by Kaan Ocbe / Contributing Writer
How much did your tuition cost this semester? How much did it cost last semester? To those that have been paying attention, it’s common knowledge that tuition is rising. In fact, according to figures provided by the Florida Board of Governors, tuition at FIU specifically has grown by an average of 15% per year over the past five years while fees have more than doubled.
According to the Florida Board of Governors, tuition for in-state students was $117.67 per credit hour in 2010. However, FIU’s own admissions website reports that tuition is now $205.57 per credit hour. The cost of tuition and fees is one of those things that just increases every year as a rule. It’s like some kind of unfortunate law of nature that most people have resolved that you can’t fight back against.
But what happens when you fight back against it? Though the struggle of increasing educational costs is common for students all around the world, the response of American students does seem to be a bit of an anomaly compared to some of their international peers. American students seem to have accepted many of their more unfavorable conditions as unchangeable.
This mentality is different from university students in Montreal, for example, who went on strike for the better part of 2012 in response to the government of Quebec instituting a five year tuition increase. That was an eighty percent increase in tuition which, by the way, would have still left students in Montreal with the lowest tuition in all of Canada. The students weren’t having it, and the strike eventually swelled to 150,000 students strong while demonstrations soon spread to other sections of society in Montreal. In September of 2012, the government of Quebec backed down and froze tuition right where it was.
Here we are back in the states and every year without fail, as sure as the sun rises, so does tuition and fees. What’s the difference between here and Montreal? Why are they so adamant about keeping their educational costs low while students in the United States seem so passive about them increasing, slowly tightening the chains of our collective debt loads around our throats?
One major difference is that Montreal is a place with a long history of student activism and organization and the other major difference is that in Montreal, students are organized. Students in Montreal long ago formed student unions so that they could collectively fight for their interests as students. This has helped to keep tuition low, as well as given the students in Montreal an avenue to voice their concerns and to tackle the problems that face them as students.
The students in Montreal were not alone either, international solidarity poured in from around the world as we all watched young people draw a line in the sand. Montreal was not an isolated incident either, student demonstrations seized the UK in 2010 when the Tory government moved to increase school fees and from 2011-2013 Chilean students fought for a liberatory education with a movement that became so powerful that one of their leaders became a member of parliament.
Students and their parents alike have been looking for a solution to come from on high to solve this impending crisis. Demanding change from politicians is of course necessary to remedying this odious situation but if we rely on that avenue alone then we as students are abdicating our responsibilities to ourselves. In addition to seeking change through political avenues, students must also contest the creation of this debt on the ground, at the point of consumption, in the very tuition and fees that we are paying in the first place.
We can do this through the formation of a student union. What we’ve learned from the unceasing climbing of the cost of our education is that school administrations and the state governments that employ them will not reduce costs on their own without some pushback from students. Student governments can’t always serve as a voice for our concerns.
When FIU’s Board of Trustees approved an increase in tuition and fees in 2010, our former SGA president told FIU News that “in order to get a quality education, more class offerings and enhanced academic advising, we must support this increase.” By forming an autonomous student union, the students can organize and negotiate for their interests, much like a labor union does at a workplace.
A university system only functions because of its students. Students provide the very justification for the existence of these universities, we justify the salaries of the bloated university administrations, and we keep the place running with our labor, payment and the collective mortgaging of our futures. Yet we have no input in our education, much less any influence on the cost and are treated as passive consumers who will accept whatever we are told.
Is that ok? Can you live with that? Perhaps I should ask again when the next tuition bill comes in.
[Image from Flickr]
Kaan, perhaps you would like to tell readers of this article the ideologies to which your organization subscribes? Organizations such as yours (Florida Student Union) "hook" students with the promise of free or reduced tuition, but fail to mention the radical politics which underpin them. If the article was more honest, it would mention that your organization subscribes to an anarcho-communist ideology, and sponsored conferences last year with groups like "One Struggle Miami" and "The Black Rose Anarchist Federation".
