Students
reject fee increase
By Amy Cucinella
On-line Forty-Niner
 An
estimated 500 Cal State University students,
faculty and supporters gathered on the lawn
of the CSU administration building in downtown
Long Beach yesterday to protest the possibility
of another student fee increase.
Half
a dozen police officers stood nearby as
hundreds of orange and white balloons floated
above a stage where speakers addressed the
crowd and a band played music.
Nearly
every participant held signs with messages
such as, “Save Our Classes,” “Administration
Bloat” and “No Fee Increase.” As the momentum
of the rally increased, the protesters moved
closer to the building where the CSU Board
of Trustees were meeting to discuss the
issue of student fee increase but not taking
action.
Although
the trustees had originally put the issue
of a fee increase on their agenda with the
intention of taking action on the item,
the decision was made Friday to postpone
voting on whether or not to raise fees until
the Gov. Gray Davis’ “May revise” was released.
The
postponement of action was spurred from
the fear that there may be even further
cuts to the CSU system, which could compel
the trustees to pass an even higher fee
increase than the original projection of
25 percent.
The
trustees and CSU Chancellor Charles Reed
determined that it was in the best interest
of the students if only a single action
were to occur, rather than an increase in
May and then a possible second increase
during the summer, according to a press
release by the Chancellor’s Office.
Despite
the fact that the trustees would not be
voting on the issue, the protest rally,
which had been organized weeks before, was
not called off.
“The
talk is now of a 35 percent increase in
tuition. We won’t have this momentum when
the trustees meet next in July,” said Cal
State Long Beach Associated Students Inc.
President Danny Vivian. “We want to let
them know how we feel so that they know
when they do take action.”
However,
the CSU administration feels that without
the fee increase, the CSU system will not
be able to offer the same services and classes
that it has in the past, which would reduce
a student’s ability to graduate on time.
The
rally was funded and organized as a coordinated
effort between the California State Student
Association and the California Faculty Association.
The CSSA is the student leadership of the
entire CSU system and the CFA, a union representing
CSU faculty members, lecturers, librarians
and counselors.
Although
the partnership between these two organizations
has been an ongoing alliance, it has recently
become even more solidified through the
united goal of keeping student fees down
and resisting the reduction of classes.
“The
CFA invested a lot of their time and money
into this rally,” said Young Kim, Cal State
Fullerton’s CSSA representative. “CFA paid
for a lot of these signs, they’ve brought
their board here and have really taken a
stand against Chancellor Reed. Now we also
will be advocating for no faculty cuts.”
“CSSA
and CFA have taken a bold step together,”
Vivian said. “CFA was the first to offer
a helping hand and even passed a resolution
last month opposing a student fee increase.”
CSULB’s
chapter president of CFA, Marty Fiebert,
attended the rally with his wife, who is
a part-time professor on campus. Fiebert,
a professor in the psychology department,
attended the rally to support students in
their struggle against a fee increase.
“I
always like the rallies,” Fiebert said.
“What I like is that people come from all
over the state — San Francisco, Humbolt,
Sacramento, San Jose. It’s a chance to express
solidarity. I certainly think it demonstrated
to the trustees, our intended audience,
that students and faculty care about the
direction of education and about increase
fees and about the deterioration in the
quality of education.”
Jim
Chopyak, Cal State Sacramento’s chapter
president of CFA, was also among the many
faculty members at the rally. Chopyak emphasized
the importance of the rally as an opportunity
to educate the public on the current situation.
“A
big part of this rally is to get people
more aware of what’s happening,” said Chopyak,
who is a professor of music. “The fact is
that students don’t realize the affect this
is going to have on them. Students are the
only people so far in the state who are
being told to pay more. If we have to make
cuts then we have to cut from the administration.
The bulk of growth in the CSU system has
come from the administration.”
“The
CSU administration’s costs are comparable
to the costs of other institutions of similar
size throughout the United States,” said
Clara Potes-Fellow, spokeswoman for the
Chancellor’s Office. “This information was
presented at the trustee meeting today.”
Chopyak
was not the only attendee at the rally who
expressed his dissatisfaction with the CSU
administration. At one point, the crowd
began to chant, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Chancellor
Reed has got to go” as dozens from inside
the administration building looked down
at the crowd from third and fourth story
windows, some even taking pictures.
“My
biggest beef is about how the administration
is handling this,” Kim said. “There’s no
accountability. They can do whatever they
want, whenever they want.”
Other
students and several speakers who took the
stage felt like the CSU administration was
not fighting for their best interests.
“Where’s
the intention to even try to fight it?”
asked Guido Piotti, the newly elected A.S.I.
vice president. “People forget that students
are the future of the economy. The best
investment is in education because it always
yield a good return.”
Vivian
said he was very happy with the turnout
of the event and is glad that the trustees
did not vote to raise fees because it gives
students more time to talk to legislatures
and rally further against fee increases.
“Quite
honestly, I feel like we had an impact today,”
said Vivian, who was a main player in organizing
the rally. “The trustees seemed receptive
and some said they didn’t want to raise
fees and think that they should look first
to other areas.”
Potes-Fellow said she also felt that the
rally had an effect on the trustees.
“[The
students] were effective and spoke to the
trustees and they listened carefully to
what the students had to say,” Potes-Fellow
said. “They got to present their point of
view and what it means for each of them
and their peers to have a fee increase.
It’s another thing when you actually get
to see the faces of the students. I can
tell the trustees showed their soft side
when they got to hear the students.”
Kim
said the rally was not about the budget
cuts because those are inevitable but about
urging the administration to take the money
from somewhere else. CSSA, which meets with
Reed the Monday before every trustee meeting,
presented alternative sources of funding
to Reed at this meeting, Kim said.
Fiebert
said these alternatives originated from
CFA, which has the resources to monitor
the state budget and has knowledge of how
the CSU budget works, and the students of
CSSA signed on and presented them to Reed.
Some
of the alternatives suggested to Reed were
to draw from excess funds from parking,
excess funds from the lottery, cut the costs
of or defer the Common Management System
project and cut backs in the administration.
“The
unfortunate thing is that they aren’t taking
the suggestions as seriously as they might,
such as our suggestions about the CMS program
and the administrations salary,” Fiebert
said.
Reed
refuted every suggestion and point brought
forth in the proposal and even got visibly
angry, Vivian said.
“Reed
said he’s never been more disappointed in
the CSU student leadership,” said Vivian
who was at the Monday meeting. “He said
that he couldn’t fire 300 of his employees
and asked us how would they feed their families.
But the way he’s worried about firing people
is the same way he should be worried about
students who will be denied access because
they can’t afford a substantial fee increase.
I’ve never heard him talk about that.”
Potes-Fellow
said she was not aware of Monday’s meeting
between Reed and CSSA and could not comment.
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