CA Colleges Protest CA Tuition Hikes....Irony
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/ed...5protests.html

Liberals protesting liberal policies that tanked CA. How ironic...

SACRAMENTO — Angered by increases in tuition and cuts in state financing, thousands of students, parents and faculty members protested across California on Thursday at colleges, universities and even elementary schools to plead for help with the state’s education crisis.


Jim Wilson/The New York Times
About 100 protesters blocked Sather Gate, a central pedestrian walkway on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, on Thursday as part of a statewide protest against education budget cuts.
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Called a “strike and day of action to defend public education” by organizers, the demonstrations were boisterous and occasionally confrontational — campus and building entrances were blocked at several schools — but they were largely peaceful for most of the day.

Late Thursday afternoon, however, more than 150 people were arrested after they stopped traffic along an interstate in Oakland, according to the California Highway Patrol. There was also one injury. Protesters in Davis, outside Sacramento, also tried to block an interstate but were rebuffed by the authorities using pepper spray. One student protester was arrested.

Scattered tuition protests occurred in other states, too, with at least 16 people arrested at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, when protesters tried to force their way into administration offices and threw ice chunks at campus officers, according to a university spokesman.

One of the largest demonstrations in California took place here on the north steps of the Capitol, where more than 1,000 people used drums, bullhorns, and scores of young voices to try to get their message across.

“How are we going to save the future if we can’t even get into our classes?” said Reid E. Milburn, the president of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, referring to tuition increases and reductions in the number of courses. Her comments drew a large cheer from those in the crowd, many them students avoiding classes in a show of protest.

California’s public education system has been racked by spending cuts because of the state’s financial problems, which include a looming $20 billion budget deficit. Layoffs and furloughs have hit many districts and school systems, along with reductions in course offerings and grants.

On Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican in his last year of office, said the layoffs and reductions in courses carried out by some schools in the state were “terrible.” The bottom line, he said, was that “they need much more money.”

Where that money might come from is unclear. Alberto Torrico, the Democratic majority leader in the State Assembly, has proposed a 12.5 percent tax on the state’s oil producers, which he says could raise $2 billion for higher education. But with any new tax in California requiring a two-thirds majority in the Legislature, its prospects are uncertain.

Educators said the 23-campus California State University system — which has more than 425,000 students and lower fees than the 10-campus University of California system — was being hit particularly hard by cutbacks.

Julie Chisholm, an assistant professor of writing at one Cal State institution, the California Maritime Academy, in Vallejo, was struggling with 1-year-old twins at the Sacramento protest. She said that her $60,000 salary had been cut 10 percent by furloughs, but that she had chosen to take her furloughs on nonteaching days to avoid inconveniencing her students.

“Our students are getting hit, too, with higher tuition,” she said.

In Santa Cruz, the surfing town south of San Francisco, protesters effectively shut down access to the University of California campus there by blocking entrances, according to a message posted on the university’s Web site. Protesters also broke at least one windshield and intimidated visitors, the message said.

Santa Cruz and several other University of California campuses were the sites of demonstrations last fall when the State Board of Regents approved a 32 percent increase in undergraduate fees, the equivalent of tuition.

Several hundred students also protested at Bruin Plaza at the University of California, Los Angeles, where people in one group had painted skulls on their faces. And at the university’s Berkeley campus, Rafael Velazquez, 23, a graduate student in the school of education, who plans to be a public high school teacher, was one of hundreds protesting.

“I plan to be a teacher, but it’s not my job prospects I’m worried about,” said Mr. Velazquez, who has a brother in fifth grade in San Lorenzo. “It’s the whole system.”

The cuts are also being felt in economically depressed areas like Richmond, near San Francisco, where unemployment is 17.6 percent and violent crime and poverty are common.

“Kids come to school hungry; some are homeless,” said Mary Flanagan, 55, a third-grade teacher from Richmond. “How can we deal with problems like that with as many as 38, 40 kids in a class?”

