Rutgers Students Fight Tuition Hikes

(NLNS)—With the recent prosecution of thirteen members of the Campaign for an Affordable Rutgers Education, the official repression of student activists rose to a level not seen since the COINTELPRO era of the 1970’s. [Rutgers is the state university of New Jersey where tuition has risen by over 357% in the past eight years].

Eleven students were suspended and ten given fines and jail sentences of up to 60 days for their participating in the Spring ’92 takeover of Bishop House, on the Rutgers New Brunswick Campus. The takeover culminated a successful, year-long struggle to halt the 13 year trend of double-digit tuition increases at Rutgers University. Over 2000 students signed petitions demanding from President Fran Lawrence and the Board of Governors a tuition freeze and support for Governor Florio’s Tuition Stabilization Incentive Plan by the April 10 BOG meeting. When Lawrence and the Board walked out on the 350 students that showed up to the meeting, CARE realized it was time to press the issue.

Several demonstrations and building takeovers on the Newark and College Ave. campuses kept tuition in the spotlight and pushed TSIP through the NJ state legislature’s budget, while Mr. Lawrence was maintaining his anti-working class position that “affordability is subjective and emotional.” TSIP, which capped increases at 4.5% at ALL NJ colleges, gave Rutgers students the lowest tuition hike in 8 years.

It also marked the first time that Trenton took action toward ending classist tuition increases, a major victory for activist and NJ’s working class. Lawrence, realizing that he could no longer must support for his side of the issue, embarked on a reactionary “law and order” campaign which he terms “civility”. Hurling allegations of “terrorism” at CARE, Mr. Lawrence brought disciplinary charges against 23 students and filed criminal charges against 10 over the summer of 1992. The charges focused around the three-day take-over of Bishop House which spontaneously happened after a CARE demonstration in May of 1992. Following preliminary reviews at the order of Assistant Dean of Judicial Affairs-turned-hatchet-woman, Joan Carbone, all charges against first- year students were dropped—a failed attempt to intimidate and create dissent within the organization.

A further attempt at division by splitting the defendants into two hearings was prevented when once-ACLU chief, Jeffrey Fogel, took the students’ case. The hearing itself, however, never approached even the pretense of fairness. University Judge-for-hire, David Dugan, refused to allow the University’s hand-picked panel (jury) an opportunity to weigh a necessity defense: that the harm averted by beating a proposed 16% tuition increase outweighed that of temporarily disrupting the services of Bishop House. Ms. Carbone, in violation of Disciplinary Policy, coerced students not to testify. The prosecution refused to produce witnesses, including Lawrence.

Even considering the mockery of justice in the hearing, the defendants were acquitted of all counts of harassment and abuse, which constituted the most sever charges. The sanction was set for each student at one semester’s suspension, and automatic expulsion pending any future violation. But this verdict appeared lenient when the court verdict came down.

Putting aside any doubts of who controls New Brunswick’s Municipal Court system, Judge Terrill Brenner found ten students charged criminally guilty of every count. Each student received a one year probation, fines totaling $4100 and jail sentences ranging from 15 to 60 days, which are deferred for six months at which time a motion may be filed to have the jail terms “reduced in whole or in part”—an obvious attempt to silence those who would fight the corporate policies of Lawrence and the BOG.

Four Newark students arrested attempting to take over Conklin hall in April had all of their charges dropped when Newark student leaders held a sit-in at Aidekman Hall, winning a public meeting with Dean of Students John Faulstitch and Provost Norman Samuels. Samuels agreed to grant amnesty in light of the prospect of further action.

Two students, Cliff Smith and Xavier Hansen, are to begin a disciplinary hearing and court trial in Newark in February under charges stemming from the RUPD (Rutgers University Police Dept.) melee after the Nov. 13 BOG meeting. Smith and Hansen were arrested for trying to speak to the Board about tuition increases at Rutgers. [The Board of Governors is the body within the university in charge of final decisions about tuition matters, among others.] Eight students filed assault charges against RU police officers.

CARE recognizes that these repressive actions are a last-ditch effort on the part of an isolated President who finds himself with no base of support. Because his policies are opposed to the interests of the people he is supposed to be representing, the students, and because the students are organizing and taking power back, Lawrence has failed in his attempts to persuade people of his side of the tuition issue, that “Rutgers is affordable to the working families in New Jersey.” His only hope now is to silence those who speak truth to power. The jail sentence is a bluff. If Lawrence thought he could put us in jail, he would have done it—the same applies to the threat of expulsion.

Students have too much power for that and we are gaining more! When we don’t back down before Mr. Lawrence’s empty threats, what is left for him? To exile us to Pennsylvania?

Contributions to the Students’ Legal Defense Fund should be made to CARE and sent c/o Cliff Smith @ 205 New St., Apt.2, New Brunswick, NJ 08901.

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