Approximately 40 students and members of the community gathered outside the Union on Thursday to protest the University’s decision to end meal plan rollover.
Protesters stood in the free speech area outside the Union’s front entrance, holding signs and chanting phrases like “B-G-S-U, stealing from you” and “stealing money, that’s just rude, let us buy our dining food.”
The protest was organized by FREEDOM, a social activist group on campus, as a way to keep the issue on student’s minds.
“We’d been talking about it for two weeks, so we decided it would be a good issue to protest,” junior Jacob Moore said.
Moore, who spearheaded the protest, said as soon as FREEDOM heard about what was going on, they began working with USG and other student organizations on the issue.
“Higher education affects everyone,” Moore said. “We don’t think [rollover] ought to be taken away. The University is about education, not food.”
“We’re trying to get as many people as possible aware of this because it’s part of the bigger issue of student apathy and under-representation,” FREEDOM member Shane Juntila said. “The students who care don’t have enough representation on campus.”
Ron Collier, secretary for College Democrats, said his organization was hoping to work with FREEDOM to raise awareness on the issue.
“We have a connection with FREEDOM through friendships and that we’re both socialist active groups on campus”, Collier said in between leading protest chants. “We knew they had a first protest in the Union and worked with FREEDOM on this one.”
Junior Steve Currie, president of College Democrats for the 2008-09 academic year, noted that College Democrats have not finalized a position on the rollover protests.
“I’m going to make sure to represent my constituency,” Currie said. “We haven’t voted on it just yet.”
Currie, however, personally supports the moment.
“It’s legal what they’re doing, but it’s ethically wrong,” Currie said.
FREEDOM also held a teach-in tonight at the United Christian Fellowship on Thurstin Avenue. No further protests are planned after that, but FREEDOM plans to hold more meetings on the issue to determine any future plans.
“We’re trying to see what happens after today and go from there,” Moore said.
