What's this all about?

In order to fill a $15 million hole in his 2010 operating budget, City of Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has proposed taxing college students studying in the city, to the tune of 1% of their yearly tuition - with the reasoning that students use city services and do not pay their "fair share" to the city.

This is a bad idea for a variety of reasons - but it's simply not true that students aren't giving back to the city that they call home. Students at Carnegie Mellon alone did over 117,000 hours of community service in the last year, and student-driven research projects, internships, and startup companies continue to be a major factor in local business development.

STEP ZERO: Sign the online petition (20 seconds)

Quick - go sign the online petition organized by the Pitt Graduate and Professional Student Association! Click here to sign quickly!

STEP ONE: Write a Letter (10 minutes)

To be successful in fighting this tax, we need to be heard by our local City Council members. The most effective way to do this is through letters, both via e-mail and physical snail mail.

1. Use the templates below to create your letter, ideally with some thoughts and ideas of your own at the beginning.
2. E-mail your letter to all of the Council members by copying and pasting the addresses below into the "To:" field in your e-mail program:
   Darlene.Harris@city.pittsburgh.pa.us, Theresa.Smith@city.pittsburgh.pa.us, Jim.Motznik@city.pittsburgh.pa.us, Tonya.Payne@city.pittsburgh.pa.us, Ricky.Burgess@city.pittsburgh.pa.us, Luke.Ravenstahl@city.pittsburgh.pa.us, student-senate@andrew.cmu.edu
3. Print out a copy of your letter and bring it to the University Center Information Desk and ask them to put it in Box 46 (Student Senate) - we'll mail the letter for you.

STEP TWO: Make a phone call (5 minutes)

Hearing personally from students makes a big difference - and we need to let the Council know that we each have personal stories to tell. Using the resources and talking points below, or your own experience, take five minutes to call your councilmember's office!

1. Find your Council member (using the right hand side of this page) or just pick any member's office to call.
2. Review the talking points and suggestions below, and decide what you're going to say.
3. Pick up the phone and call!

STEP THREE: Volunteer your time (30 minutes)

We want to get as many students as possible involved in this initiative, and it starts by spreading awareness and gathering signatures. Will you volunteer as little as 30 minutes of your time over the next few weeks to help us out? Volunteering could include tabling, signature gathering, serving as a dorm captain, data entry...

What can we sign you up for?

Who's organizing all of this?

Aaron Gross

Chair, Undergraduate Student Senate (amgross@andrew.cmu.edu)

Rotimi Abimbola

Student Body President (rabimbol@andrew.cmu.edu)

Patrick Gage Kelley

President, Graduate Student Assembly (pgage@cmu.edu)