Hundreds of students rallied on Capitol Hill Tuesday to support a massive overhaul of student loan programs. The measure would end the role of private banks in federally backed student loans and make the government the primary lender. Student protesters have also converged in Washington to call for passage of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. The DREAM Act would grant permanent citizenship to undocumented workers’ children if they completed two years of college, trade school or military service.
Thousands of students in at least thirty-two states are planning to walk out of classes today as part of the National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. The call for nationwide protests originated in California following last November’s student strikes and building takeovers in response to undergraduate fees rising 32 percent. Budget cuts in California have led to teachers furloughs, canceled classes, and entire academic departments being eliminated. We speak to University of California, Berkeley professor Ananya Roy and Ricardo Gomez, a third-year undergraduate student who started the group Berkeley Students Against the Cuts.
