Protestors gathered under a gray sky on Wednesday at Malcolm X Plaza in opposition of mid-year budget cuts proposed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The cuts amount to $66.3 million, according to a flier handed out by the Alliance for the CSU.

Campus police officers watching the protest said that 150 people were in attendance.

After the demonstration, students and faculty marched around campus chanting, “Rise up SF State, shut it down like ‘68.”

The event is a symbolic parallel to protests at Cal State head quarters in Long Beach according to Honora Keller, a student intern for the California Faculty Association. Keller said the campus demonstrations give a voice to students who cannot afford to travel to Long Beach to protest.

“We’re students,” Keller said. “We don’t have the means to go 400 miles.”

Students and faculty cheered passionately throughout the event, and held colorful signs that read “Don’t Cut My Class,” and “CSU Key to CA – Don’t cut!”

Jeff Rosen, chapter vice president of the California Faculty Administration, said the Governor is using the current economic crisis as a reason to cut funds for public colleges. However, cutting the budget of higher education will only make economic problems worse, according to Rosen.

“We are part of the engine of this economy,” Rosen said. “We keep things going, we don’t bring things down. You don’t help the economy by stopping the engine.”

Larry Salomon, a lecturer for SF State’s ethnic studies department told onlookers that in the ethnic studies program alone, SF State might lose from 40-50 class sections due to budget cuts.

“Are you going to fight?” Salomon asked the protestors. Demonstrators yelled back, “Yes!”