Tyler Halford, a Normandale Community College student who organized Thursday’s protest on the U campus, speaks to crowd. MURPHY NEWS SERVICE PHOTOS BY MCKAYL BARROWS.
By MCKAYL BARROWS/Murphy News Service
Student activists and other members of the University of Minnesota community gathered outside of Northrop Auditorium Thursday afternoon to protest escalating student loan debt and to push for tuition-free public colleges.
The “Million Student March” was a nationwide event held Thursday, Nov. 12. Student activists held protests at colleges across the United States with demands for an elimination of student debt, tuition-free college and a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers.
About 40 students and community members, including representatives from the Minnesota Nurses Association, Students for a Democratic Society, AFSCME 3800 Clerical Workers Union and Millennials for Bernie, gathered outside of Northrop to support the cause.
“We know that students, faculty and staff united will be the only way these universities will change from being run by big corporations, which is really what is going on, and be put back into the hands of student faculty and staff,” Cherrene Horazuk, AFSCME 3800 Clerical Workers Union representative, said.
Several supporters at the rally shared personal stories involving student debt. Speeches mentioning high student debt and the recent raises received by U administrators prompted intermittent booing and comments such as “That ain’t right.” from the crowd.
Outstanding student-loan debt is estimated at $1.2 trillion with an average of balance of $29,000 per student. Organizers at the U believe this is an important issue that needs mass awareness in The Twin Cities.
An undergraduate student at Normandale Community College and local organizer of “Million Student March,” Tyler Halford, discussed the potential reasons behind the “dissenting views” of others against the demand for cancellation of student debt and tuition-free higher education.
“A lot of people assume that we are just reaching out asking for money that will come from the taxpayers, Halford said. “This is not something we’re trying to raise taxes to accomplish. It’s something we are trying to accomplish through legislation that will be basically beneficial to everybody through education while not being disruptive to anyone through those taxes.”
The views of Democratic presidential hopeful, Bernie Sanders “mutually align” with those of the “Million Student March,” but the event is not endorsing Sanders, said Ashley Pforr, a U undergrad and local organizer. “Indirectly, we end up supporting each other,” she said.
Discussion surrounding the high cost of college tuition has been brought up by multiple 2016 presidential candidates.
“Republican contenders Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush are said to be working on their own policy plans, while all of the Democratic candidates have proposed some form of debt-free public higher education,” the Washington Post recently reported.
Organizers of the U rally plan to push for “mass awareness” in and around the Twin Cities.
“Actually caring about elections is one of the biggest things for millennials,” Pforr said. “We don’t realize that we are growing into this and we need to care because, you know, sooner or later the baby boomers and those older generations are going to die out, so then we are going to have the reins.”
“Everyone that believes in stuff like this is so ready to do what it takes, it is just about channeling it in a positive way like this,” Halford said.
Reporter McKayl Barrows is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.