Students
unite to fight budget woes
hoto courtesy of Rafael Vasquez
The
Coalition to Save the CSU held a rally Monday
in front of the governor’s office
in Los Angeles and included representatives
from Cal State Long Beach to protest rising
tuition costs.
By
Gerry Wachovsky
On-line Forty-Niner
Governor
Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget plan
for the 2004-05 fiscal year has many students
and faculty in the state of California up
in arms in what they see as a threat to
their education. The governor proposed cutting
the CSU General Fund by almost $240 million,
or 9 percent, which would heavily decrease
state funding for the CSU system. One group,
the California Faculty Association, has
created the Coalition to Save the CSU, a
concerted effort among students, faculty
and community officials to make sure that
the future of the CSU is not in jeopardy.
The
coalition has staged several demonstrations
and rallies denouncing Sacramento’s
proposed budget cuts to higher education
in California, and testified before a Senate
subcommittee last week urging the importance
of a strong CSU system. On Monday, the coalition
held a rally in front of the governor’s
office in Los Angeles and several groups
were there, including representatives from
Cal State Long Beach.
Jaime
Agredano, junior history major and member
of La Raza and the Campus Progressive Collective,
said that the most important thing the rally
did was increase awareness.
“We’ll
hopefully get the word around that students
are upset about it [and tell Sacramento
that we won’t] just sit back and take
the cuts that are coming,” Agredano
said.
Agredano
also noted that “in a democratic system
it is a voice that you have and [it is our
duty] to show opposition [to the tuition
hikes]. It is a way of standing up in solidarity
against something that you don’t agree
with.”
According
to the coalition’s Web site, www.savethecsu.org,
the proposed budget, if implemented, would
mean a 10 percent raise in tuition for undergraduate
students and 40 percent raise for graduate
students. In addition, an approximate 20,000
qualified students will be rejected admittance
to CSU schools. The coalition also sees
several effects of the proposed cut on the
state of California as a whole: “businesses
locally around campus will lose business;
K-12 schools will have fewer qualified teachers;
employers will have even more trouble finding
educated employees; and California’s
economy as a whole will be hurt.”
Rafael
Vasquez, a senior Chicano and Latino studies
major and CFA intern who attended the Los
Angeles rally, said he believed “approximately
1,000 or more” to be in attendance
at the event.
“From
this rally as a coalition of students, faculty
and community members, we are hoping to
build momentum for other demonstrations
and for one big coalition statewide to increase
awareness of issues of the CSU and community
colleges,” Vasquez said. “We
don’t want [the coalition] to be just
a [one-time] solution, we want this to be
something long-lasting, for years to come.”
Vasquez
also spoke about a Coalition-sponsored walkout
tentatively scheduled for May 6, where students,
staff and faculty would, in essence, go
on strike for a day to protest the possible
budget cuts. According to Vasquez, “We
have talked to CSU-Dominguez Hills, Northridge,
and Los Angeles, and it seems that we have
come to an agreement to hold a walkout or
a shutdown May 6. It would probably start
at noon and go to midnight,” Vasquez
said. He noted that the walkout would prove
that the cuts do not simply affect students
or faculty, but the entire community.
If
the proposed budget passes, the Education
Opportunity Program, which aids students
from low-income families in achieving success
in higher education would be completely
eliminated.
For
more information on the proposed budget
and for information on how to participate
in rallies and demonstrations, visit www.savethecsu.org
or www.calfac.org.
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