Activism is Alive on Boulder's Campus

By: Danielle Kreutter

Back in September, three University of Colorado students created a group that focused on immigration issues with the firm stance that it's "not just a Latino issue, this is a human rights issue."

Brittni Hernandez, Kyle Huelsman, and Hanna Johnson founded Eye Resist with the first item on their agenda being, tuition equity.

Back in 2009 a tuition equity bill was introduced to Colorado. If the bill was passed, it would grant undocumented students in-state tuition to higher education institutions if they graduated high school. The University of Colorado was the only school in Colorado to veto it.

Eye Resist's followers have grown to almost double the original size by the time the second meeting took place. The second meeting was a "teach-in" where two CU professors, Dr. Arturo Aldama and Dr. Barbosa, spoke to the packed classroom about immigration issues and misconceptions.

Aldama felt it was important to participate so students involved in the movement could have basic facts and correct information while speaking about their cause, "You all [students] have a lot more power than you realize and the administration knows that."

The organizations has embraced a grassroots activist structure in gaining support and momentum for their movement and have drafted a 'Declaration of Educational Rights' outlining what they hope to get the Regents at CU to agree upon involving tuition equity.

Coalition and community building is also a big goal for Eye Resist. The organization has already made strong allies with other student groups, even those that aren't mainly focused on immigration issues.

Huelsman explains why a strong community is so vital, "It isn't just about one bill or one state or anything like that. This is about creating a group of people on campus that are political activists in general that have that support network, that have that group of people that they know they can rely on so that we can build a united front around different issues and move forward in different ways and not fall apart once an issue does."

For now, Eye Resist's main goal is to raise awareness about tuition equity and hopefully gain support by the time the bill is reviewed in February 2011.