Interview: The Struggle to Save GC
On May 4, 2005 thirty students staged a sit-in at University of Minnesota President Bob Bruinink’s office to fight the closing of General College. Eight were arrested. RESISTANCE interviewed two of them about their struggle.
Madeline Gardner: “Both my older sister and I were admitted to the University through GC. Like many other GC students, our parents did not go to college and we are low income.”
Alondra Espejel: “I started to think about my little brother, who is still in high school, and how his life experiences as a youth of color from a working class background [meant he could only get into the U of M through GC]… So this was a very, very personal issue.”
Madeline: GC must exist because of the inequalities in our public school system. GC recognizes that low income students, students of color and first generation college students face greater obstacles preparing for college than their more privileged peers.”
Alondra: “The U administration took this undemocratic decision to cut GC… because they align the concepts [of making the U of M] ‘better’ and ‘excellent’ with ‘white privilege’ and ‘rich people’.”
Madeline: “We did the sit-in because we knew it would be a strong, highly visible way to show our dissent… We stayed in the office all day. Outside there were rallies going on to support us. The office phones were ringing off the hook with messages of solidarity. At 6pm the [Bruininks] ordered that we be arrested… eight of us decided to stay…”
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Movement for Access Wins Victory! The community anger and the movement that developed against the closing of General College achieved a partial victory. Under pressure, the U of M announced a program to cover the cost of tuition for many students from families earning under $50,000. The University says it will spend up to $22 million providing free tuition to 4,500 working class students. This is clearly a big victory. However it will not replace GC because it doesn’t tackle the problem of getting working class youth from under-funded high schools past the U of M’s increasingly high admission standards. The administration hopes this concession will allow them to get away with more rapid tuition hikes in coming years |
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