Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Buffalo held a public forum on Monday evening on UB's South Campus, discussing issues facing UB students, the future of the Occupy movement, and the planning of a campus-wide event set for March 1.
Cayden Mak, a third year graduate student in the media studies department, hosted the event along with Occupy Wall Street and Buffalo representatives. Mak, who has worked extensively with Occupy Buffalo, is a member of the Defend Our Education Coalition and New York Students Rising.
Approximately 40 people attended Monday's meeting – including UB professors and local community activists, while only a few UB undergraduate students were in attendance.
The evening began with refreshments and introductions, but the serious issues facing the Occupy movement were soon addressed, led primarily by Occupy Wall Street members who traveled from New York City for the event.
To help focus on questions facing UB students and faculty, the room was divided into four groups after the first 20 minutes. Attention was given to the rising costs of textbooks, student tuition, and how to secure better income for university professors.
When the group portion ended, everyone gathered for spirited discourse on a large number of issues. Student debt was a concern for many who spoke at the meeting; many believe it to be the most pressing issue facing students and graduates as they try to navigate a tumultuous economy with stagnating unemployment.
"We're in a place where our future is very uncertain," said Andre Primus, a junior environmental design major. "The unemployment… the rising debt, and the loss of the middle-class job market means that we need to change things now."
Mak used the meeting to inform attendees of the WEAR event that will take place on March 1.
"The idea is for students to have something visible on their person that shows how much debt they have taken on for their education, to help combat this stigma and the sense that we're all isolated in this issue," Mak said. "There are a lot of people, from faculty to undergrads, who are suffering from this."
The Occupy movement began in September of last year, when protestors took to Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan and took up residence for weeks. Since then, Occupy movements sprung up in hundreds of cities around the world, focusing largely on issues of unemployment and economic inequality.
While proclaiming itself to be apolitical, the Occupy movement became identified as a leftist movement, attracting liberal students, activists, union members, and celebrities. Yet the movement received little support among elected officials in the U.S.
By the end of the fall, many Occupy movements around the country tried hard to sustain momentum, facing the challenges of frustrated cities and local governments, while cold weather kept it hard to live outdoors.
In Buffalo, Occupy organizers found it hard to attract students from UB.
"That's a particular issue that's bugged me a lot," said Logan Noonan, a member of Occupy Buffalo and a junior philosophy and psychology major.
"It's understandable to a certain extent," Noonan said of the lack of political action among students. "Everybody has busy lives, we're all trying to get our education done, and a lot of us have jobs to try and get through that. But I think we can't afford not to [occupy], at the end of the day. The need for change is too dire."
The evening was in many ways a celebration of Occupy – its accomplishments, big and small, since last year and what types of changes need to be made for the future.
Buffalo community activist Beverly Hiestand was positive about the prospects for student organization and for possible change at UB.
"All of a sudden, something will happen, and things will move quickly," Hiestand said. "And in a school, it could be in the same way. You never know when it's going to take off."
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Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
