At 3:00pm on Wednesday, April 15, the scene outside the Howard E. Wille Administration Building on CCNY’s campus was upbeat and lively. The sun shone hot in a clear blue sky, and the sound of rhythmic chanting and music—courtesy of a saxophone, clarinet, and tambourine, all played by students—carried itself across the campus. Student protestors handed out flyers, lists of chants, and bright red buttons with the words “Fight for $15 on 4/15” to passersby who slowed down to observe. Laid out on the sidewalk were colorful signs, making impassioned pleas to save CCNY campus childcare. Children of student parents played together on the grass. Meanwhile, in the background, campus security officers stood guard near barricades set up outside the building, the static blare and beeping of their radios punctuating the sounds of music and conversation.

Finally, once enough people had gathered, student demonstrators took turns speaking and representing their respective organizations—including the Gender Resource Center campaign, the campaign for the Morales Shakur Center, the Save Childcare at CCNY campaign, the Young Democratic Socialists of City College, Students for Educational Rights, the Student Mental Health Initiative, and the LGBT+ Open Alliance. One particularly touching moment came when a young girl requested the megaphone from her mother, held it to her lips, and said, “Don’t close my school,” referring to the childcare center that has recently been closed with no explanation. A representative from the Democratic Socialists spoke out against heteronormativity, capitalism, white supremacy, economic inequality, and other injustices on the rise as CCNY becomes an increasingly privitized school. Another speaker quoted Marx: “The proletarians”—the social class for which CCNY was initially founded—“have nothing to lose but their chains.”

Afterwards, a group of student protestors, easily under thirty in number, marched from CCNY to the Columbia University campus, followed by campus security and NYPD officers both in cars and on foot. Chanting all the way and holding up signs in support of the #Fightfor15 movement, we were met with support by many bystanders, who nodded approvingly, cheered, high-fived marchers, or waved their coats. The group was mixed, with students of various races and ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and more arriving at Columbia. When we did arrive, the rally was growing on the steps of the Low Memorial Library, where we joined students from the Ivy League school itself, NYU, the New School, and even local high schools. There was more chanting. Drumming. Speeches and slam poetry. Cheering. And behind the group, on the library steps, hordes of (mostly white) Columbia students sat, studying or socializing, barely looking up at the protest.

The #Fightfor15 protest was a nationwide event, spreading beyond NYC (where demonstrators shut down Columbus Circle in the early evening) to more than 230 cities and campuses throughout the country.