For any readers, here are a few quotes from FIU’s "student union" activists: "As long as we live in capitalism, its deep wells will poison all the streams flowing into our cities". "It is not moral. It is not reasonable. It cares for no living thing. There is no such thing as polite or friendly capitalism."
Yikes! Joining your organization sounds like a good way to get onto a government watch list.
To be fair, FSU is pretty upfront about the politics of the organization. Bait-and-switch tactics are the realm of capitalists, in my experience.
Trust me, FSU members have engaged in a lot of questionable tactics. Trying to stack the boards of student orgs with members last year (ex: College Democrats, ASO, NOW, various honor societies, etc), vandalizing school property, appropriating resources and privileges from registered clubs, encouraging textbook piracy, and generally fomenting unnecessary trouble on campus. I was in a club that was pretty much ruined once it became a satellite group for FSU’s radical politics. I would hate to see even more students be duped into supporting the same ideologies that oppressed so many of their parents and grandparents.
Yeah… none of that’s true. I’m not even a part of FSU and I know that.
So it’s just a coincidence that College Dems, NOW, WSSA, ASO, FBC, STD, GSS, AKD, Self-Publish, The Beacon, Farmer’s Market Consortium, etc all had at least one Florida Student Union member on their boards last year? I mean, I know FIU can get pretty radical, but I find it hard to believe so many members would *happen* to wander into positions of authority. To borrow a phrase, it sounds like a "long march through" our student organizations.
You’re saying that FSU members didn’t vandalize the #FIUThanks donor appreciation board last year? Or that they didn’t duct tape their flyers all over painted surfaces near DM and GL?
…and I know they booked room privileges under the names of other student orgs so they didn’t have to pay the $50 fee for unregistered groups. They also seemed to like the idea of appropriating resources and funds from AKD, GSS, and FBC as well.
I love it! we have an obsessed fan who has been following us closely (but clearly not from the inside given all the blatant misinformation/made up stuff) and gathering outside intelligence. Do you want our autograph?
I put up my actual name because you probably already knew it. Are you on our facebook group? Why haven’t you ever confronted about this in person? You are welcome to come up to me if you see me around campus don’t be shy.
People can be members of multiple orgs and it not be a conspiracy. Particularly since a number of GSS students tend to be left-leaning already, it makes sense that they would also be part of FSU. Since you named specifics I know some of the people you’re talking about (I was in GSS Club, Lambda Alpha, and AKD and was involved in the Farmer’s Market before and after FSU was formed.) There was no appropriation of funds, that’s not really possible with the way organization funding works. Most of the funds from the GSS-related clubs goes toward the end of the year party.
The FIUThanks thing, I have no idea what you’re talking about. But even if members of FSU did it, that doesn’t mean it was the organization.
You basically have no proof of any of this, no way to back it up, and are just throwing things at the wall because you have an axe to grind. You see that FSU members are involved in other things that have left-leaning bases and have made it some big conspiracy. I’m sorry to tell you, there isn’t one.
I’m saying that it seems like your group encouraged members to build ties within other organizations so you could promote your club, co-organize events, and recruit members. A lot of clubs try and foster ties to other organizations for advertising purposes, and it’s hardly a "wild conspiracy theory" to assume that you wanted to promote your group. The thing that makes it questionable and worrying to me is that FSU is a very radical organization.
If you want to talk about conspiracy theories though, why not start with the one that claims that capitalism is responsible for poverty, racism, imperialism, and all the wrongs in the world? Or all of the conspiracy theories that claim corporations and banks are terrible things that want to crush the working class. Maybe some of your members believe those conspiracy theories, but most students don’t.
I’m using my actual name too because I have nothing to hide, and FSU is a very transparent organization. I’ve never seen someone with such an axe to grind nor someone make such wild-eyed accusations. Now you’re no longer claiming that we’re malevolent infiltrators but that we built ties with others groups because we have common cause with anti-racists, feminists, and environmentalists? And?
What group have we ostensibly "ruined"? Who are you?
