STUDENTS ON STRIKE COVID-19 has sparked a new wave of activism.
GABBY ESTLUND
BY LEXI MCMENAMIN
From public institutions like the University of Iowa and the University of Massachusetts Boston, to private ones like the University of Chicago and Rice University, students across the country are coalescing around a novel idea: a tuition strike. The massive mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic has forced college students to question the cost of their education, as schools that charge tens of thousands of dollars in tuition per year transition to online instruction. “Students are really angry at the way that we’re being treated right now,” says Dulce Escorcia, a senior at the University of Iowa and a member of Iowa Student Action. “We were already being taken advantage of by rising tuition costs.” And now, there’s the pandemic, which forced students back into classrooms or into spaces where COVID-19 protocols aren’t followed. “It all comes together into all the energy that’s buzzing around campuses right now.” 38 | DECEMBER 2020 / JANUARY 2021
“American students pay so much money,” says Miranda Dotson, a senior at American University in Washington, D.C., and an organizer with the nascent national organization United Student Front. “If they withhold their dollars, there are a lot of universities that are tuition-dependent [which] would be forced to listen to, or in a position to negotiate with, students who strike en masse.” Broiling in the background is the rise of labor activism in education, including campaigns for unionization within university graduate departments as well as the #Red4Ed strikes of K-12 educators that made headlines throughout 2018 and 2019. The push for tuition strikes has also drawn strength from the mo-
Iowa City, Iowa: Student Action members protesting the Iowa Board of Regents decision to reopen campuses in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lexi McMenamin (@lexmcmenamin) is a reporter from Philadelphia who writes about politics, identity, and activist movements.
