More than 1,000 Columbia University students have banded together and are withholding this semester’s tuition as they demand that the prestigious university lower its cost amid heavy financial burdens and the move to remote learning prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to NBC News, the students started their strike last Friday, when payments for the semester were due.
They are accusing the Ivy League school of demonstrating a “flagrant disregard for initiatives democratically supported within the community.” The students are asking the school to lower tuition by at least 10 percent and to increase financial aid services to those in need.
The striking students claim that Columbia is making money as its endowment grows in the stock market, but is doing very little to provide additional relief to students.
Their letter also asks the school to end its gentrifying expansion into West Harlem, defund its university police force, and bargain with campus unions in good faith.
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