Long Rutgers board meeting ends with short protest over tuition costs and restructuring plan

By Kelly Heyboer/ The Star-Ledger

NEW BRUNSWICK — Under Rutgers University’s rules, if an issue is not on the agenda no one from the public can speak about it during a board of governors meeting.

So, when the board met today in New Brunswick without two big issues — tuition hikes and the proposed higher education restructuring — on the agenda, a group of students decided to make their voices heard.

Near the end of the lengthy session, a single student stood in the rear of the Winants Hall meeting room and shouted “mic check!” Around him, dozens of other students echoed “mic check!”

Then, in an unusual protest, the students read a statement in unison calling for a zero-percent tuition increase and the end of the restructuring proposal that would sever Rutgers-Camden from the rest of the university.

“We are the students of this university that stand with our faculty and staff and we demand a presence in matters directly affecting our lives on campus,” the students said.

The group of about two dozen students continued reading their one-page statement as Ralph Izzo, the board chairman, counted to 10, then sent in security to remove the protesters.

“Rutgers students are graduating with over $20,000 in debt and our legislators focus on unproductive issues like the takeover of Rutgers-Camden,” the students said in one voice, before leaving peacefully.