The Fight the Fees student organization hosted a rally Friday to promote another teach-in scheduled for April 23 to inform students of the current budget crisis.

“Education is a right, not a privilege,” the Fight the Fees group’s red shirts read as they congregated at Malcolm X Plaza . The organization's goal is to shut down the school with a walk out on May 1 in opposition to the planned cuts and fee increases.

“The only way is to mass organize,” said a Fight the Fees organizer Drew Van. “We want to have strikes, shut the school down.”

The rally is in continuance of a series of campus events addressing the state budget cuts that stem back to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposition in January to cut $312.9 million from the California State University.

The Fight the Fees group rallied early March and held a teach-in and an event in the quad that led to a loud but peaceful march in to the Administration building, as students chanted, “No Cuts, No Fees”.

“The money exists in the form of war spending and corporate taxes,” said English graduate student Marc Lispi, 28, who suggest a 2 percent tax on such industries.

“Were watching our futures being thrown away.”