TALLAHASSEE, FLA (WTXL) – FSU Students are planning to rally to let their voices be heard regarding a controversial topic that affects Florida and the nation.
Friday, February 28, 2014, in front of the Integration Statue on Florida State University’s Campus at 2PM, Students for a Democratic Society and various other student organizations (Hispanic and Latino Student Union, Advocates for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Center for Participant Education, and the Dream Defenders) as well as Sen. Dwight Bullard are holding a rally to demand Tuition Equity for Undocumented Students at FSU. Representatives from each student group as well as other students will speak out about the need for Undocumented Students to receive In-State Tuition and the steps they plan on taking in order to see this become a reality, including hosting an upcoming Education-for-All Week at FSU and future direct actions.
Currently in the State of Florida, Undocumented Students or Students whose parents are Undocumented are required to pay Out-of-State Tuition, regardless of how many years they have spent within the Florida public school system. Students not only at FSU, but all over the state find this practice archaic and discriminatory. Over the past academic year, FIU and Miami-Dade College have created waivers and scholarships. At UF and USF Students for a Democratic Society has lead the charge in conjunction with other organizations such as Chispas, Bulls for Tuition Equity and Gators for Tuition Equity; confronting both their respective administrations through action and Florida legislators via call-ins and other methods.
At FSU, students want President Barron to publicly support Tuition Equity on campus and for him to urge the school’s Board of Trustees to not only create space concerning Tuition Equity on the agenda for their upcoming meeting in March, but to also allow students to speak at the meeting. The students have already passed a SGA Resolution, a popular student Referendum and are prepared to take this struggle to the university President Eric Barren on Friday, and eventually to the FSU Board of Trustees capital in support of Sen. Bullard’s Senate Bill 300.
Until In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students is made law for all secondary institutions in Florida, students at FSU will continue to fight for localized implementations of Tuition Equity by the Florida State University Board of Trustees, either via Individual Waivers, a Local Ordinance, or another equitable system.
