Students, faculty protest cuts in Sacramento

Nearly 2,000 students from across California, including five busloads of students from SF State, rallied at the state Capitol Monday morning to protest the $1 billion in budget cuts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed for the state's three college systems in 2008-09.

Students from the California State University, University of California and California Community College systems arrived in Sacramento to march about a mile in the "March for Higher Education," which participants regard as the first step to putting pressure on legislators to reprioritize the state budget.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi kicked off the event by asking the crowd, “Are you ready to march at the capital? Are you ready to stop student fees?” and eliciting shouts of support from the students.

“Educate to Liberate,” and “Kick us out, we’ll vote you out,” were among chants from the crowd as it walked across a Highway 99 bridge through downtown and in front of the Capitol.

“We need to invest in students, not tax them,” said Garamendi, a Democrat. “We need to change so many things and focus on the students as a stimulus to the economy.”

The march was part of a statewide effort known as the Alliance for the CSU, a coalition of groups including the California Faculty Association, the California State Student Association and other CSU employee unions and student government groups. It comes on the heels of a sweeping, campus-wide series of town hall teach-ins to gain support for the alliance and represents what many say is an unprecedented level of cooperation between the staff, faculty and students of the various California public school institutions.

"It's very important for us to understand that our work is all connected," said Sagnicthe Salazar, a 21-year-old Raza studies major at SF State who showed up to help organize the morning trek.

Members of the crowd, including parents, faculty members and employees of the school systems, made the approximate one-mile trek from Raley Field in West Sacramento to the state Capitol, where they convened at the front steps for a rally. Speakers included Garamendi and Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez.

Once the full crowd reached the capital steps, it rallied and listened to a series of speakers for nearly two hours. Concurrently, there were rallies up and down the state at several UC and CSU campuses.

“Why should you have to be here today to let them know that you are a priority?” Nunez asked the crowd. “It’s a shame that you have to be here today, outside this building, where just a month ago they decided they wouldn’t raise taxes for the rich.”

Tax increases for the rich were mentioned repeatedly by several speakers. Garamendi spoke of “those extremely conservative, extremely Republican” governors of days past who raised taxes to fund education during their term, a move Schwarzenegger, also a Republican, has refused to do.

“Anyone who thinks this is new doesn’t know their history,” Garamendi said. “When Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson were governors, they were faced with the same problem. They raised taxes, made cuts, and kept the state moving. Now we need Arnold to do the same.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata (D-Oakland) also encouraged people to vote for a tax increase, referring to it as the “only solution.” He said Schwarzenegger’s proposed across-the-board cuts are the wrong way to fix the budget.

“California has the highest cost of living in the United States,” Perata said. “But we have close to the lowest standard of living in the nation.”

Perata urged students to take part in the planned series of phone calls, e-mails and faxes to the governor’s office in what the Alliance for the CSU is calling the “Gov., can you hear us now?” movement that kicks off Wednesday and will continue until the May 15 budget revision.

“Ask your legislators where they got their degrees,” Perata said. “You’ll find most of them, Democrats or Republicans, went to a UC or a CSU. Now they want to deny you the education they were given.”

Dina Cervantes, chair of the executive committee for the CSSA, led most of the rally and introduced speakers.

“We are here to let the governor know we are the solution to the state budget,” Cervantes said. “They say they won’t raise taxes, but they are taxes to us in the form of that F-word we all hate: fees.”

The concern among all speakers was that if budget cuts go forward, student fees will increase again while services and class sections will be lost. Emphasis was placed on the need for state legislators to reprioritize, and the amount of money the state spends on prisons versus what it spends on education frequently came up.

The cuts to higher education, which amount to $312.9 million for the CSU in 2008-09 year alone, are part of the governor’s cuts to all state services as California struggles with a budget deficit of $14 billion.

“Yeah, we have a budget deficit,” said State Sen. Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat who represents Sacramento's District 6. “We also have an education deficit.”

Assembly member Anthony Portantino (D-Pasadena), who is the chair of the committee on higher education, spoke to the crowd and echoed other speakers in the need to sustain the state’s education system.