Well, yes, I do have an axe to grind against communism, along with organizations that support it. A lot of people do, especially here in South Florida. I think that your group promotes some very dangerous ideas, and it’s just terrible to see students supporting the same ideologies that have caused so much suffering worldwide (including just 90 miles south of us).
A university administrator once donated books to FSU. FSU has clearly infiltrated all the way to the ranks of the university administration. This goes deeper than we know…
Except that textbook part. That’s totally true.
Many of the things we enjoy in the United States, and often still denied or are now slowly slipping away from us because of austerity, like living wages, an 8 hour workday, and things like public education were fought for tirelessly by, yes, radicals, some of whom would have possibly described themselves as "anarcho communists".
maybe true to a certain degree. of course, these types of political philosophies are often aligned with "activism" and/or movements. but the union would do well to kind of "debrand" itself, at least explicitly. focus on a goal (decreasing tuition) and try to rally people around that goal instead of political ideology. it is after all, a game of numbers. and the truth is, not everyone is down with the "fuck capitalism!" thing.
Btw considering how closely you have been following us you clearly haven’t looked at any of the documents presenting our purpose. Our goal isn’t just free tuition, free tuition would merely be an inherent consequence of our ultimate goal. And how we get what we want is more important than what we get. The organizational structure of our organization and direct action tactics are inherent to our goals because we aim for the university to be organized around the same lines (aka, those affected by decisions should be the ones making them, not some rich people in the board of trustees or inflated bureaucrats). All of this is stated in the documents available wordpress floridastudentunion.wordpress.com
As to your big conspiracy, people from those organizations found out about FSU long after FSU’s founding and came up to us independently. Some of them we also met and told about FSU and they wanted to collaborate with us. They all know exactly the ideology of the organization, and they know the ideological leanings of most of our most active members. Even those who do not agree with the founding member’s particular political lines (aka anyone who would be a part of college Democrats, which is just the complete opposite of my personal ideological position) chose to continue to participate of their own accord for their own reasons. No deceit happened. You clearly haven’t actually participated or talked to any of us to find any of this out.
Do you also believe in weird Rothschild-reptillian communist anti-semitic conspiracies? it seems like it. Btw, you know who I am and who all of us are clearly, given how closely you have been following us. So Maybe reveal yourself instead of making cowardly allegations. What organization where you even a part of that supposedly got ruined for being a "satellite"?
Btw this reply was not meant for Billy John but for the Student Union fan that commented originally. Although if Billy John is interested this reply does address your comment on us needing to simply focus on tuition and you are welcome to browse through our wordpress documents ofcourse.
Well, I appreciate the offer, but I’m really not that interested in FSU and I’m really not following them closely either. I know a lot of this because I actually *was* a part of your club at one point (before the radical slant started to worry me), and I know a lot of FSU members. Either way, you’ve got to admit it’s pretty strange that so many organizations had student union members on their boards, considering the niche position of the club.
The activist base at FIU is relatively small. That’s why it we have many ties and friends in other organizations. FSU doesn’t control any other organizations, nor does it have proxies or fronts. Your description is actually kind of flattering because it makes us seem much more powerful than we actually are. Also, not everyone in FSU or organizations we are friendly with have the same ideologies. In our meetings and public events we disagree on many big things, but maintain positive relationships with each other because we more or less hold a common desire to make FIU, and the world, a better place. The only conspiracy here is that of the capitalist class trying to turn everything I love and hold dear, in this case education and learning, into sources of profits.
I mean why are you brushing off Rosenberg’s Jewish heritage as well as his open affection for Zionism and pro-Israel groups at FIU. I don’t see why you have to lump the real Jewish issue with that of reptiles in an attempt to discredit the real Jewish problem at FIU. If you want to talk about infiltration of groups, it is Jewish students going into various organizations and pushing their agenda. They speak of free speech, but the minute you dare question their alleged holocaust, free speech goes out the door.
As for appropriating funds, that is complete nonsense. FIU is extremely stingy with its money. Registered orgs rarely are able to get funding for stuff they need and all of our events took no money to put on. In reality, me and many other members would regularly pool together our own money to print flyers, literature, or buy food.
