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a CUNY LEGAL
EFENSE PROJECT


SLAMI, Student Liberation Action Movement originated in the Spring semester of 1995
with the announcement of Governor Pataki’s and Mayor Giuliani’s budget cuts to the
CUNY, City University of New York system. A broad range of students, faculty, staff and
community people started gathering together at weekly meetings, originally located in The
Bronx and eventually ending up in The CUNY Graduate Center. This coalition was aptly
named the CUNY Coalition and was more successful than any of its participants could have
imagined. In just under two months it managed to organize the largest student
demonstration since Vietnam. On March, 23, 1995 over 20,000 people converged at City
Hall park to denounce the governments attempt to pilfer the quality and access to education
that CUNY provides the working class of New York. This was the beginning of a new era of
student and community struggles and activism that have been apart of CUNY since its
inception in the 1840's.

In its present state known as SLAM!/ A Coalition for Public Education, it is an open and
democratically run independent arm of the student movement in New York. Working
together in a coalition structure gives its participants the unique experience of confronting
the politics that separate and divide us and allows for the maneuverability to recognize these
problems in an atmosphere of openness and honesty. SLAM! Provides the student
movement the opportunity to objectively discuss and strategize around the issues that
confront CUNY students, and public education in general. Organizationally, SLAM!
Maintains a structure that represents our communities: CUNY students, private college
students and high school students in a fair and representational manner. During the school
semester SLAM! meets as often as possible to discuss the latest issues and actions that are
facing the student movement and what strategies can be best catapult our message.

In the upcoming year SLAM! at Hunter College has taken up three projects:

1. The fight for more adequate student space.

2. The fight for Open Admissions and overall greater access to higher Education.

3. The fight to save the lives of Mumia Abu Jamal and other political prisoners as well as
offer information about the prison industrial complex.

If you would like to know more about SLAM! or would like to get involved in our
organizing efforts please contact us at...

SLAM!
C/o USG Room 121 Hunter North
Hunter College
695 Park Avenue
New York New York 10021

Phone (212) 772-4261/4262 Fax (212) 772-4264


quality higher education.

2. Weare fighting for a University that serves the
people. We want full and direct democratic control
of the University by the University community of
students, workers, and faculty. We call for the
immediate transfer of control of the University from
the Board of Trustees, which represents the interests
of a tiny ruling elite, to democratically elected
University Council of students, workers, and
faculty.

%) . Weare fighting for an education that aids us in
our struggles for liberation and in the creation of a
new society. We call for the democratic
reorganization of the curriculum, methods of
teaching, and the grading system.

4. Weare fighting for unconditional freedom of
political expression on campus including free access
to the campus by all members of the community
and an end to all practices of University
administration intended to suppress political
activity.

5 . Weare fighting for the immediate cancellation of
all bonds and other outstanding debts that drain
money from the University to further profit the rich.

6. Weare fighting for the conditions of life that
enable us to learn. These include free quality, food
shelter, healthcare, childcare, transportation,
tutoring, and remediation for all members of the
University community.


hi We are fighting for an autonomous University.
We insist on the immediate severing of all
University ties with corporate, financial,
governmental, and military institutions that
contribute to the maintenance of the existing
oppressive social order.

8 . Weare fighting for an end to police terror on and
off campus. We call for the police to be
permanently banned from the University, for the
dismantling of the SAFE unit, and for campus
security to be placed under democratic control of
the University community.

9 . Weare fighting for a truly democratic society in
which all decisions are made by those who are
effected by them, a society committed to meeting
the basic needs of all people, and to protecting the
planet we share.

1 0 3 We are fighting for an end to all forms of
oppression and exploitation: to white supremacy
and all forms of racism, to the oppression of
women, to the repression of the full diversity of
consensual human sexuality, and to the profit
system and the rule of the rich.


WHAT WE DO: SLAM! PROJECTS

1. HIGH SCHOOL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (HSOC).

In January 1999 under pressure from Mayor Giuliani the CUNY Board of Trustees voted to
eliminate remedial courses at all of CUNY’s senior colleges. The result of eliminating remediation
is that the majority of New York City high school students currently planning to attend a CUNY 4-
year college will not be admitted! The mission of the High School Organizing Committee it to work
with college and high school students to build a movement that will fight for an education system
that is accessible and serves the needs of NYC youth.

SLAM! and CUNY students have played a major role in the student and youth movement in NYC.
in 1998 we mobilized thousands of students CUNY-wide and succeeded in postponing the
elimination of remedial courses at the senior colleges! Our goal for the year is to build a coalition
of college and HS students for a city-wide campaign demanding remediation at CUNY’s senior
colleges. If you get down with HSOC, these are some of the projects you can get involved with.

Morning education and mobilization campaigns at NYC high schools

Work with HS students on the Youth Rising Newspaper

Work with SLAM!’s organizer training class

Help build a coalition to fight for access to remediation at “ALL” of CUNY’s colleges
SLAM! video series

VVVVV

Il. THE PRISON PROJECT.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any nation on earth. In many states, there
are more Blacks and Latinos incarcerated for drug crimes than those who graduate from public
colleges. Under the banner “Education not Incarceration!” students are organizing to counter the
growing prison industrial complex, human rights abuses and politically-generated sentencing and
imprisonment.

SLAM! has been active in mobilizing youth to educate the NYC community about prison-related
issues including police brutality and political prisoners such as Mumia-Abu Jamal. In April 1999,
Hunter College SLAM! mobilized 400 Hunter Students and 11 buses to rally in Philadelphia for
Mumia’s freedom. SLAM! is currently looking for folks who want to help develop a strategy for
organizing around these issues. You can get down with the following projects:

Media and activist training for young people around the Prison Industrial Complex
Build the campaign for Mumia Abu-Jamal at Hunter and city-wide

Build awareness at Hunter and city-wide on US political prisoners and prisoners of war
Participate in events and outreach that build the above mentioned work!

VVVV

Ill. THE CUNY LEGAL DEFENSE PROJECT.

The CUNY Legal Defense Project is a critical component of the CUNY student movement. The
project supports litigation by attorneys on behalf of CUNY students on important civil rights or civil
liberties issues and in support of CUNY’s historic policy of Open Admissions. CLDP provides
defense for CUNY activists in criminal, civil or administrative proceedings. The project also
provides education and research on issues pertaining to CUNY, in particular to CUNY's policy of
Open Admissions. Along with other CUNY activists,

SLAM! members sit on the project's board of directors. As board members SLAMMISTA's play
an active role in shaping the vision of the project as well as securing grants, volunteers and
serving as spokes people for the project. Folks who are interested in defending CUNY, Human
and Civil Rights or public interest law will enjoy and benefit from getting involved with CLDP!