May 2005

http://alawda.newjerseysolidarity.org

Tent State University Galvanizes Activists at Rutgers

From April 18-24, 2005, the Rutgers University community was galvanized by the third annual Tent State University protest, an annual campout at Rutgers' Voorhees Mall that calls for greater funding for higher education and highlights many pressing social issues in its attempt to create, for one week, an "alternative university" on Rutgers; College Avenue Campus. While, in the past, many teach-ins and presentations at Tent State have focused upon the connection between the U.S. war on Iraq and the cuts in the budget of social needs, including higher education, housing, health care, and primary education, this year the Tent State University organizers directly confronted the issue of the war, raising as the main slogan of Tent State University, "Education, Not War!"

This, the third Tent State, was the longest and largest Tent State so far. On Monday, opening ceremonies at Tent State University drew together student, faculty and community activists for teach-ins, rallies and presentations linking attacks on education to the war on Iraq. Rutgers Against the War sponsored a rally featuring speakers from Iraq Veterans Against the War, as students joined them to voice their opposition to the war and occupation of Iraq. Dr. Adolph Reed of the Campaign for Free Higher Education spoke about the need to break down the economic barriers to higher education, while Rutgers Board of Governors member David Harris Jr. supported students' struggle for lower tuition and a democratized university, and Carol Gay of New Jersey Labor Against the War emphasized the importance of both ending the war and supporting access to education for workers in New Jersey. Dozens of student organizations, groups of friends, and individual students pitched tents on Voorhees Mall, creating a virtual tent city that remained for the entire week of TSU. Every evening at TSU ended with performances from local bands, spoken-word artists and hip-hop performers.

Nadia Taha of New Jersey Solidarity-Activists for the Liberation of Palestine speaks at Tent State

Tent State participants engaged a variety of social justice issues in their presentations and discussions, developing a list of demands upon the University's administration, and educating each other about their issues, movements and struggles. TSU became engaged in the eventually-victorious campaign to end Rutgers University's exclusive beverage contract with Coca-Cola, in protest of that company's practices in Colombia, where numerous trade unionists have been threatened and murdered by the country's notorious paramilitaries, with the collusion of Coca-Cola's Colombian bottlers.

The Rutgers University Women's Center moved to their "guerrilla center" at TSU for the week of the event, highlighting the center's continuing lack of a permanent space at the University, as well as its commitment to progressive student space and the expansion of student democracy at the university. As in the center's usual location in the Douglass College Center, meetings and events were hosted in the center's canopy tent, and information, pamphlets, and magazines focusing on women's issues were available inside the "guerrilla center."

On Saturday, April 23, New Jersey Solidarity-Activists for the Liberation of Palestine hosted a teach-in entitled "Say No To Empire!" at Tent State, where speakers from a variety of organizations addressed the connections between their movements and Tent State's program of "Education, Not War!" NJS's Nadia Taha discussed the Palestinian struggle, while Camilo Matos of Puerto Rican Nationalist Youth addressed the Puerto Rican anti-colonial struggle. Betsy Piette from the International Action Center discussed her recent visit to Venezuela and the ongoing people's movement there, Teresa Gutierrez from the NY Committee to Free the Cuban Five drew attention to the U.S. policies against Cuba, and Rafael Greenblatt of the International Socialist Organization emphasized the importance of opposing the war on Iraq and supporting the Iraqi resistance. Veterans Carl Webb and Dustin Langley of No Draft No Way addressed the possibility of a pending military draft and the importance of resistance within the U.S. military, while representatives of Fight Imperialism Stand Together and New Jersey Indymedia discussed independent youth organizing and media creation.

Tent State concluded on Sunday, April 24, with a film focusing on workers' struggle to unionize, and organizers are already strategizing for Tent State 4 in 2006. For the first time, Tent State became a national phenomenon in 2005, with the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Missouri at Kansas City and the University of Texas at Austin hosting their own Tent Universities, and upcoming Tent State projects planned at many other universities, including Ohio State University and Ohio University.

Tent State University has provided an alternative voice at Rutgers University, bringing together diverse constituencies at the university and in the community to raise their voices for justice, and engaging many often-passive students in the campaign for higher education and against war.