"Lately however, [Redacted] has been thinking about establishing a “front group” which isn’t the official student union. Ideally a group that would enable us to draw funds and be able to reserve rooms to use for the Florida Student Union events, and not requiring us to rely so much on the help of certain heroic others. [Redacted] proposed calling the group Students for Experimental Freedom."
"[Redacted] is president of AKD (Sociology honors club) and has access to some resources from GSS, so we’ll be able to possibly draw on that for the coming semester (around $500 in funding and the ability to reserve rooms). Nevertheless, we may want to consider moving forward to establish a front group specifically for FSU anyway, since despite the fact that AKD overlaps with FSU’s interests, it still is its own organization with its own set of needs/intentions."
The proof’s in your own meeting minutes, Gordon. Really…
There’s nothing controversial in what you’re quoting. FSU ideally wants to maintain political independence from university structures and resources. We wanted to set up a group within CSO orgs that could represent us and enable us to take advantage of campus resources, as students, but which wouldn’t entirely limit our freedom of action or be "what we are". Ultimately if we lost CSO recognition it would be something we could live without.
Yes, one of us was president of AKD. Sociologists and Anthropologists are already fairly left-leaning as it is. The thought was that if we could come up with events to host together, pairing with AKD would enable the initiative to have farther reach than if we did it alone thanks to their resources. Aside from the fact that defrauding CSO is nearly impossible, an advisor wouldn’t approve and write off on expenditures that weren’t going towards the organization. Everything we’ve ever done has been funded out of pocket by our members, and we’ve never utilized CSO finances for anything, ever. Incidentally FSU and GSS never were really able to pair for anything except having one of our members sit on a police reform panel, and the president in question fulfilled his responsibilities in the group as normal.
I’m guessing you don’t know how this all works. That’s fine. But FSU isn’t a Communist organization. Several members are very open and professedly anarchists and socialists, certainly. But FSU doesn’t have a political line. Just as many of our members are democratic liberals who will probably vote for Hillary and Bernie Sanders. We’re not trying to unite on the basis of ideology, but rather direct action and student struggle. This is a really lazy and trivial smear attempt.
Well, someone else just said that "FSU doesn’t […] have proxies or fronts", even while you just admitted you were trying to set up a self-described "front group". The second quote is basically admitting that FSU appropriated funding and room reservations which the university allocated to other clubs. I didn’t even quote the worst parts, where you guys talk about a "Decentralized Intelligence Committee", "agitat[ing] other students", or posting "Propaganda to get people riled up". Maybe you guys don’t see anything controversial about it, but it’s not too hard for the rest of us to conclude that there’s some pretty shady stuff going on.
Yes, we floated the idea, and ultimately didn’t pursue it. No tasks were ever delegated to form one. We don’t have any front groups. It’s a fact. I’ve already stated that we haven’t, and could not, utilize campus financial resources for just ourselves even if we wanted to.
>>"I didn’t even quote the worst parts, where you guys talk about a "Decentralized Intelligence Committee", "agitat[ing] other students", or posting "Propaganda to get people riled up". Maybe you guys don’t see anything controversial about it, but it’s not too hard for the rest of us to conclude that there’s some pretty shady stuff going on."<<
That was a play on words. CIA. Central Intelligence Committee. We’re not in favor of centralization. Get it? It was a tongue-in-cheek name for a delegation of students to sit in on SGA meetings and find out what’s going on in campus politics. Better call in the troops, the radicals are sitting in on meetings and taking notes!
The only controversy here is your crude grasp of English. We want to agitate students to be angry about the way we’re exploited by the education and student debt system, and aware that we can do something about it. Look up "propaganda" in a dictionary; it’s just any set of ideas that expresses one point of view that’s meant to help or advance a movement. We’ve floated the idea of bringing in some hypnosis machines to make it really effective, but sadly brainwashing costs some serious capital (/sarcasm).
