SLAM! Right Now.
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SLAM in 2005 is at its peak in effective organizing against the CUNY administration’s attempts to raise tuition and alter its open admission policy for the 2005-2006 fiscal year. SLAM has been the spearhead of mass rallies and demonstrations in effort to make the students at CUNY and college students in New York City at large aware of the racist and sociodiscriminatory overtones that factor into the administration’s decision to raise CUNY’s annual tuition rates. SLAM’s main goal is to pressure governor Pataki into adequately addressing this swelling issue and ultimately help return CUNY to the free public institution that it was in the 1850s.
The SLAM movement gathers around the following issues affecting CUNY campuses across New York City:
A) The administration of City University of New York (“CUNY”) have proposed budget cuts which would result in tuition increases, financial aid cuts and program cutbacks. SLAM believes this to be a civil rights struggle, not an argument over economics or fiscal policy since the group that suffers the most from this proposal are minorities and the working class. B) Tuition for those in-state at senior CUNY schools will jump to $4,000 from $3,200 - a 25% increase. At community colleges, tuition will jump to $2,800 from $2,500. C) On Oct. 27, four months after the contentious vote to raise tuition, the City University’s Board of Trustees adopted a resolution to hike Chancellor Matthew Goldstein’s compensation package by $100,000. The chancellor now has an annual pay of $440,000. D) CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein received a $100,000 raise on October 27, when the Board of Trustees voted to raise salaries for administrators covered by the Executive Compensation Plan. The 40% increase, Goldstein’s first since taking office in 1999, brings his total annual pay to $350,000.
Essentially, the CUNY executives continue to enjoy boosts in their annual salary while they drafts fiscal plans to hike up tuition rates for an institution that was once free from 1847-1976. SLAM has been a steadying presence in the fight against this injustice. Within the last two years, they have successfully organized the following methods of protest:
• Organized students to ask President Jennifer Raab to take a stand against CUNY money being spent on the war, and to support our Professors and Students being drafted - Spring 2003
• Organized protest in City Hall in response to Governor Pataki proposal to raise tuition for the 2005-2006 fiscal year • Organized FREE buses to the International AntiWar March (Books not Bombs)- Fall 2003 • Organized weekly Student Leadership and Empowerment Workshops from the Student Resource Center - Fall 2003 • Works one on one with clubs to navigate new budget procedures - 2003 - 2004 • Organized free buses to the National Womyn's March despite administration's decision that this service wasn't a "resource" - Spring 2004 • Works in alliance with city council members (i.e. Charles Barron) and union coalitions (i.e. Jobs With Justice) to build a broad oppostion to defeat CUNY cuts and tuition hikes - Ongoing • Won the Professional Staff Congress (CUNY's Union) award "Friends of CUNY" - 2003 • Support club events, financially, socially, and politically (i.e. The Vagina Monologues - Hunter Hillel) - Ongoing • Principled and Fair allocation of club money - Ongoing • Provides FREE and friendly printing, FREE copying services, and FREE club and student meeting space in the Student Resource Center - Ongoing • Increased Club Money Allocations and funding for childcare through campaigning and referendum - 2002 • Held over 25 educational and social events for students by students - 2002-2003 • Held a Student Leadership Training Series and Spring Break Camp (not a vacation) - 2003 • Developed a CUNY wide coalition of activists and organizers (CUNY4ALL Coalition) to oppose the tuition hikes and budget cuts - 2002-2003 • SLAM! does consistent action in oppostion to tuition hikes, budget cuts, and economic attacks on immigrant students - 1995 to present (before we were Undergraduate Student Government).
SLAM now hosts weekly meetings at Hunter College open anyone who is interested in getting involved organizing upcoming projects. There are very interconnected group in that they are allies with many social justice organizations on this website like Sister 2 Sister, Critical Resistance, and Blackout Artist Collective. If you would like to contact SLAM for more information regarding the politics behind the tuition raise, you can email the organization at Email SLAM: hunterslam3000@yahoo.com.
SLAM! | SLAM! Right Now. | SLAM! The Vision. | SLAM! The History. | SLAM! In the News. | SLAM! Images.