Monday, April 12, 2010

Story #14

At the beginning my topic was very broad. I wanted to cover college protest as a whole, but did not realize how much research that actually entailed. I felt as if i was capable of doing so, but found out soon on that it would be almost impossible to write a research paper that covered every college protest with no direction. So i narrowed down my options with the second paper. I compared random college protests from the past to the present ones. I felt fine with this direction, but then at a certain point realized it was not the direction i wanted to go in. With a little more research on the topic i found that i wanted to follow tuition costs and the reaction students had to them. I took a protest that happened at Rutgers university on rising tuition costs and compared it to the most recent ones in California. I compared the way the students went about it and the politics that surrounded the issue. I feel like this will be my final direction because it definitely drives my curiosity and it is a very common issue among college students.

My biggest influence for this paper has been the protests at UC Berkeley in California. There was so much media surrounding it that it would have been wrong not to go along with that topic. This also helped me with learning about the research process. You need to use everything at your disposal to make your point and support your thesis. I have not yet come up with a concrete thesis but, as is the research, it is a working progress. I feel with every draft that i compose, i come closer and closer to a more concrete topic.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Visual- Loree Hall



This is a writing done in chalk outside of Loree Hall. If this is not a sign of what is to come then i don't know what is. This is a sign that students at Rutgers University are not going to take these budget cuts lightly. We are going to see protest on campus very soon that can arguably be compared to that of UC Berkeley. Tuition prices are set to rise because of the lack of funding from the state. So, students are getting ready to assemble at Brower hall on College Avenue on April 21st. This could be the start of a revolt larger than anything Rutgers University has seen in the past.

Outline

I. Introduction
A. College and its purpose
B. The relationship the state has with state colleges.
C. Students protest high tuition rates
D. State Budget Cuts
E. Introduction of Authors

II. Rutgers Protest 1992
A. Students protest
1. What they did.
2. Who they were protesting against.
B. Why the students protested.
1. State budget cuts
2. Raising tuition costs
C. Success of the protest
1. Did the students succeed
2. What was achieved from the protest

III. UC Berkeley Protests 2009-present
A. Students protest
1. What they did
2. Who they are protesting against
B. Why the students are protesting
1. State budget cuts
2. Tuition increase
C. Progress of the protest
1. Progress that the students are making
2. Current status of the protest

IV. Comparison of the two protests
A. Similarities between the protests
1. Similar techniques that were used
2. Similar topic
B. Differences between the protests
1. Differences in demeanor of the protesters
a. Aggressive v.s. Non Aggressive
2. Differences in techniques

V. Present financial situation and Conclusion
A. State cuts on state universities
B. What this means for state schools across the country
C. The possibility of countrywide protest
D. The affect that budget cuts will have on present day Rutgers
E. How Rutgers students will react