Apparently this petulant tirade only has to do with the fact that some of us are radicals and give voice to anti-capitalist ideas. That’s true. Your other accusations are weak, and you continuously abandon them when we contest them. Are you done?
I haven’t abandoned any point; I’m just not going to endlessly debate semantics when your own minutes state your objectives in crystal-clear language. Anyway, I’m mostly here to let other students know, not to argue with activists who call the privilege of attending college "exploitation". I do appreciate all of the replies though, comrades.
You accused us of stacking the boards of other groups, appropriating funds, and a litany of other hysterics. We’ve debunked them, and you’ve gone silent on these points. I don’t really care how you characterize a trillion dollars of student debt, inflationary attendance costs, a lack of student control, exorbitant administration salaries, and a sinking skilled job market — especially when we’re increasingly one of the last places in the world that characterizes education as a "privilege" rather than a "right".
I’m incredulous about whether you know us at all. I certainly hope that we don’t. This all demonstrates a near psychotic level of distortion, manipulation, and practical stalking. I take it this is your last post. It’s mine too. Good riddance.
Again, I’m not the one who believes in wild conspiracy theories, or who thinks that successful people and big companies are all conspiring against them. But you’re right… Radicals have such a good track record when it comes to honesty and obeying the rules. Of course I looked up FSU… From what I’ve seen/heard, your organization seemed like a very dangerous group with possibly some very dangerous people in it. If it seemed like your group posed a threat to others, as so many self-proclaimed "radicals" have, I had no desire to be complacent.
Really? you literally made up a conspiracy theory about a little student group you don’t even know LOL. You at the very least have some issues.
Again, I was part of your group once and I’m getting most of my info directly from your own meeting minutes, so I know enough. Aside from that though, there are 50,000 FIU students. There are maybe around 500 board positions in active clubs. Your group has around 20-30 active members, and has seats on the executive boards of at least 15 clubs.
Concluding that your organization might encourage its members to run for offices in other clubs is hardly a wild conspiracy theory. Even if it weren’t true though, you’re a group of self-professed radicals who encourage piracy/theft and use terms like "front groups", "propaganda", and "Intelligence Committee". Of course people are going to look at you suspiciously. The fact is that most of your members have a a conspiratorial mind-set, thinking that capitalism/business/wealthy people/universities/police are all out to get them. Most are also angry young males with radicalized views and a grudge against society. There are SO many red flags there, especially since anarchists aren’t exactly known for their pacifist ways.
I do no see how any of us, literally just a group of students who vaguely agree that things need to be changed, can be described as threatening. If you’ve spent any time around us, what you will notice is that we have a strong desire to end racism, help working class students who struggle to be able to afford school, etc. Words like agitation and propaganda are just that, words, and using Cold War, McCarthyist language and trying to make us look like soviet agents or something isn’t going to work. I’m sorry if you don’t agree with us, but I personally think it’s a crime that me and my family should struggle to pay for my schooling, even though I’ve supposedly done everything right by getting perfect grades in high school and getting scholarships, etc. This point is not radical in the slightest, it’s just merely an example about how a capitalist controlled education system isn’t made for people from working class backgrounds. Education is a right, not a privilege, just like food, decent housing, good jobs, etc.
I dont seem to see your point. You state to follow semantics, yet yours are worse than a chemistry student’s. I’ve gone to a few FSU meetings and I have seen what your speak about…but not to the extents you present it. The union genuinely speaks about the issues that students need to know about, that vno other institutions on campus are talking about (thats why i go). If you wanna suck the university’s dick, well thats up to you…but dont expect smart (cognitively eloquent) students to follow your path.
I dont seem to see your point. You state to follow semantics, yet yours are worse than a chemistry student’s. I’ve gone to a few FSU meetings and I have seen what your speak about…but not to the extents you present it. The union genuinely speaks about the issues that students need to know about, that vno other institutions on campus are talking about (thats why i go). If you wanna suck the university’s dick, well thats up to you…but dont expect smart (cognitively eloquent) students to follow your path.