occupation

This Thursday, advocates of public education in Minnesota are putting on events including a free concert in Loring Park, rallies, marches, teach-ins at the U of M and MCTC, and a student strike and dance party at MSU Mankato.  These are part of the October 7th National Day of Actions in Defense of Public Education.  This day was called as a continuation of the struggles in California -- including rallies, strikes, and occupations on campuses -- that spread nationwide on March 4th of this year.

Last week members of the Mankato Area Activist Collective, an anti-authoritarian organization, took action against the $7 million budget cut facing Minnesota State University, Mankato over the next two years. Last spring the university cut 79 ½ positions, one out of every ten faculty members. With tuition predicted to increase as much as 15 percent students are being forced to pay more for less.

From August 23rd to the 27th students and community members took inspiration from the student occupations of March 4th and seized a section of the universities lawn on which they camped out all week. They used this space to protest the downsizing of our education as well as to raise student awareness on a variety of issues and the repercussions of the budget cuts.

****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****