On April 9th, 2015, the news broke that Cooper’s Board of Trustees had voted to not renew President Jamshed Bharucha’s contract. In effect, he was fired.

Bharucha paved the way for the corporatization of Cooper Union. Not only has he been incapable of leading the school since day one, but his agenda has thwarted any attempt to uphold the mission of free education to all.

His firing is a milestone, but the problems are not solved. Facing the pressures of relentless community activism, a Supreme Court lawsuit, and a New York State investigation, the Board and Administration attempted to save face by throwing each other under every bus rolling down Third Avenue. It backfired on them.

Now is the time to imagine new futures for Cooper Union: A school with no president. A president whose job is to eliminate the idea of a president. A community empowered to govern itself.

Rejecting the Board’s growth model and ideology will require more than just getting rid of key players. It will mean developing a model for a debt-free college, to shine bright like a diamond in the middle of a national student debt crisis.

In 2012, a year into Bharucha’s term, eleven students locked themselves into a room, demanding the President step down. Here we are three years later. Direct action gets the goods, even if it takes a while.

So hang in there. Familiarize yourself with the situation by reading this book, and anything else you can get your hands on. Channel your energy and ideas into developing, demanding, and fulfilling a Free Cooper Union. And don’t stop there. We want everything. So can you.