October 2019 ECSU Newsletter

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OCTOBER NEWSLETTER What Emerson doesn’t want you to know, in your inbox monthly

We are student-led, non-hierarchical, and independent of the institution.

We are passionate about justice. We are fed up with Emer$on building a brand around student activism while denying student calls for aid and reform. We are sick of the Board of Trustees voting against our interests.

We are as hopeful as we are enraged. We understand that classism within the college system is systemic. We believe Emerson can do better.

We are the Emerson College Student Union, and we call for a just and equitable campus NOW.

ECSU UPDATES • ECSU UPDATES • ECSU UPDATES

By Michael Rocco

LET'S DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT Emerson costs too much. That’s not controversial, 62% of Emerson students receive some kind of financial aid to help with the cost. It’s a well known and publicized issue.

Why, then, did the College raise Emerson’s price tag 5% last semester without raising financial aid? Maybe Emerson didn’t have enough money to shoulder their new debt from the Little Building, maybe they wanted to buy the former Griddler’s for $1 million, maybe... Or, maybe the people who run Emerson are greedy assholes. That could be possible too. The truth is, the college never asked us. They might’ve let us know through Lee Pelton’s email or maybe they told the SGA representatives that some 30 of our classmates voted for whenever voting happened. I don’t know, I live off campus like at least half of us and always seem to miss the memo. Maybe I’m just uninformed. Maybe you believe their official reasoning for the tuition rise. But, do you

think what they told us is what they presented to the board? Shouldn’t they tell us that? Emerson College never asked permission before raising our tuition. If they had, maybe we would know why, and maybe we would have decided it wasn’t worth it.

So, why does College cost so much? Why raise tuition at all? If you listen to Lee Pelton TV, you’d hear how college is an inefficient service that costs too much by nature. The idea is that instead of costing too much, college is too cheap for what we get.

“Financial Aid hasn’t risen this year but it’s largely kept up with rising tuition rates” is practically the Party Line (repeated by Lee Pelton himself on WBUR last semester). But we were never asked if we wanted the extra buildings, or the Alexas in the elevator, or new Macs, or flourishes designed by outside marketing firms. Maybe if we didn’t buy those things we wouldn’t have had to raise tuition. We might have decided to trade a couple grand each for new space for orgs or for the e on our desktops, but the point is we never got a choice. Sometimes we ask nicely during the president’s office hours.

Sometimes we put together protests that demand change and sometimes they listen to at least some of our demands but they don’t always. Sometimes they choose to ignore us. We don’t have that choice. We have to pay.

We can choose whether to go here or not, but either way we’re at their mercy. Not all of our credits transfer and if we don’t finish we have nothing to show for our money.

For many that isn’t really a choice. Sometimes you need to cough up the extra 5%.

Why? Our money is paying for the school and for the salaries of the people running it. What if we all stopped paying? What if we had voting representation on the board in exchange for our money and could all veto every decision? What if whoever decides to buy new buildings had to tell us why we needed it, and how much it would raise our tuition, and we could say no? What if we banded together and said no more tuition raises? What if they asked permission before they used our money, or we all stop paying? What if they needed to listen? Let’s unionize Emerson Undergrads. Let’s start today.

Fighting for a better Emerson

WHO WE ARE At the heart of it all (and the heart of our Union) we want to bring class equity to Emerson College. Too many of us have seen our classmates get priced out of this College. Too many of us struggle to stay as ever-climbing tuition pushes us into debt.

And too many of us feel the crushing weight of these problems but feel powerless to solve them.

Our care for each other and ourselves is what makes this heart beat. We cannot claim student power on an administrative level without also claiming the power we have to support one another. That's why we created a meal swipes exchange group so students without meal plans can get swiped into the DH. It's why we created a Disorientation Guide sharing the truths we wish we had known when we entered Emerson. And it's why we're committed to expanding the campus food pantry to include more food and healthier options, because every student, regardless of income, deserves a nutritious meal.

