Above photo: College and university staff and students gather outside Sen. McCormick’s office for “Students Rise Up” action, Philadelphia, Nov. 7, 2025.
The new coalition “Students Rise Up” held actions in 100 cities at schools and where politicians were targeted on Nov. 7 to protest President Donald Trump’s attacks on higher education and address a range of issues impacting students.
Nearly 20 unions and organizations endorsed the actions, including the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Ohio Students Association, New Hampshire Youth Movement, Students for a Democratic Society, Campus Climate Network, Gen-Z for Change, Indivisible, Jewish Voice for Peace and March for Our Lives. Sunrise Movement, whose executive director, Aru Shiney-Ajay, stressed in a Nov. 4 press release that “everyone deserves an accessible, affordable and quality education.” (Commondreams.org, Nov. 4)
At Cleveland State University, members of the Ohio Students Association staffed a table and chalked slogans on the concrete outside the student center. The focus on Nov. 7 was the plan by the university administration to eliminate “U-Pass,” a public transit pass available to students at a substantial discount. After students complained about the pass being cut, the administration kept it in place until the end of the semester, but only for full-time students. Protesters demanded it be continued beyond the semester for all students.
Students Rise Up states on its website: “Right now, fascists and billionaires are attacking our schools because they know that student protests could bring them down. Our power is that we outnumber them. If working people and students unite to use our power of disruption and non-cooperation, we can crack the foundations of their power.” (studentsriseup.org)
In Philadelphia, college faculty and community members held a rally outside U.S. Senator Dave McCormick’s Philadelphia office. The rally, which included a teach-in, addressed attacks on higher education by President Donald Trump, McCormick and the billionaires behind the attacks.
Members of progressive groups and labor unions, alongside Pennsylvania House Rep. Rick Krajewski and Philadelphia City Council member Nicolas O’Rourke, spoke at the rally. Several speakers addressed the growing role of wealthy real estate developers as either university trustees or presidents. Other rally presenters included Community College Sunrise Movement student Sultan Smalley and Linda Kim, AAUP-Drexel Vice President, who broke down the details of Trump’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
Supporters of the Philadelphia event included Community College of Philadelphia – Sunrise Movement; American Federation of Teachers; the Association of Pennsylvania State, College and University Faculties; Drexel AAUP; University of Pennsylvania AAUP; Graduate Employees Together University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia AFL-CIO Council; Temple Association of University Professionals and Research Associates and Research Assistants and Postdocs at the University of Pennsylvania – United Auto Workers.
The demonstrations were “the first in a series of countrywide days of protests leading up to student strikes and worker actions on May Day 2026,” according to national organizers. (actionnetwork.org)