“Every decade, students need to have the opportunity to go to the greatest public higher education system in the world,” Portantino said. “And as a father of a junior in high school, I know that needs to continue.”

“These are the same people that are saying in order to solve the budget crisis, we can look to education as a place not to invest, but to take.”

“There is no more important measurement than student intelligence,” Garamendi said.
“We can build roads and dams and trains. More importantly, to build up the minds of people who can do these things."

Students were encouraged to continue outreach in their own districts and communities about the need for funding.

“This is just one day,” said CFA President Lillian Taiz, who teaches history at CSU Los Angeles.

Several university employee unions also came forward to speak. The State Employees’ Trades Council represents the university’s trade workers, such as electricians, carpenters and maintenance workers.

“We may be the air and electricity for the universities, but the students have the power because they are the plug,” said Patrick Hallahan, chief labor consultant for the SETC.

“If you build it, they will come. If you maintain it, they will stay,” Hallahan said. “But if you sustain it, it will work not only for now, but for generations to come.”

Of the five buses that SF State students took, three were paid for by the CFA while the Associated Students, Inc. paid for the remaining two, according to SF State CFA Chapter President Ramon Castellblanch.

Faculty members join in protest

Frustrated students weren’t alone in protesting the proposed budget cuts in Sacramento, as faculty members from nearly every California State University and University of California campus joined protesters to voice growing concern over the potential cuts.

In the effort to cope with an estimated $14 billion deficit in the state budget, state legislators have proposed cutting nearly $5 billion from the state’s education system and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a cut of over $300 million to the CSU budget.

SF State President Robert A. Corrigan said in March that the university is estimated to fall $25 million short in its annual budget.

Students from SF State arrived in Sacramento at about 9 a.m. Monday morning to protest the cuts.

According to Castellblanch, funding for three of the buses was provided by the CFA. The ASI funded two other buses, and all five left SF State for the state capital at 6:30 a.m. Upon arrival, they were joined by several thousand other students and faculty members from across the state.

Among the faculty attending Monday's rally was SF State lecturer Larry Solomon, who has taught in the ethnic studies department for 13 years.

‘”The California Faculty Association has been an important ally to the students during the budget crisis and in return we have received strong support from students — especially within the College of Ethnic Studies,” he said.

Solomon said one third of the courses offered in the College of Ethnic Studies could be dropped as a result of the proposed budget cuts, leading to an increased strain on students and faculty members alike.

“I believe strongly in education,” he said. “I, along with everyone here today, want to see it continue to be accessible for everyone in California.”

Faculty members from numerous CSUs and UCs joined together to express their disapproval over the proposed cuts, and many in attendance at Monday's rally feared that the cuts would put a huge strain on students and faculty.

“The budget cuts mean possible fee increases for students, and drastic cuts in classes offered,” said Lois Boulgarides, the CFA representative from Sacramento State University. “The proposed cuts will also increase the workload for tenured faculty, and lead to cuts in faculty health benefits and, sadly, a loss of jobs.”

Student support throughout the CSU and UC systems has been strong, Boulgrarides said, adding that an “incredible” coalition has been formed between students and faculty to fight the fee increases.

“Everyone has worked together to bring about change,” she said.

The SF State College of Ethnic Studies was well represented by students, adding to a “broad” coalition from SF State, according to Dean Kenneth Montero, who was also at the event.

“The students are serious,” he said. “Many students here are taking courses offered by the College of Ethnic Studies, but the message has to spread across campus for us to be successful.”

According to Montero, the College of Ethnic Studies will not be receiving a disproportion of the estimated budget cuts.

“Our college will be harmed, but we won’t be going out of business. I worry that smaller ethnic studies programs will be crushed at other institutions.”

“I’m proud of the student leadership that has organized the event,” he added. “No one should assume that the person next to them will be protesting the cuts on their behalf…we all have to work together to create change.”

Schwarzenegger will announce a revised version of his budget proposal on May 14.