Contact: Ashton Merbach, [email protected]
| Office Location: Ellison Campus Center, Student Organizations Suite (Lower Level) |
Who We Are:
MASSPIRG is a statewide, student-directed, non-partisan, & non-profit organization. For over 45 years, students on college campuses across MA have worked alongside professional organizers and advocates to create a more meaningful future. We believe that college students don’t need to wait until graduation to make an impact – and that’s why we mobilize students to get involved by running grassroots campaigns that make concrete social change. We work on a variety of issues such as protecting the environment and public health, reducing the cost of higher education, increasing youth participation in elections, and alleviating poverty.
The thing that makes us so effective is that students here at SSU vote to fund MASSPIRG through an $9 per student, per semester waivable fee. We pool these resources statewide to hire professional staff like lawyers, advocates, and organizers. We work together to run local and statewide campaigns, and they fight on behalf of the students full-time where key decisions are being made on Beacon Hill and in Washington DC.
While the list of issues we can work on continues to grow we can take pride in the fact that change has been made at Salem State due to our efforts. We choose to work with the University and other organizations to make the most impact on our community and have found that this system of cooperation works. We celebrate the fact that our Dunkin Donuts was among one of the first to transition from Polystyrene cups to a more sustainable option. Each time we go to the grocery store in Salem we can smile at the lack of Plastic bags present, knowing that we helped achieve that feat. We look forward to meeting any and all who want to help us fight for our community and appreciate your support.
| Read more about the MASSPIRG fee at Salem State University here! |
Current Campaigns:
- 100% Renewable Energy: Climate change is threatening our entire way of life, and a primary cause is the continued use of fossil fuels. But we can make the switch to clean, renewable sources of energy like wind and solar! That’s why we’re pushing to pass the 100% Clean Act through the state legislature this legislative session! We can commit Massachusetts to 100% clean electricity by 2035 and 100% clean electricity by 2045!
- Make Textbooks More Affordable: College is expensive, and the skyrocketing costs of textbooks and course materials are restricting students’ access to education even further. That’s why we’re raising awareness of Open Education Resources (OER), low-cost (or even free) alternatives to textbooks. We’re educating both professors and students about OER and mobilizing students against the rise of expensive access codes and other initiatives running up costs for students.
- Hunger & Homelessness: No student should have to worry about where their next meal will come from or where they’ll sleep at night, but the COVID-19 has made this a reality for many students. We’re working with Salem State University to raise resources to combat food and housing insecurity in the Salem community.
- Protect Our Oceans: Our oceans are at rist. We can do better. We’re working to protect Cashes Ledge, New England’s ocean treasure, from fossil fuel extraction, overfishing, seismic testing, and other threats to preserve our incredible ocean ecosystems.
Recent Highlights:
Fighting Hunger On Campus: Last semester, more than 1,000 students took action on our campaign to pass Hunger-Free Campus legislation and help end student hunger. We held a statewide lobby day with our friends at the Hunger Free Campus Coalition to support the bill and turned out over 60 students and community activists. In just one day, we met with over 30 legislative offices and got FIVE legislators to co-sponsor the Hunger Free Campus bill. And we celebrated a victory when Governor Healey signed the annual budget which included $1 million for the initiative!
Making Textbooks Affordable: We recently released our 21st report on textbook affordability, titled “Open Textbooks: The Billion Dollar Solution” to call for more free open textbooks in classrooms. We worked with State Representative Mindy Domb to introduce a bill to fund OER resources in the state. And during Open Education Week, we held an online panel discussion on successful OER strategies with the MA Department of Education, Representative Domb, the UMass Amherst library, and our partners at SPARC.
