Giving the current economic state, and with tuition on the rise, students did the unthinkable: give the university administration a check for over $3 million.
Buffalo's chapter of New York Students Rising – the Defend Our Education Coalition – wrote the check to raise awareness about the amount of debt students at UB will graduate with. The $3,063,876 on the fake check was raised in a mock telethon where "donations" were "given" in the form of debt that students have accumulated.
"[We wanted to] draw some attention to student debt at UB," said Cayden Mak, a media studies graduate student and leader of the Defend Our Education Coalition. "Especially because I think there is kind of this myth that because we are a public university, people don't owe a lot of money, and clearly that is [to] the contrary."
The mock telethon started at 11 a.m. Thursday and raised over $1 million before 1 p.m. The event concluded at 3 p.m. with a police escort to President Tripathi's office to deliver the check.
Tripathi was not in his office, but Dennis Black, the vice president for university life and services, was available to accept the check.
Mak and a few supporters of the cause sat down with Black to discuss their goals for the telethon. For Mak, the meeting was a success, as Black plans to meet with them at a later time to discuss any resources or policies that could be altered to help decrease student debt. Black is aware that student debt has become a major problem at both Buffalo and on a national scale.
"I think there is a growing awareness of the difficult path that we're on," Black said. "Increasing higher education costs, the economy that doesn't support the debt that is being accumulated…So it's not a second floor Capen Hall Buffalo discussion, it's a discussion at the national level."
The increasing debt crisis is having a negative effect on students. Students are less likely to go to graduate school because of the cost, and it has affected students in the classroom.
"I think [professors] are seeing that there's a big issue with the way their students are performing and the way students feel about being in school," Mak said. "People are stressed out and it's not a good educational environment. So it's important to a lot of people."
Marion Werner, an assistant professor in the geography department, noticed the negative effect in her classrooms due to student debt, and she said the protest was a necessary tool for students.
"I think students really need to [fight for their] quality of education, and if students aren't doing that, then no one will," Werner said.
The biggest issue the Defend Our Education Coalition has with the disbursement of the money is the amount of money that the administration is receiving.
Mak wanted to deliver the check to Tripathi to show him how much his students were accumulating in debt while he collects his $650,000 salary.
"I just feel delivering the check to the president was a good idea because he has been such a supporter of the rational tuition [increase] policy and that kind of thing," Mak said. "But it seems like he might not be clear on just how much money is coming from the students."
The university released a statement on student debt to coincide with the telethon. Part of that statement included:
"On average, UB students who take college loans enter their professional lives with loan debt that is, according to our research, 23 percent lower than the national average among four-year institutions."
Buffalo is the most affordable school in the Mid-American Conference, as tuition and fees are $7,482 per year, the statement said.
Defend Our Education Coalition members believe students need to protest the way their money is being distributed despite Buffalo having a lower cost.
"I have seen what can happen…when [students] take a command of an interest in their future and they recognize how the structures of society that are in place threatened that future or straight out rob it from them," said Adam Drury, an English graduate student. "And I have [seen] what can happen when students come together to fight for change, and its just one of the most inspirational things I've ever seen."
Email: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
