From allcitystudentoccupation.com:

We, the occupiers of 90 5th Avenue, have been joined by and stand in solidarity with the victims of police repression in response to a peaceful protest at Baruch College on Monday, November 21. Students from the City University of New York (CUNY) system, as well as from private universities around the city, gathered at 4 PM to protest the CUNY Board of Trustees’ decision to increase tuition yet again. This appointed body is unaccountable, undemocratic, and therefore illegitimate. It unilaterally decided to further disenfranchise those without means from access to any higher education in the city. In doing so, it has made a mockery of the notion of equal educational opportunity and completely excluded children of working-class families from access to an already under-funded public university system.

We have already seen this process unfold in California. Here, as there, working-class students are being ordered to pay for the mistakes of the wealthy. Here, as there, resistance of any kind has been met with unprovoked and egregiously brutal police violence. This outrageous response to popularly supported and peaceful democratic protest has revealed precisely what the police protect and who they serve. It is now abundantly clear that they do not serve or protect everyday people. Today we saw them protect the privilege of the few, the privilege of directly expropriating wealth from working people while silencing with baton blows any who dare to voice dissent.

Today we, the students of New York City, stand as one in unwavering solidarity with all those harassed and beaten by the thugs of the 1%. Our resolve has only been steeled. We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced. The representatives of a social order in the throes of death will not prevent us from rising to reclaim our future.

ESCALATE the Struggle. EXPAND the Movement. OCCUPY!

Re-posted from allcitystudentoccupation.com:

Two days ago the NYPD, under the orders of a billionaire mayor who does not represent us, raided Occupy Wall Street with riot gear and batons. Today we occupy. Everywhere. On this historic day of global action, the students of New York City public and private universities and colleges, in solidarity with the 99%, Occupy Wall Street, labor, and all those dispossessed by our economic and political system, will expand the struggle and occupy a university space.

Today, the university is a supreme symbol of social and economic inequality. Skyrocketing tuition costs at public and private institutions deny us access to higher education and saddle us with crushing debt. We will reclaim this elite space and make it open to all. We will foster dialog and build solidarity between students, workers, and others excluded or marginalized by economic and social inequalities. We will build community through the commonality of occupation. We will offer free education – this is systematically forbidden. We join a long tradition of student activism and struggle. We the indebted and the future unemployed and underemployed stand committed to this movement for our collective lives. We invite all to join us in this open occupation.

Workers, students, and the millions of this city unite!

Together we will be victorious.

ESCALATE the Struggle. EXPAND the Movement. OCCUPY!