By Atilla Azami

Students continue to represent NJCU in New Jersey United Students (NJUS) events as they gear up for Day of Action—a day devoted for students to make their activist presence visible on their respective campuses across the nation.

NJUS is a state level affiliate of United States Student Association (USSA), a nationwide organization that lobbies for higher education interests at a federal level.

NJUS is relatively young as an organization as February marked its one year anniversary since inception; however, through determination and industriousness, they are becoming increasingly pervasive throughout the state, including our campus.

“[NJUS] is a brand new organization at NJCU,” said Bernard Lipat, 21, math and psychology double major of Jersey City. Lipat is positioned at NJUS as the Community and Labor Liaison for NJCU.

Lipat stressed the importance of the Day of Action planned for NJCU on April 17 and April 25, “We have actions planned, but we can’t have action unless we have people to take the action.”

NJCU has a strong representation at NJUS with numerous delegates in the executive board, second only to Rutgers-New Brunswick. Jan Aguilos, 24, Political Science and media arts double major of Secaucus is the North Jersey Recruitment and Retention Officer. Michael Faivush, 23, psychology major from Bayonne and SGO president also attended the USSA conference held at Washington D.C. from the dates of March 15th-19th along with Aguilos and Lipat.

“The conference was amazing. It was inspiring to see so many student leaders across the country that are fighting for a great cause to support the millions of students who have been sold false promises about their education and who now collectively hold a debt over one trillion dollars,” said Faivush.

The convention had its heated moments as a few dozen students were arrested at Capitol Hill for blocking traffic. Also, a sect of protestors demanded a meeting with Sallie Mae CEO, Albert Lord. Sallie Mae is the largest private student loan lender in the country that has faced heavy criticism for its lending practices that allegedly takes advantage of vulnerable student borrowers.

Lipat said he found the convention to be informative and eye-opening as he attended the informational workshops that highlighted the predatory nature of student loan lenders. Additional training was provided to students through “Direct Action Training” in which attendees are prepared to be effective with campus and state level action.

Lipat highlighted some facts about the average American college student: the average student has $25,000 in debt by the time he graduates; there is more student loan debt than there is credit card debt; and, by some time in April, the aggregate student loan debt is projected to exceed the trillion dollar threshold.

Lipat said, “We really need students to get involved with [NJUS]… if we as a nation want to save our nation, we have to save our students.”