Rochester

University Of Rochester Students Face Seven Years In Jail

December 15, 2024 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss. Educate! Campus Movement, Israel, Legal System, Palestine, Palestine Solidarity, Repression, Rochester, Student Activism

Last month four students at the University of Rochester were charged with second-degree criminal mischief for their connection to “Wanted” posters that were put up around campus. The posters accused a small number of faculty members of enabling genocide and supporting the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza. Not all the faculty members identified are Jewish, but the university immediately sent out emails tagging the action as antisemitic. Pro-Israel campus groups condemned the posters, including the school’s Hillel chapter which claimed they “disproportionately singled out Jewish faculty and staff and used language that spreads harmful, antisemitic ideas about Jewish people.”

A Rochester Credit Union Wants The Local Government To Create A Bank

June 9, 2024 Oscar Perry Abello, Next City. Create! Credit Unions, New York (NY), Public Banks, Rochester, Small Business

Melissa Marquez inherited her mother’s deep desire to make the banking system work for those whom it has long excluded. At 14, she saw her mother break down in tears again and again after coming home from work as a loan officer at a bank. The bank refused to lend to their community in Barrio Logan, an epicenter of Chicano culture in San Diego, her mother told her. Barrio Logan residents would come in, make their deposits and stay faithful customers to the bank, but still couldn’t get access to credit. That memory from 1974 has driven Marquez to help lead a coalition of tenant organizers, community land trusts, community development lenders and elected officials that has spent the last few years calling for more government-owned banks across New York.

Inside The Fight To Kick Out Rochester’s Power Company

July 3, 2023 Colin Kinniburgh, Next City. Resist! New York (NY), Power utility, Public ownership, Rochester

On a Tuesday night in mid-March, the streets of downtown Rochester were empty as the remnants of a nor’easter swirled through. But the fourth floor of the county office building was packed. Residents milled outside the chamber doors for close to an hour, then lined up inside for two more to address their county reps. Most were there to complain about one thing: their utility company. Utilities are rarely popular, but Rochester Gas & Electric has drawn a special furor in the past two years. Speaker after speaker slammed RG&E over astronomical bills that in many cases seemed to come out of nowhere.

Daily movement news and resources