Letter
to the editor
The recent tuition increase has caused a
lot of anger among students who feel it
an unfair increase. The fact of the matter
is that the Trustees had no choice but to
raise the fees. Now some students want to
strike. Not only do these students fail
to realize there is no alternative to raising
fees, but that striking will only harm them
more. It is like buying a bottle of wine
then breaking it to protest the French manufacturer.
Do you really think the University cares
if you don't show up for classes you already
paid for? Certainly not. They are not responsible
for your grades, and if you strike your
grades are the only thing that will be harmed.
In fact, I encourage students to strike;
maybe then I could find a parking spot.
Are you going to refrain from enrolling
next semester to protest these fees? Go
right ahead! There is a waiting list for
applicants to the CSU system, and for every
student who drops out there are three or
four more waiting to take that spot. Your
strike would do nothing except deny you
an education.
My astonishment would not be complete without
referencing the many promises of Associated
Students Incorporated President Danny Vivian
to work to stop this fee increase through
all his efforts last year and this year
(his primary focus). His efforts were wasted,
as I predicted emphatically during my campaign
for ASI vice president last semester. Our
student government cannot possibly influence
CSU fees because they are determined only
by how much money there is in the state
budget.
Our student government should focus on things
they can affect at the campus level, not
waste everyone's time and money trying to
do that which is impossible to achieve at
the state level. Under a more responsible
administration, ASI might have conducted
fundraising activities which could have
delivered a rebate to students by now, but
this administration has shown its preference
for wasting time rather than accomplishing
anything substantial. Vivian knew he couldn't
deliver results on what you wanted to hear.
Not one Trustee was swayed by his efforts,
and the vote to raise fees was unanimous.
If our students were more rational, they
would have understood that such a battle
would be futile and we would have elected
someone who wanted to actually accomplish
something.
The people at this newspaper never adequately
explored the issue of the state / CSU budget
to explain to students that the fee increase
is a matter of numbers, not of political
pressure. All the pressure in the world
was not going to make more money appear
out of thin air. In a day when California
faces a $38 billion deficit, students must
step up to their responsibility to pay their
tiny portion of the $11,000 per student
and year in costs. In other words, students
are paying a small fraction of the cost
of services they receive. After getting
most of their higher education for free,
many still want to complain that it is not
enough. I say it is time to grow up people
and stop expecting the world to pay your
way through life. No one owes you anything.
Ed Ober is a political science major at
Cal State Long Beach.
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