Tent State University Enters Sixth Year on Rutgers Campus
Yael Bromberg
Tent State University began on the Rutgers-New Brunswick campus in 2003 in response to the unprecedented state cuts to higher education in New Jersey. Its humble beginnings as an impromptu tent city themed as an alterative, democratic University to “give higher education a home” began with thirty tents, and erupted to 120 tents with the adapted “Education, Not War” motto – calling attention to the need for a reprioritization of federal and state funding. Year after year, state public colleges are forced to lobby against state-government funding cuts. These cuts create a drastic cumulative impact for college students attracted to a public education, as tuition rises approximately 7% every year. Since 2000, tuition at Rutgers has increased over 65% due to repeated State cuts to funding. This year, Governor Corzine’s so-called “budget freeze” puts the future of our state schools in jeopardy, as it slashes $76 million from overall higher education funding and takes $38 million from Rutgers University alone.
The continued dismantling of higher education is purely discriminatory in nature. More than half of first-year students and 80 percent of seniors work during their academic year. In fall 2005, almost two-thirds of Rutgers undergraduates received need-based financial aid, most often in the form of loans. The average indebtedness of Rutgers undergraduates upon graduation is $17,600. These figures do not account for those who are discouraged from pursuing a higher education due to high costs from the onset.
Tent State University is a unique alternative institution in its implementation of a diversity of tactics to advocate for funding for higher education as our societal mores fall victim to corporate interests. Even the average citizen would agree that it seems counterintuitive that New Jersey, one of the richest states in the nation, just slipped to 50th in the union in its support for higher education. Year after year, Tent State University generates thousands of phone calls and letters to legislators; engages young people in a democratically-determined space; and continues to push the barrier between the political and the personal.
Partly as a result of its fresh approach to contextualize wars on poverty from local-to-global spheres with real application in organizing beyond lecture, TSU has spread as an organizing model to over thirty campuses across the country, over a handful of campuses internationally; and will continue on to the Democratic National Convention in Boulder this August.
According to the mission statement listed on the TSU website, “Tent State University is a national movement that believes democracy and education are inseparable social rights that belong to everyone … Tent State is a space where students, faculty, staff, community members and organizations can come together and practice democracy. Only by building our own institutions of art, politics, and education can we generate enough social power to change the undemocratic structures and practices of our universities and society.”
Studying social movements of the past and current social movements throughout the developing world, Tent State University hosts themed-days, all of which are principled in the fundamental social agreement of the practice of “participatory democracy.”
This year, themed days include: Fair Policy for Higher Education (Mon 4/ 21); Local Democracy in the City of New Brunswick (Wed 4/23); Anti-War (Th 4/24); and Art & Politics (Fri 4/25). Additionally, coalition-sponsored events include: Latinos in the Armed Forces; Understanding the Economy Today; Revolutionary Democracy; and a Faculty-Student Meet & Greet concerning University Research in areas such as global labor and the economy, day laborers and immigrants, and women and work. Art & Politics events include workshops such as fire-spinning, pottery, and stenciling. Because of the importance of merging politics and culture, every evening features musicians, artists, and speakers. In fact, each year Tent State-Rutgers holds the longest music festival in the state, featuring a range of locally and nationally-recognized bands showcasing underground hiphop, funk, jam, DJ spins, indie music, and open-mic.
Over the years, TSU has included Congressman Frank Pallone, New Brunswick Assemblyman Upendra Chivikulah, Assemblyman Craig Stanley; Adolph Reed of the “Free Higher Education” Campaign; American Association of University Professors; NJ Public Policy Perspective; Better Choices Campaign; Mexican Solidarity Network; Oxfam; a Palestinian Women’s Solidarity group; the Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War; People’s Organization for Progress; Vietnam Veterans Against the War; Iraqi Veterans Against the War; Code Pink; the American Friends Service Committee; the American Civil Liberties Union; and many other notable contributors.
Tent State University takes place on the Rutgers-New Brunswick Campus on Voorhees Mall, Sunday April 20th thru Friday April 25th. You can view a full schedule of events by going to www.tentstate.com.
As Printed in Highland Park (NJ) "The Mirror" April, 2008 (distribution 10,000)
