Students Disrupt Board of Trustees Meeting Over Coming Tuition Hike

ABOUT TWENTY STUDENTS from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign and Chicago attempted to disrupt a
Board of Trustees meeting today over tuition increases and
the re-segregation of higher education.
A member of the Urbana-Champaign community spoke
on the importance of recruitment of African American students.
The number of African Americans in the freshmen
class at UIUC was higher in 1967 than in 2010.
Another student addressed the board on diversity and
requested that the board freeze tuition. The board is planning
another hike at their January meeting.
At the end of the public comment, one student shouted
out, “Our concerns haven’t been addressed!”
Four security guards rushed toward him.
Two other students spoke up and said “Higher education
is being re-segregated!” and “We want to be listened
to!”
Security grabbed them and began to escort them out.
Other students joined in and chanted, “Tuition freeze
now!” One policeman pushed a student. Police forcefully
removed protesters from the building.
Fifty percent of UIUC students graduate in debt.
The Undergraduate-Graduate Alliance is a coalition of
student activist groups at UIUC.