In response to Students for a Free Cooper Union’s ongoing occupation and reclamation of the School’s Presidential Office–

We invite you to submit work to a collaborative initiative imagining a world where ‘Free Education to All’ exists! This inaugural salon is open to any and all participants and will be part of an international traveling exhibition, paying tribute to Cooper Union’s 154 year historic mission of providing merit-based tuition-free education to all admitted students.

Join us at 5pm on Tuesday May 29th, 2013 on the 7th floor of 7 East 7th St (the Foundation Building) for the opening reception of theFREE COOPER UNION SALON–STEP DOWN!

Exhibition Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12 – 7pm Closed Sundays and Mondays **24/7 for Cooper Students/Faculty

Classes schedule: Tuesday to Friday Noon – 2pm Open Forum with Moderator 5pm – 7pm Lecture/ Classes 7pm – 8pm Community Picnic @ Peter Cooper Park Saturday 11am – 8pm Classes Indoor/ Outdoor activities

Free and open to the public!

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Students, faculty, alumni, and friends of the Cooper Union are invited to submit works relating to Cooper’s hallmarked slogan “Free as Air and Water”, as coined by Peter Cooper’s son-in-law, Abram Hewitt at Cooper Union’s 1901 commencement speech.

Your work will be part of a salon-style group show on the reclaimed 7th floor of Cooper Union’s Foundation Building. The exhibit will encompassing the entirety of the 7th floor lobby, hallway, offices, and classrooms, to parallel to our efforts to reclaim the historic mission of Cooper Union. This exhibit will be free and open to public from May 28th to June 15th, and will also feature daily Open Forums and Free University classes reimaging new cooperative ways to restructure higher education. The presidential office, which has been occupied by students, will also be used as a reading room for a variety of media relevant to our struggle to keep Cooper free of tuition.

Following the event, all submitted material will be digitized as part of an interactive website, and be exhibited in June by Free Cooper Union in London (FCUUK) and other locations. All efforts of Free Cooper Union work to establish the foundation of a new chapter at our college and in society at large- one that will uphold the principles that allow education to be “as free as air and water”, in a long term sustainable, and socially conscious manner.

SUGGESTED CATEGORIES In an effort to make this exhibit accessible and widely inclusive to others engaging in the struggle to reclaim higher education we encourage submissions in any medium and format that work in constellation with the current crisis at Cooper.

1. Projects & Research Drawn from your current practice, student work, or social projects which in some way, whether personal or public, engage the imperative of free education in a broad way. Open to interpretation, submissions may include but are not limited to paintings, drawings, writing, proposals, sculpture, etc, that are informed by this pivotal moment in Cooper Union’s history.

2. Activist Artifacts Signs, posters, videos, twitter feeds, images, websites, barricades, banners, fliers, costumes, diagrams, and other material rooted in the higher education struggle against bloated administrations and boards, class, gender, and race marginalization, tuition and fee hikes, militarization and surveillance of campuses, privatization, socially unconscious investment and profiteering. Subversive use of media and technology is encouraged!

3. Chronicles & Documentation of the Crisis Written essays, letters, financial statistics, press releases, articles, or other documentation relating to the current crises facing student at the Cooper Union and other institutions.

4. Ways Forward Work in any medium that envisions a new future for the Cooper Union and education in general. Reimagine merit, administrative bodies, shared governance, new curriculum, no tuition, no debt!

DEADLINE Work must be submitted no later than 6:00 PM, Sunday May 26th 2013.

If submitting work digitally please email files less than 10 MB, or links to download/movie/websites to [email protected], with the subject ‘SUBMISSION’ and your name. If you have digital work but do not wish to send it electronically please see the instructions below for how to drop off work in person.

We will also be accepting physical work to be dropped off on-site at the Foundation Building (7 East 7th St., NY, NY 10003) If you wish to drop off physical artwork, please email [email protected] with your availability. The Presidents’ office currently operates 24/7, accepting work anytime before the deadline.

Submissions should include the Submission Release attached to this document.

The Cooper Union Salon – Step Down is organized by Free Cooper Union

From a group of students organized as Students for a Free Cooper Union:

Students for a Free Cooper Union Monday, December 3rd, 2012

Students for a Free Cooper Union lock-in to Cooper Union’s Foundation Building to preserve free education

To The Cooper Union Administration,

We, the Students for a Free Cooper Union, in solidarity with the global student struggle and today’s Day of Action, have locked ourselves into The Peter Cooper Suite on the top floor of Cooper Union’s Foundation Building. This action is in response to the lack of transparency and accountability that has plagued this institution for decades and now threatens the college’s mission of free education.

We have reclaimed this space because we believe you are leading the college in the wrong direction. An expansionist strategy and lack of accountability have put this college in a financial deficit, and we reject the current style of governance that emulates those failures. We believe that all tuition-based revenue-generating programs are a departure from Cooper Union’s historic mission and will corrupt the college’s role as an ethical model for higher education. To secure this invaluable opportunity for future generations, we have taken the only recourse available to us.

Within this space we have taken all necessary precautions to ensure the fullest extent of safety, security, and expression. Entrances to the Peter Cooper Suite have been secured by wood and steel barricades designed to not damage the building and be easily removable from the room’s interior in the event of emergency. A first aid and CPR certified student is also present in the room. We have taken all preventative measures in securing the banner. It does not endanger the building, surrounding area, or persons inside and out.

We will hold this space until action has been taken to meet the following demands:

The administration must publicly affirm the college’s commitment to free education. They will stop pursuing new tuition-based educational programs and eliminate other ways in which students are charged for education.

The Board of Trustees must immediately implement structural changes with the goal of creating open flows of information and democratic decision-making structures. The administration’s gross mismanagement of the school cannot be reversed within the same systems which allowed the crisis to occur. To this end, we have outlined actions that the board must take

Record board meetings and make minutes publicly available.

Appoint a student and faculty member from each school as voting members of the board.

Implement a process by which board members may be removed through a vote from the Cooper Union community, comprised of students, faculty, alumni, and administrators.

Come support the landmarked tradition of “free education to all” by attending Free Cooper Union’s Summit on Debt and Education! The event is free and open to the public.

The Cooper Union Great Hall 7 E. 7th St. New York, NY 10003 6:00 – 9:00 PM

Here’s a line up of speakers:

Marina Sitrin – Sociologist (http://marinasitrin.com)

Suzanne Collado – Social and Cultural Analyst (http://twitter.com/suzannecollado)

Yates McKee – Free University and Strike Debt (http://yatesmckee.wordpress.com/)

All In The Red – Activist Group (http://allinthered.org/)

Annie Spencer – Geographer (http://www.occupystudentdebtcampaign.org/press-2/)

Peter Buckley – Historian (http://cooper.edu/humanities/people/peter-buckley)

Amin Husain – Activist, Artist and Lawyer (https://twitter.com/amh2011newyork)

Henry Chapman – Friends of Cooper Union Organizer (http://henrychapman.com/)

Cassie Thornton – Artist (http://www.cassiethornton.com/)