The Sleep Out

The NYPIRG sleep out brings awareness to the thousands of homeless people in the Buffalo State community. A few weeks ago on Friday, April 19 from 7pm to 2am underneath Cleveland Hall, we learned first hand what homeless people endure every night on the streets of Buffalo.

Students endured the cold and windy night for over six hours during the sleep out. To help the time go by we sang our favorite songs, made cardboard house,played board games and tried to stay warm with hot chocolate and cookies.Though this helped us get through the night, we realized that this is probably a luxury compared to what the homeless have to enjoy.

Kitty Lambert-Rudd , an LGBT activist spoke about her experience being homeless. She lost her job and fell ill to cancer. This resulted in her being homeless with her three child sleeping in her car. She explains that a bulk of the homeless people are families with children, not the stereotyped single white male with substance abuse or mental illness.

She also discussed homelessness in the LGBT community. Many teens are kicked out of their house because of their sexual orientations. At just the average age of 14 they are inexperienced, unemployed, and are clueless on where to get help.Many of them roam the streets and are subject to abuse.

Lambert- Rudd is now fighting for equal marriage rights for the LGBT community. Her and her wife were one of the first couples to be married legally in New York State. She believes everyone should have the right to marry whomever they choose.

Pride Alliance president Shakora Purks, participated in the sleep out and lead the hour of silence to commemorate the Day of Silence in honor of those silenced by anti-LGBT bullying and harassment at school.

The sleep out ultimately educates participants in the day in the life of a homeless person, inspires others to take action, and help with the issue of homelessness in Buffalo.

NYPIRG 2020

       The” Slash and Burn” of Education

Where are our legislatures for the student body? How have WE the students let such atrocities occur? Back in 2011 Governor Cuomo signed the NYSUNY 2020 Challenge Grant Program bill which raises both SUNY and CUNY tuition 300 dollars for five years.  Not only is this law raising the tuition for in-state students, but is also raising out-of-state tuition by ten percent. Students also have to deal with the rise of student debt and funding being slashed. As the economy tanked, TAP and PELL Grants, which many students rely on, were restructured to make them more difficult to qualify for. All these new bills that are being passed into law are hurting studnets. The whole system that has evolved into our new “economy” has made it nearly impossible to buy or do anything after graduating. As students graduate with massive amounts of debt, they choose to not take out loans to buy houses and cars. This not only hurts the students, but also hurts the entire economy.

The National Center for Education Statistics reported in 2011 that the average student debt per student was $26,600 . Another issue that students are having is the job rate across the nation. Every year we see less and less jobs growing in the economy. As students are graduating from four year universities with     debt, they struggle to pay back loans only brings concern to a rapidly downward spiraling problem. The overall national debt in the United States is over one trillion dollars.  The structure of education that once helped students become successful is now burdening them with nearly impossible to pay back debt.  The sad reality of all this going on is that students are forced into this position. They are promised that once they graduate from college they will get a good job and become successful. This shattered dream is affecting millions of graduate students nationwide. NYPIRG is pushing for these increases to end and also claim that adding student debt will be problematic for the economy and the well-being of graduating students.  With NYPIRG and the student body of New York, students can change the outlook of the future and help to end this war against education!

David Buczek

                       For Free Financial Information and Advice Please Visit:

CollegeFinanceCenter.org

NYPIRG Conference

Over the weekend I shared an incredible experience with New York State Public Interest Research Group in attending the Student Leadership Conference. It most certainly helped me to open my eyes to problematic issues that are currently going on in New York state. The workshops  given were extremely well prepared by the NYPIRG staff and scientifically based. One of the workshops that I really enjoyed being a part of was the Climate Change presentation. Climate change has affected people all across the world, but specifically people in New York City.

Many workshops focused solely on the issues with hydro-fracking, oil drilling, and the reinvestment of clean energy. Joe Stelling gave a wonderful presentation on the issue of greenhouse gases that exposes viewers to the reality of just how these climate changes are taking place. Although fracking is an ongoing issue that is to this day being debated in legislation across Binghamton, there are still landowners in the area who support hydrofracking, and would like to bring it to their property. This problematic issue not only may lead to contamination of their water and their land, but it also impacts the community around them. Just across from the hydro-fracked farms (literally) are windmills that are seen right across the horizon. Binghamton like many other small cities in Upstate New York has had a hard time pulling in businesses to promote job growth.

Unfortunately, many people believe in the notion that fracking is acceptable and justifiable because they are receiving money to frack on the lands. The presentation itself helped to identify this issue and bring awareness to the devastating effects of hydrofracking. With the increased awareness of these issues, New York is slowly beginning to shift the way that it obtains energy. Windmills, solar paneling, electric cars, and smart roads will one day be the norm of our everyday lives. These new ways of collecting energy will not only help humanity in the long run by creating jobs, but will also change the way that we build our technology. No longer will we have to exploit resources for our existence.

With organizations such as NYPIRG that teach students about ongoing issues in New York, we as citizens can really take part in this movement and together WE can promote change.  NYPIRG helps  to not only educate students, but also helps to bring awareness to environmental and political issues.

