Evicted from Fine Arts 015 and proud

I am writing this having just been evicted, along with many of my close friends and allies, from Fine Arts 015.

We occupied the room Tuesday evening and held it until an overwhelming number of police officers arrived in the early morning. Our action is already being slandered.

Some have suggested, online and in personal conversation, that our action was immature and aimless. This is false. The occupation grew out of mass assembly held Tuesday afternoon.

That meeting was called to discuss student debt, tuition hikes and control of the University. These are necessary conversations. Tuition has increased nearly 5 percent every year since 2007.

Simultaneously, IU President Michael McRobbie received a 12 percent increase in his salary last year alone. He now makes more than half a million dollars a year.

Tuition increases are driving students deep into debt while McRobbie and his administration grow rich. The average IU graduate in 2010 owed $27,752 in student loan debt.

McRobbie’s salary and our tuition are both under the control of the IU Board of Trustees. This nine-member board has final authority over the governance of IU. However, only three members are elected, and only alumni can vote in that election.

The Indiana governor also handpicks one student member to serve as a puppet for their anti-student agenda.

This is the situation. A largely un-elected and entirely unaccountable Board of Trustees controls our University and drives students further into debt every year while stuffing the pockets of administrators like McRobbie.

We reject their authority. A university is a place of learning, not a money-making venture. Learning is a right, not a privilege for the wealthy.

The occupation was meant to provide a space of discussion and resistance to the illegitimate regime overseeing IU. Symbolically, taking the space was meant to spit in the face of the administration. Their authority means nothing to us.

This is the students’ University, not theirs.

We used the space to plan future actions and events, as well as information campaigns to raise awareness of these issues. We were not idle. We were not playing.

Remember that the occupation was completely nonviolent, yet Dean of Students Harold “Pete” Goldsmith swaggered into a classroom with armed police officers trailing him. The implicit threat was clear. The learning was over. Resistance would not be tolerated.

There is a story in the New Testament in which Christ finds moneylenders in the temple of God and drives them out with a whip (John 2:13-16). I am not religious, but I find this story inspiring.

I believe knowledge to be sacred and education to be a divine experience. By rights, the University freely belongs to all who would learn. It is a temple of learning.

But the moneylenders are among us. Predatory student loans are crushing our generation while the administration gets wealthier and wealthier. Now is the time to drive the moneylenders out of our University.

Listen up, Trustees, Presidents and Deans. You didn’t scare us, and you can’t hurt us. We’re just getting started.

­— atcrane@indiana.edu