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NEWS
| October 24, 2003
Tuition and Fees
More media than students attend protest
Organizer and petition writer
Jeni Hall says students seem apathetic to tuition increases.
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| The Shorthorn: Sanjeev Datta |
| Jeni Hall, a political science and broadcast
communication sophomore, answers questions from a Fox
4 News reporter Thursday outside Nedderman Hall as nursing
sophomore Janie Henson looks on. Hall organized the sparsely-attended
rally to protest tuition increases. |
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By Rajal
Vashisht
The Shorthorn staff
They held a protest, and no one came — well, almost no one.
Campus police and local news media outnumbered the 12 or so who
rallied against an administration-backed tuition increase proposal
Thursday in front of Nedderman Hall.
Jeni Hall, a political science and broadcast communication sophomore,
called for the protest after circulating a petition criticizing
the increases and collecting 2,500 signatures. The petition was
presented to the Tuition Review Committee during its final meeting.
The 10 protesters chanted “Whatever happened to free public
education?” and “This is the annihilation of the middle
class!” for about 10 minutes before their enthusiasm waned.
Hall said the lack of student presence is due to a lack of motivation.
“Talking to students, a lot of them seem apathetic to the
increases,” she said. “But once their parents see this,
then they’ll care.”
The committee’s Chairman Josh Warren said the committee took
the petition under consideration, and a statement Hall wrote was
presented to members during deliberations on their final recommendation
for interim President Charles Sorber.
But the protesting, Warren said, may have been inadequate.
“It’s frustrating because our biggest chance to have
an impact was during the summer,” he said. “I wish these
students had taken interest and gotten active sooner.”
He said committee members had already received so much similar feedback
from their constituents and took an approach similar to the one
Hall called for — lowering the original proposal’s increase
for the spring semester.
Hall said she doesn’t believe administrators need to raise
as much money as they claim and the university should make ends
meet with what they have.
The original proposal called for a $15-per-credit-hour increase
in designated tuition in the fall and a $20-per-credit-hour increase
in the spring. Nursing and engineering students would see additional
hikes for upper-level and graduate courses.
The committee’s final recommendation calls for an $8-per-credit-hour
increase in designated tuition for the spring and an additional
$8 per credit hour in the spring as well as additional fees.
While the committee was reviewing and drafting its proposal, the
protesters on the engineering Mall spoke with local media and wondered
about the police presence.
One police officer filmed the event from the Nedderman Hall roof
and another armed policeman stood guard at the entrance of the committee’s
closed-door meeting.
Lt. Nan Rhodes at first said she was unaware of the rooftop video
surveillance but later acknowledged campus police recorded the protest.
People at the event, such as protester and electrical engineering
junior Jacob Strapp, said he was unsettled by it.
“We knew there were going to be cops here, but I didn’t
know they were filming us,” he said. “It’s kind
of spooky.”
Hall, though, said she was not intimidated by the media or the police.
She held a sign stating, “Will work for tuition — we’re
poor.” She said, however, that she was disappointed by the
turnout.
“Well it did get attention,” Hall said surrounded by
news cameras. “But we got more media and less people.”
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