At 7 a.m.on Tuesday, I and 15 of my fellow students, stood on the steps of Martin Luther King Educational Campusshaking with cold and clutching signs that protested the proposed student MetroCard cuts. All of us have been to several student protests this year, and we know what to expect. They're always smaller than we want them to be, always loud and impassioned, always inspiring, and rarely well covered by the press.

This one was different: we were standing quietly on the steps behind NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who was holding an outdoor press conference to speak out against the MTA cuts (particularly to student and senior citizen fares). She criticized the MTA for not discussing this proposal with the City Council, and said that she was open to meeting and collaborating with them to find solutions to the budgetary problems.

A few weeks ago the Student Union received an email from Nick Rolf, the community outreach organizer for Christine Quinn’s office asking us to get 15 students to attend the press conference and stand behind Speaker Quinn. This was a rare and much appreciated attempt by the City Council to involve students in their actions. One facebook page later, we were there.<!--more-->

In my last post I asked readers whom they blamed for these looming cuts, and the answers were complex. But one thing is very clear to me, and the rest of the students in the city: No transportation, no education. The MTA's proposal is unacceptable. Asking families in this city to pay a minimum of $1000 per child each year for “public” education is a huge threat to our students, parents, schools, and city, and we cannot allow it to happen.

Tuesday's press conference was just one of many actions that students and elected officials of NYC have been taking and will continue to take against this proposal. Please get involved!

  • Join the facebook group

  • Sign the City Council’s petition

  • Sign Scott Stringer’s petition

  • Get involved with the WPIX campaign S.O.S. (support our students).

  • Stay tuned to the facebook group's page, Insideschools.org and nycstudents.org for more information about future actions.

    • Thank you to Channel 11 (WPIX) for running a great story on this and for launching a full campaign in support of this cause, and, of course, thank you to the students who made their voices heard at the early morning press conference. If you know of any additional websites, petitions, or groups that are doing a good job on this issue please comment below. Thanks!

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