Six SF State students were among the protesters who rallied outside the CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed's office to express their objection to the nearly $100 million in proposed system-wide budget cuts on Tuesday.

Board members at the Academic Senate meeting, which runs through Wednesday, have indicated that enrollment across the CSU system will be restricted to address its current financial crisis.

About 100 students, faculty and staff from all 23 CSU campuses gathered outside the Office of the Chancellor in Long Beach, bearing bold signs that read, "Stop the budget cuts" during the CSU Board of Trustees' meeting Tuesday, and will continue Wednesday, as the controversial cuts and system-wide impaction continue to be the hottest topics of discussion.

"SF State students, faculty and staff are fed up with having to deal with this educational budget crisis every semester," said Shwan Zandi, an SF State anthropology major who spoke on behalf of his campus at the protest in Long Beach. "It shouldn't even be a debate whether education should be funded or not."

The six SF State students flew into Long Beach early Tuesday morning and stayed until mid-afternoon. Their travel was funded by the California Faculty Association, one of the organizations supporting many of the protests around the different campuses since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced additional budget cuts last week.

"The budget is not going to be sufficient to provide all the courses that students need," SF State President Robert Corrigan said.

Students and faculty are upset that these mid-semester budget cuts will mean fee hikes, fewer course offerings, smaller classes and less work opportunities for lecturers.

"Lecturers are the most affected right now," said Kim Geron, vice president of the CFA and political science professor at Cal State East Bay. "They make up the majority of the faculty in our system."

Geron said that the purpose of the protest was to "highlight the consequences of the budget cuts."

"Our education is actually in jeopardy," said Madeline Payton, another SF State student present at the rally. "These fee hikes and cuts to classes need to stop now."

Another major fear that students have is the possibility of system-wide impaction, which would mean that CSU campuses would limit the number of freshmen applicants to be admitted into the university beginning fall 2009.

"It's really sad that we live in a society where the only people who can make it through college now are those who can pay to be in private schools," Zandi said.

California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, Chancellor Charles Reed and several trustees emerged from the meeting and addressed the crowd, encouraging them to not give up the fight for their education in spite of the budget cuts.

Claudia Keith, media relations representative from the chancellor's office, said it was clear that the protests were directed at the governor and the legislature, not at the trustees.

"[The CSU trustees] and the protesters are all on the same page," Keith said. "We've made the point that we need more revenue from the state."

Many of the protesters expressed their desire to continue fighting against the budget cuts, with the SF State students expected to stage another protest Wednesday, this time with phone and fax machines available so that students can directly contact the governor's office.

"We're calling on the Board of Trustees to come out to the CSU campuses and talk to students to listen to us on our turf," Zandi said.

Zandi, a member of SF State's newly formed "United Against Cuts" group, along with the CFA and the State Employees Trade Commission, encouraged the entire CSU community to "not put up with the cuts."

"What happened today was very important," Corrigan said. "Everyone should come together like this because we have to make as strong a statement as we possibly can. We've got to carry the message to Sacramento."