Students take to their tents in funding protest

A series of student campsites have sprung up on US campuses last week, combining protests against funding cuts and higher fees with opposition to the Iraq war. The "Tent State University" (TSU) was launched at Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, three years ago. It runs for one week every spring and has now spread to 15 campuses across the US, aiming to radicalize a new generation of students. In the 1960s Kent State University became a focus point for those opposed to the Vietnam war after the fatal shooting of four students by the Ohio national guard. Tent State's slogan of "education, not war" is now attracting increasing support, said founder and organizer Tom Degloma. The campaigners have linked students' concerns about university funding cuts and soaring tuition fees–the TSU motto is "alumnus brokus maximus"–to the Iraq war, arguing that war is eating up billions of dollars that should be used for education. They have learned from the radicals of the 1960s but also from this year's protests in France and Venezuela, said Degloma. This week about 170 tents have been pitched at Rutgers' New Brunswick campus with numbers of students varying from 100 to 1,000 depending on the time of day. The protest is also attracting support from academic staff who have moved some lectures into the tents. Degloma said the governor of New Jersey was threatening education cuts of $169 million and Rutgers was talking about raising tuition fees by $5,000 a year while cutting back on the number of classes. A TSU statement this week said: "The truth is that there is no budget crisis. There is a crisis of values and leadership! The US spends $200 million a day on the war in Iraq and tens of billions of dollars each year in tax cuts for millionaires and giveaways to giant corporations. "We need new spending priorities, not more wrongheaded cuts. The Rutgers board of governors has failed to lead the university to prevent damaging budget cuts year after year. That's why since 2003, thousands of students, faculty and staff have come together each spring for Tent State University. "Each year we generate thousands of calls to the State Legislature, hold rallies and workshops with assembly representatives and senators and work together to build a diverse and democratically run university. Each year we succeed in reducing the cuts. This year we must stop the cuts altogether!" Degloma said education was a right which was being denied to many young people because of cuts in funding to public universities like Rutgers. "The contribution by Rutgers to the wider New Brunswick working class community is negligible. For example, only a handful of New Brunswick high school graduates attend the public university which sits within their very own city," says the Tent State website. It adds: "The dismantling of higher learning has an especially detrimental impact on working, middle class and minority families. We acknowledge tuition increases and scholarship cuts to be methods of exclusion that disproportionately affect those communities that public education is intended to serve. "The average college student works more hours, graduates in debt, and must focus more on 'getting by' than on the quality of their education. In order to finance their education many students are enticed into military service." Degloma said that each night there is a big democratic assembly in the encampment where issues are debated. "We are fostering the democratic environment in spite of the lack of democracy the US is becoming known for," he said. The Tent State University message concludes: "Be bold, be free, and have a great time. Education is our right. The war must be stopped. Without you, it won't happen."