For Immediate Release -
For more information, call:
Jan Norden, (212) 460-0983
Demonstration at Hunter College
Wednesday, November 28, 5:00 - 7:00 PM
Hunter West courtyard, 68th St. & Lexington Ave.
Down with CUNY's Anti-Immigrant "War Purge"!
Stop Racist Tuition Hike and "Student Data Collection System"!
A demonstration endorsed by student groups, immigrant rights organizations, unionists, socialist groups and others will be held on Wednesday, November 28, 5-7 pm at Hunter College (68th & Lexington Ave) to protest the "racist war purge" against immigrant students at the City University of New York (CUNY). The demonstration was initiated by the Internationalist Group.
The CUNY administration has ruled that students must prove they are not "illegal immigrants" or have their tuition more than doubled - charging the "out of state/international" rate, even though many of these students have lived in New York City for years. In the last week, a number of CUNY students have received letters that their tuition will immediately rise to almost $7,000 a year, an amount that very few can possibly pay. This will drive thousands of students out of school.
CUNY is moving to drive immigrant students out, "profiling" them for discrimination and exclusion. Immigrant workers, their sons and daughters - who make up a huge percentage of the working people of New York - are being deliberately deprived of a chance at higher education.
The ruling is part of the broad assault on democratic rights as part of the war on Afghanistan. As reported in the New York Times (31 October), state senator Frank Padavan from Queens said that allowing "illegal immigrants" to study at CUNY was a "national security" issue and "an insult to every citizen." CUNY's discriminatory, exclusionary tuition move was a direct response to this war-mongering chauvinism. In recent days it has been reported that a government-connected effort is under way to compile lists of "unpatriotic professors" at U.S. universities.
Demonstrators will also protest the sinister government spy operation in whichover 200 universities have turned over information on foreign students to the FBI, INS and other agencies, and the White House-ordered crackdown on student visas. U.S. Senators Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kyl (R-Ariz.) are drafting a bill seeking even move draconian measures against immigrant students.
Endorsers of the demonstration include, as of 11/25/01: Asociación México-Americana de Trabajadores (AMAT - Mexican American Workers Association); Charles Brover, ABE teacher, York College*; Mercedes S. Cano, activist, Queens; College Voice; Committee for Workers Self-Defense; Bill Crain, Professor, CCNY*; Walter Daum, professor, CCNY*; Jerry Domínguez, Director, AMAT; Pedro Flores, activist, Queens; Patricia Fraticelli, President, Bronx Community College Student Government Association*; Freedom Socialist Party; Global Sweatshop Coalition; Robert Hollander, Assistant Professor, Hunter College*; Hunter African Students Union; Hunter Asian Students In Action (ASIA); Hunter Capoeira Club; Hunter Colombian Club; Hunter Dominican Perspective Club; Hunter Hostos Puerto Rican Club; Hunter Indian Club; Hunter International Socialist Organization; Hunter Pakistani Club; Internationalist Group; Latino Workers' Center; League for the Revolutionary Party; Henry Lesnick, professor, Hostos Community College*; Miguel Malo, Vice President, Hostos Student Senate*; Ronald B. McGuire, attorney; Naomi Miller, Grievance Committee, AFT #4780*; NY Spartacist League; NY Spartacus Youth Club; New York Taxi Workers Alliance; Oscar Paul, President, Hostos Student Government Organization*; Radical Women; Revolutionary Reconstruction Club (at Bronx Community College); José Schiffino, organizer, UNITE Local 169*; Student Liberation Action Movement (SLAM!); The Point; Workers to Free Mumia; Ali Zaidi, professor, BCC*
* organizational affiliation for identification purposes only
[posted 11/27/01]
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