Chatham organizes phone bank against tuition tax

Student leaders at Chatham University held a phone bank drive on Monday and Tuesday to protest… Student leaders at Chatham University held a phone bank drive on Monday and Tuesday to protest the tuition tax proposed by the mayor.

The Chatham Student Government set up the e-mail and phone-banking station on its campus to protest the tax, which would charge college students in Pittsburgh 1 percent of their tuition to raise money for the city.

Students at the school protested the tax at the station from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on both days. Yesterday, they continued to call and e-mail until evening.

Class of 2011 president Tiffany Tupper said the tax was a disincentive for drawing students to the region and a threat to continuation of the city’s alumni networks. According to a Chatham news release, 3,200 alumni of the university currently live in the Pittsburgh region.

“By mobilizing our campus in the next 48 hours, as students will be doing until Wednesday’s council vote, students are sending a clear message to the Ravenstahl administration and Pittsburgh City Council that we back our institutions in the fight against this illegal and unfair tax,” Tupper said.

Tupper said at least 200 students turned out to protest the tax.