from freecooperunion.com:
With the start of the 2011-12 Academic year, Cooper Union’s new President Jamshed Bharucha announced that in the shadow of unmanageable deficits, the Cooper Union must place “tuition on the table,” and consider charging Cooper Union students to attend the school. For the past century Cooper Union has existed as a meritocracy: awarding a full scholarship to all students. Turning Cooper Union into a tuition based school is a profound departure from the established principles of the school and would completely alter the character of the institution.

The Free Cooper Union initiative represents the members of the Cooper Union community who wish to support the Cooper Union’s strong and unique identity as a tuition free undergraduate school for the study of architecture, art and engineering.

We alumni, students, faculty, charitable individuals and institutions pledge our full financial support to the Cooper Union as soon as the administration states publicly and unequivocally that Cooper Union’s undergraduate schools of architecture, art and engineering will remain completely tuition free.

The Cooper Union exists as a unique and revolutionary model of education and an ideal and example to institutions of higher learning the world over.

We believe in Peter Cooper’s original mission. We believe in sustaining this mission for all future generations. This mission is clearly expressed in Cooper Union’s mission statement:

“The College admits undergraduates solely on merit and awards full scholarships to all enrolled students.”

This piece started as Banksy’s “Concrete Confessional,” but has been re-appropriated by Cooper Union students. Speaking to whoever will listen…

OCT13. 7th and Cooper. New York City.