SUNY Students Protest Tuition Hikes

Students assemble on the academic concourse at SUNY New Paltz to protest tuition hikes at the university. Photo by Sarah Eames.
Oren Koralashvili and Nicole Striffolino use a megaphone to lead the protest. Their shirts indicate they are part of New York Students Rising, a statewide movement of students and campus-organizations dedicated to defending public higher education in New York State. Photo by Sarah Eames.
A group of activists, holding signs and protesting tuition hikes at SUNY New Paltz. NYPIRG (New York Public Interest Research Group) was also present, helping students register to vote. Photo by Sarah Eames.
After protesting on the SUNY New Paltz campus, protestors march down Plattekill Avenue toward downtown New Paltz. Photo by Sarah Eames.
Student protestors march up Main Street New Paltz. Photo by Sarah Eames.
Protestors march past a New Paltz Police road block on Plattekill Ave as they return to the New Paltz campus. Photo by Sarah Eames.
Protestors phone in to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office, demanding action and protesting tuition raises. Photo by Sarah Eames.

New Paltz students joined forces with other SUNY schools to stage a statewide walkout on Friday, March 4 protesting annual tuition hikes. At New Paltz, over 100 students gathered at noon outside the Humanities Building to support the cause. Students from New York Students Rising (NYSR) led the protest, providing signs and initiating rally cries. Chants like “Raise hell, not tuition!” and “Fight, fight, fight, fight, education is a right!” rang through the quad. After classes dismissed, more students joined the group’s ranks.

The protestors took to the streets; a crowd of almost 150 students marched across campus and through Main Street in the village of New Paltz. The protestors barricaded the streets for a short period of time, and after the march, protestors flooded Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office with phone calls protesting tuition hikes. Most students successfully got through and left messages for the governor.

Reported by Sam Manzella and Sarah Eames; edited by 2016 MMCELO class