Schools Coalition which includes Staff, Graduate Students, Undergrads, Adjuncts and Faculty members concerned about the effects of the budget cuts.

Other Indymedia coverage nationwide: Crowdsourced news from LA Indymedia (photo source) | New York City | Indybay: California March 4 Resistance Heats Up Amidst Occupations and Riots | DefendEducation.org

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME 3800 and coalition member said, “While the budget for public education gets slashed, over 250 administrators at the University of Minnesota earn more than $200,000 per year. Increasing layoffs and threatened furloughs reduce vital services for students. Furloughs are a pay cut, and front line staff are already struggling to get by.”

“The tuition increases, up 134% since 2000, put students into massive debt, take on extra jobs during school, and treat education as a consumer item”, said Tracy Molm of U of M SDS.

Professor Teri Caraway, Political Science said, “They are asking faculty, staff and students to bear the burden of state budget cuts. We have already seen our class sizes grow, our support staff shrink, and now they want us to take more time away from teaching and research, in the form of a furlough. We stand with staff and students at this University, and across the country, to defend public education on March 4th.”

Eli Meyerhoff of Graduate Student Workers United said, “The administrators keep bloating their own bureaucracy-doubling their ranks since 2000. They don’t trust us to govern ourselves-they’re virulently anti-union and secretive.  Why should we trust them to govern us when they keep putting our money into increasing their own power rather than into education? Whatever budget cuts need to be taken should start with them!”

The March 4th rally is part of a national day of action where students, staff and faculty at over 100 colleges and schools in 31 states will demand that higher education be funded and university jobs protected. For more information on actions around the country, visit www.defendeducation.org.  For more info on the rally and march tomorrow, see the facebook group and event.