CUNY Coalition Against the Cuts, 1995

The CUNY Coalition Against the Cuts was a citywide coalition of CUNY student activists that reached its peak in spring 1995. The CUNY Coalition is best known for its “Shut the City Down” protest on March 23, 1995, when an estimated 25,000 young people packed City Hall Park. Many were beaten, pepper sprayed and arrested by Mayor Giuliani’s police force while attempting to march on Wall Street. Governor Pataki’s proposal for budget cuts and a tuition increase was modified shortly after the protest, and his plans to eliminate SEEK and College Discovery were scrapped.

Go to all 20 Items in collection.

6 Featured Items:

The Banner, March 30, 1995

Student newspaper from College of Staten Island, with coverage of March 23, 1995 CUNY Coalition protest at City Hall.

Item Type: Text

Time Periods: 1993-1999 End of Remediation and Open Admissions in Senior Colleges

Subjects: Activism, Austerity, Student Organizations, Tuition

Tags: City Hall, College of Staten Island, Media / Press, Protest

Tips for Giving Class Presentations

This flier was used by activists to prepare for giving short presentations—"class raps"—in classrooms to promote the March 23, 1995 demonstration at City Hall. It includes details about the planned tuition hike and cuts to financial [...]

Item Type: Text

Time Periods: 1993-1999 End of Remediation and Open Admissions in Senior Colleges

Subjects: Activism, Austerity, Financial Aid, Student Organizations, Tuition

Tags: Budget Cuts, Student Activism

Love and Rage: Special Anti-Cop Issue

This special issue of Love and Rage, written and published by anarchist CUNY students active in the CUNY Coalition Against the Cuts, covers police repression of student activism at CUNY and police brutality in New York City neighborhoods. One [...]

Item Type: Text

Time Periods: 1993-1999 End of Remediation and Open Admissions in Senior Colleges

Subjects: Activism, Criminal Justice, Relationships with Communities, Student Organizations

Tags: Black Solidarity Day, Copwatch, Media / Press, Police, Student Activism, York College

Shut The City Down flier

Original flier used to publicize and invite CUNY and high school students to the March 23, 1995 rally at City Hall and the unpermitted march on Wall Street planned for after the rally. Included here is a separate document that was distributed among [...]

Item Type: Text

Time Periods: 1993-1999 End of Remediation and Open Admissions in Senior Colleges

Subjects: Activism, Austerity, Financial Aid, Politics, Relationships with Communities, Student Organizations, Tuition

Tags: Budget Cuts, CUNY Coalition Against the Cuts, High School, Protest, Wall Street

Ann Reynolds #1 Enemy of CUNY

This black and white flier has a picture of Wynetka "Ann" Reynolds, chancellor of CUNY. Activists chose the chancellor as a target to draw attention to their struggle for access to CUNY and quality public education.

Item Type: Image

Time Periods: 1993-1999 End of Remediation and Open Admissions in Senior Colleges

Subjects: Activism, CUNY Administration, Politics, Tuition

Tags: Chancellor Ann Reynolds, Protest

"Birth of a Movement"

This Village Voice article covers the coalition effort that pulled off four simultaneous civil disobedience actions on April 25, 1995, stopping traffic at major bridges and tunnels to fight city budget cuts. Puerto Rican, black and Asian groups [...]

Item Type: Text

Time Periods: 1993-1999 End of Remediation and Open Admissions in Senior Colleges

Subjects: Activism, Admissions, Austerity, Politics, Relationships with Communities, Tuition

Tags: Movement Building, Protest, Student Activism