Yesterday was a day unlike any I remember in Troy, New York. We have lived here for over  thirty years and this is the first demonstration with a large group of students over any cause.  RPI, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute  is a very serious school, serious students taught by  serious faculty .  Not that anyone one campus is not concerned about politics and safety, but they are all just focused on their goal of attaining the best education possible, an education worth the $60,000 a year  price tag which they pay !

.

“Tensions came to a head after several months of disagreement between administrators and students over theRensselaer Student Union, a 125-year-old body that controls, finances and organizes student activities. Every enrolled student who pays an activity fee is a member of the union, and is governed by student leaders they elect each spring.

Students say the university has recently made moves to take over their control of the union, starting with the “mysterious” disappearance of the union’s director in January and ending with a job posting for a new executive director of student activities who would provide leadership for the union and answer to the administration.”  from Times Union.”

The Board of Directors will meet with the student leaders to  decide on the amount of autonomy the students will have  in  the running of the Student Union.

Students do have much more power than they realize.  Yesterday, they turned  not only the flag but the campus upside down.  They could be taking the  school slogan to heart!