It seems like the right moment to initiate a nationwide campaign against the student lending industry. In a short time, Occupy Wall Street had reinvigorated the left and called the media’s attention back to the financial crisis of 2008. Young people everywhere are underemployed and struggling to repay debt, and many of these same people are now becoming inspired by the radicalism of Occupy.
It began with a teach-in. On Wednesday, October 16, New York University professor Andrew Ross led an open forum titled “Is Student Debt a Form of Indenture?” at the public atrium at 60 Wall Street, which had been transformed into an office of Occupy Wall Street. Each day, the atrium filled with activists who made their way from the park, dodging traders and tourists alike, for afternoon teach-ins and working group meetings.
Around fifty people crowded around Ross as he read from a paper he had written outlining how the student lending industry was predatory by nature. Ross explained that student debt in the United States has topped $1 trillion—more than any other kind of consumer debt. After bankruptcy protection was removed from private student loans in 2005, default—and the ruined credit score it results in—is the only option left for struggling student loan debtors.
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