Marymount College is a small liberal arts college located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The beginning of the spring terms marked a fundamental change in the way MMC is administered. A new president - Judson R. Shaver, Ph.D., a conservative budget-slashing cowboy - was selected. Since his inauguration in July, much needed programs began to see their budgets cut, and drastic change from Marymount's progressive tradition.
Shaver began attacking minority-based and gender-based scholarships and programs. One such program was the Community Leadership Program (CLP). The CLP is a scholarship that is granted to minority youth that devote their time to volunteering in non-profit, community-based organizations. This scholarship gives single mothers, low-income, and minority youth a chance to go to a distinguished private school, which they otherwise may not have the opportunity to attend. The scholarship is also an honor awarded to youth for distinguished grassroots volunteering to improve the conditions of their neighborhood. After the administration change, the students of the CLP received a brief, one-paragraph statement in the mail, informing them of the cuts to their summer and winter semester funds.
The cutting of funds was not the only attack on the CLP. Three weeks before the announcement of the cuts, the director of the CLP was fired for administrative infractions. When students of the CLP approached Marymount officials for details, they were dismissed with the bureaucratic backhand slap of "confidentiality." Many students suspected that the director of the CLP was fired for his passionate advocacy and plans to expand the program.
It was obvious that President Shaver had put profits above education. He has initiated a review of these "special programs," which he believes do not maximize earnings. Other progressive programs on his hit list were the Educational Enrichment Program, Women in Urban Leadership, Higher Education Opportunity Program and many more. These cuts corresponded with the assaults on the City University system of New York (CUNY). It appeared to be a vicious citywide trend to keep minority and working class students out of higher education in New York. The CLP students, in coalition with the Young Communist League of MMC, decided it was time to fight back.
The administration expected the students of these programs to be demoralized and unorganized. They were wrong. Students from the CLP and YCL marched into a meeting Shaver was attending and demanded to speak to him. He responded to their pleas callously and without remorse, saying, "You should appreciate what you have and not what was taken away from you." Shaver has an "if you give them and inch, they'll take a mile" mentality. The students of the CLP didn't want a mile; they just want their inch back.
The YCL at MMC held joint meetings with CLP students to coordinate strategy and tactics. We put together a public statement to be circulated and hung on bulletin boards throughout the school, informing classmates of the President's plans for crippling our school programs. This tactic was effective in capturing the school's attention to our struggle on a mass scale. We also held informational public meetings, which brought sympathetic students to come hear us out.
The publicity we gave to the situation forced the administration to open dialogue with the CLP and the YCL acting as the student representatives. We had several meetings with the Vice President, where we demanded they reinstate the program back to its full status. Unfortunately, the program was not restored to its previous full status, but they feared more negative publicity and were ready to negotiate with us. An internal debate took place within our meetings. Some students felt if they negotiate full reinstatement, then it wasn't a victory. Others argued that even a partial victory is still a victory and we should continue to negotiate.
In the end, the majority of us decided to negotiate and we did win a partial victory. The administration was forced to apologize for their harsh implementation of the cuts on such a short notice. They also promised the summer and winter classes were still an option but would have to be applied for separately and reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Although this was not ideal, it still was a giant leap forward for our coalition.
Personally, I must admit I was one of those students who believed we should have full reinstatement, and not concede anything. I learned an important lesson from this struggle. A partial victory is a start, and it is better to begin the struggle at the beginning then to not begin it at all.
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