The students who have been occupying the office of the Cooper Union president in opposition to the college’s plan to impose tuition fees for the first time in more than a century have ended their occupation with a negotiated agreement.
The Cooper Union students announced the terms of that agreement this morning, and while they did not succeed in rolling back the tuition plan — yet — the concessions from the administration are significant. Here’s what they won:
  • A working group of students, faculty, alumni, administrators, and trustees is to be established to “to explore ways in which Cooper Union may revert to providing full-tuition scholarships for all enrolled students.” Student and faculty representatives on the committee will be democratically elected, and will together make up seven of the committee’s sixteen members. (Alumni will account for another three of the members, but it has not yet been announced how they will be chosen.)
  • The working group will, according to the students, “have access to all of