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As noted earlier this week, some activists have called for a third March Day of Action in defense of public education today, building on the protests of March 2 and the high school walkouts of March 11. Today’s actions, whatever they may be, build on yesterday’s protests at the New York state capitol and the ongoing occupation — launched earlier this week — at the University of Minnesota.
I’ve heard about some stuff that’s on tap for this afternoon, but given the nature of the call, I expect that there may be surprises as well.
I’ll be updating as the day unfolds.
Students at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities launched an “open and soft” occupation of the university’s Social Sciences Tower yesterday. Though the building was officially scheduled to close at 11 pm, they were able to stay through the night, and they seem to be consolidating and expanding their presence today.
The group has a blog and a Twitter account, both set up before the occupation. They released a list of demands this morning, and a schedule of activities for the day early this afternoon. They’re planning what one of them calls a “webcam date” with students occupying a building at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and tonight is going to be movie night, too.
Oh, and someone in Iowa sent them pizzas for lunch. Seems like a pretty good day so far.
The students occupying a building at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have made it through their first night, and they’ve released a list of demands:
Because we are residents of Minnesota, and because this is a public, land-grant university,
We demand the right to peacefully occupy space at our university,
We demand that the general public has reasonable access to university resources;
We demand that the university respect the rights of all workers to organize and to earn at least a living wage;
We demand tuition and fee reductions;
We demand that regents be democratically elected by the university community;
We demand that the university treat student groups fairly and equitably with respect to funding and space. We demand student groups on the 2nd floor of Coffman Union be able to keep their spaces.
In doing so, we stand in solidarity with the people of Wisconsin, and students and workers worldwide.
More soon…
A morning rally at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has turned into what organizers are calling an “open and soft occupation” of the university’s Social Sciences Tower.
“Students and community supporters,” a post on the group’s blog declared, “are outraged over soaring tuition, budget cuts, skyrocketing administrative salaries, mounting student debt, attacks on cultural diversity groups on campus, and blatant disregard for workers’ rights across the nation. In light of recent student and worker uprisings around the world, students in the Twin Cities are no longer willing to bear the burdens of the economic crisis while the rich only get richer. Inspired by the actions of students at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Madison, and other campuses around the state, U of M students are standing up against injustices in their own state and their own university.”
The U of M occupiers are allowing other members of the campus community unconstrained access to the Social Sciences Tower, and “planning specific events for the space in order to benefit the entire community.” The building is scheduled to close at 11 pm local time, however, and it is not clear whether university administrators will try to remove them at that time.
As I noted in an earlier post, some activists have declared this Thursday to be a day of walkouts, occupations, and strikes nationwide. It seems that Thursday came early to Minneapolis-St. Paul this week.
Tuesday Morning Update | This tweet just came in from the @umnsolidarity account: “Hey everybody, the doors of the Social Sciences Building are open and Day 2 of the occupation has begun. Come on down!”
Looks like they made it through the night.
Second Update | The occupiers have released a list of demands.
March has already seen two days of national student action this month. On the 2nd, students at dozens of college campuses from coast to coast staged co-ordinated budget protests. On the 11th, high schoolers in more than twenty states walked out of classes in support of their teachers and in solidarity with demonstrators in Wisconsin.
On Thursday, the last day of March, there may be another — the folks at Defend Public Education, one of the big boosters of the March 2 day of action, are calling for a day of walkouts and strikes on March 31.
I’ll have more on those plans as the week progresses. In the meantime, however, some students and other activists in New York are planning to get a jump on Thursday’s actions by staging a Wisconsin-style state capitol occupation in Albany beginning on Wednesday the 30th.
Stay tuned…
studentactivism.net 
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