David Buczek

For more information please contact  Buffalo State NYPIRG Coordinator Patty Ceravole  at :pceravole@nypirg.org

My 1st Time at Higher Education Action Day

Higher Education Action Day is when hundreds of students, faculty, advocacy organizations (TWI, Transit, Workforce Unions) and Activists head to Albany to speak to constituents with their representatives about various issues in Higher Education. We attended the festivities on the basis of playing an important role in the policy making process to protect public higher education in New York State for all students.

My first time at the Higher Education Action Day(HEAD) in Albany was quite the experience from the beginning. I couldn't sleep the night before because I was very hype to meet politicians.I was eager to speak my mind about the very issues that we as college students are fighting for…. Higher Education! Thou

gh I was excited to let my voice be heard, I was also a little nervous about speaking in front of the assemblymen. I was afraid that I would get tongue tied in between my words and that they would take my opinions in a negative way or simply misunderstand me. However I recollected my thoughts and was ready to take on the role as the “Spokestudent.”

We had three meetings that day. We spoke to Nick Thony, the Legislative Affairs Director of Assemblyman David Gantt.He was very intrigued about what I had to say about TAP and how it  affected me . Thony and Senator Mark Grisanti seem to have a very supporter view towards the issues even though we couldn’t get one assemblyman to support our critical views of reorganizing the funds for our higher education. Either way, I felt as if I made a huge contribution not only for myself, but also for my school, and other college students who are struggling to meet all needs of surviving in college .

 The day was very long, but so amazing from the time we left Buffalo State campus at  around 5am. When I signed up to join the fellow students of the NYPIRG Buff State chapter, I was prepared to unite with  students to give Albany a piece of our educated and inspirational minds to bring forth change and pass of the Revolutionary DREAM ACT. We want legislature to as restore TAP to graduate students and give more to higher education overall.

I hope that the legislature truly considers our requests and put the student first. We are the future and depend on them to give  us funding and a chance to be successful.

Signed,Taven D. Gibson

NYPIRG Referendum Vote 2013

The New York Public Interest Research Group at Buffalo State (NYPIRG) is up for the referendum vote. Every two years the undergraduate student body at Buffalo State is given the opportunity to vote and keep NYPIRG on Buffalo State campus. This vote reassures that the student body is satisfied with the services
that NYPIRG provides.

NYPIRG is an active student advocacy group on campus.We tackle issues that effect students and  have registered over  1,000 students to vote on campus, lobby in Albany to get Tuition Assistance Program(TAP) restore to graduate students and increase funding for the thousands of  undergraduate students across New York State.We also organize advocacy trips to Albany to talk to their legislators to fight cuts to SUNY and expand TAP. Everyday we inform our peers about our several campaign  such as hunger and homelessness in the community, environmental issues like hydrofracking in New York , and higher education funding.

Students should vote YES to NYPIRG to continue funding of NYPIRG services at $3 per student per semester. Those $3 fund our on campus internships, voter registration drives, and workshops on financial literacy, and more. NYPIRG also offers a refund of $3 to any student who wishes to receive one.

Be sure to vote in the 2013 student elections for the mandatory student activity fee and vote YES to NYPIRG. The polls are located in the Campbell Student Union. Monday-Wednesday 9am-7am and on Thursday 9am-3:30pm. Your vote keeps campus activities and student activism fully funded.


Wilherne Benjamin, Media Intern

Buffalo State supports the DREAM ACT

On Wednesday  March 6^th New Public Interest Research Group at Buffalo State (NYPIRG) hosted an informational event based on the New York State Dream Act. The Dream Act is a legislative proposal that extends TAP to undocumented students. D.R.E.A.M. stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors. The event kicked off with a short documentary made by Ashleigh-Ann Sutherland and a few of her friends just discussing how we felt about the Dream Act. 

After the showing of the video, we began to discuss the Act among ourselves and how we feel about the Dream Act. At the end of the event each individual put their hand in a batch of paint and stuck their hand onto a banner that read “Buffalo State Supports the Dream Act:" to show their support of the act.A few students and myself will be walking with the banner in Albany on March 12, 2013 during Higher-Education Lobby Day. Look out for NYPIRG’s next event!  

Hunger and Homelessness

 Hunger and Homelessness is a growing problem, each year, more than 3 million people experience homelessness. This includes 1.3 million children (National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, 2010).

In 2011 there were an estimated 5,050 people who experienced homelessness in Erie County. In the annual report for 2011 shows that majority of the homeless in the Erie County were Black or African American which is 54.5 percent of the Black population. According to the Department of Health and Human Services in 2012, a American family of four must make less than $23,050 a year to be considered living in poverty. The U.S. poverty rates have risen from 12.3 percent in 2006 to 15.1 percent in 2011, which is the highest in 18 years.


           NYPIRG is in a unique position to offer help and support to those who are hungry, homeless, or at risk of hunger. We plan to have events and bring awareness to the campus while also helping the people in need. NYPIRG is working to gather many other individuals to take action and make a difference for your community!

Aquasia White