We are creating and demanding these forms of aid because we know from experience that Emerson will only meet our cries for change with a promise of "conversation." The time for "conversation" has passed. The conversation they want has already happened. It gets rehashed every year when the inevitable news of another tuition increase hits. We have sustained this conversation on our own without response for long enough. We need policy change. We need a tuition decrease. We need voting representation on the board of trustees. These necessary changes aren't going to come from appealing to the benevolence of an institution that has proven itself time and time again to have none. They are going to come from us-- the students, banded together in all of our power. Emerson's administration knows what they are doing to us. They just don't care.

We, the students, must care for each other. Capitalism depends on our alienation from one another and ourselves. Our college thrives on it. Acts of kindness and connection are radical acts of resistance. This October, let's challenge ourselves to look out for one another. Let's build this union on a foundation of solidarity.

Educate, agitate, organize:

FALL 2019 DISORIENTATION GUIDE LIVE You may have seen copies of our fall Disorientation Guide floating around campus.

Constructed this summer by union members ready to hit the ground running come fall, it targets freshman but contains information all Emerson students should know. This issue is just one of many. Keep an eye out for us in future semesters!

The concept of a disorientation guide follows a long tradition of campus resistance.

Many colleges, including those local to Boston such as Wellesley College and Northeastern University, have issued their own renditions. Content varies from school to school, but in general the guides disrupt the orientation messaging from campus administration to expose the often ugly underbellies of their respective institutions.

ECSU has compiled a stack of Disorientation Guides on our Issuu; check them out

here.

EMER$ON NEWS • EMER$ON NEWS • EMER$ON NEWS We are not the founders

A 2015 CALL FOR A STUDENT UNION In 2015, the Berkeley Beacon published an article by student Willie Burnley Jr. calling for a student union and a tuition freeze. The frustrations expressed within it, though dated back four-years, are all too relevant. It's even more jarring that this article was written back when students paid, on average and including aid, $12,425 less for tuition (and that's not even including how much more international students were paying, since they do not receive financial aid). It's a powerful read; we encourage you to check it out. The idea of a student union is not ours. We are simply its next generation of rabble-rousers, and this time, we're here to stay.

Emerson College depends on student turnover rates to fade student calls for resistance from the public consciousness. We cannot let that happen. And as for a call for a student union, we leave you with this quote from the article: "Let it be clear that we do not want the crumbs of change—we want the sweet cake of justice. Let no one fool you. What we want cannot be asked for, it must be demanded."

Show your support!

A MESSAGE FROM "STUDENTS SUPPORTING SURVIVORS" Students Supporting Survivors, occasionally referred to as “S3”, is a coalition of student advocates working to end sexual violence on the Emerson campus.

We strive to educate students with up-to-date information about Emerson’s sexual misconduct policy/history, connect and provide resource for survivors, advocate on behalf of survivors, and insist that the Emerson administration follow and improve its existing policies and procedures.

S3 was founded this past Spring by a group of current students, and we just recently had our first general meeting on September 25th. We are looking to continue growing, fill crucial positions such as treasurer and researchers, and bring the student body together to demand a safer college.

Looking to attend future events? We’ll be having open meetings at the end of every

month this semester, and are currently searching for contributors to our semesterly zine!

Questions, comments and concerns can be directed to sssatemerson@gmail.com, and make sure to like us on Facebook at “Students Supporting Survivors at Emerson College!”

ACTION ITEMS • ACTION ITEMS • ACTION ITEMS Share our Disorientation Guide on social media Follow us on Twitter Tell a friend to sign up for our newsletter Join and add your friends to the meal swipes exchange group

The ECSU newsletter is open to submissions from all people affiliated with Emerson College. We publish thinkpieces, DIYs, comics, and more!

The only requirement is that the content relates to Emerson College and social justice. Work can be published anonymously or with your real or pen name.

Send your submissions here.

Emerson College Student Union Fight for a better Emerson.

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