Tent State University:
Ain't gonna study war no more

[How to do it on your campus:]
www.tentstate.com/organizing/


In 2003, a group of students at Rutgers came up with a novel way to protest the bloated military budget and reduced state and federal funding for education: they created a mock university in the center of campus. They pitched tents, enrolled students, invited faculty, held demonstrations and teach-ins, and voila, Tent State University was born. Tent State U lasted only a few days, but the coalition it mobilized was so successful it caught the attention of student activists and organizers nationwide.

This year, from April 11-24, Tent State Universities will spring up on several other campuses around the country, among them UC-Santa Cruz and the University of Missouri in Kansas City. In Missouri, organizers say, higher education spending has dropped 26 percent, yet the state has poured $2.8 billion (and counting) into the Iraq war. For that crazy price tag, Missouri could have put 140,000 students through four years of college.

TSU's anti-war, pro-education message is resonating with students hungry for positive protests; a UMKC campus organizer said that in just three days more than 200 students and 25 faculty, including the dean of the college of arts and sciences, had signed up for TSU. Want to organize a Tent State on your own campus? What are you waiting for? A tent is a terrible thing to waste.