Protesters said they would continue to press their case with more demonstrations, including what was expected to be a well-attended protest on Thursday evening in central San Francisco. But at San Francisco State, where about 150 students, faculty members and administrators had joined to form an “informational picket line,” some were skeptical that anything — other than a sudden influx of money — would be effective in swaying state leaders.

“We’ve had tons of protests here, and it doesn’t do much,” said Maura Geiszler, 22, a senior studying music. “All they’ve got to do is turn off the news.”

Well, something does have to be done. Its 20k/yr to go to university up here when its all said and done(tuition and living expenses). Im sure its worse down there. We tell kids they need an education, and make it impossible for many of them to afford one.

School isnt the reason Cali is broke. And isn't the oak a republican? How are you blaming the liberals?

Arnold is Republican in name only IMO. The entire CA legislation is full of liberals that give everything to everyone. Imagine the entire state doing what General Motors did.....Alot of waste, a bunch of unions who were overpaid along with Cadillac pensions. You just cannot sustain that type of promise.

It has finally caught up...and they cannot sqeeze anymore taxes out of us anylonger or a revolt is going to occur. I'm surprised at how all these people keep voting these irresponsible give it away people in office year after year after year. I will tell you how. Mexicans and Asians will vote Democratic even if the Democrat in office is a 2 inch long turd (I'm referring to an actual turd). Fucking sheep...

They also have a huge illegal immigrant population which gets unemployment, education, medical coverage, housing assistance, job placement assistance and a host of other stuff. Who knows, maybe someone will sigest making weed legal so they can let the law brakers not be bad gutys any more and collect the tax revenue.

I wouldn't include living expenses in the total since those have to be paid anywhere (unless the kid lives with his/her parents) and can vary depending on where and how the kid lives.

Tuition and fees at schools in the UC system run somewhere around $10k a year for in state students. Out of state it gets over $20k per year.

tuition is through the roof across the board.

Kinda sad that the tuition at USC may be around 30k a year but they rack up severla million dollars to play in a big bowl game.

I'm not sure what you mean by "rack up several million dollars". A big successful program like USC's usually makes a bunch of money for the school.

For a major bowl game the school usualy gets several million dollars and more so in the big BCS games. thats on top of what they generate durring the regular season games.

Why irony? The job market is becoming more and more specialized every day and each of those specializations require higher education. How can we expect the incoming generation to succeed if we are sawing the legs out from under their ability to get an education?

There is, of course, the other side of the coin here - Why in the name of hell does it cost 20k per year to get said education? WTF

Fuck sakes dude. You have a repub. in office, no matter how you look at it. Mexicans and asians obviously still voted for him.

And lot of thats not even for the "specialized" training that 20k can be for liberal arts or core classes like english and humanities courses.

This is the crux of our issue. On the face of it, it sounds like a great idea, same with so many of California's social programs. But then you realize that other states either don't have that program at all, or don't fund it anywhere near the level we do and you realize why we're bankrupt. No one's saying college is a bad thing, but the money to pay for it has to come from somewhere, and we ain't got it. Neither do most states. Don't like it? Go to an LSU or Ol Miss instead of UCLA and see the difference. Even with the cuts, our system is still far better funded than most states'.

Well, if you ask me, the money to educate students should come directly out of the mouths of illegal mexicans. If that shit ass state wasnt supporting illegals, half of these problems wouldnt exist.

And upset half of their voting block? Yeah I know they're illegal but if the dead can vote in Chicago then anyone can vote. Plus once immigration reform goes through it'll seal the deal for whoever sucked the most illegal mexican dick.

Does it matter anyways now? I thought in the healthcare bill student loans went to the federal government and after 20 years you don't have to pay anymore. I just heard a blip about it today so I'm not too what it's all about.

Arnold will push to the liberal side regardless if he believes in conservative polices. He does NOT hold strong to his beliefs for whatever reason.

The problem is the kids that are born here from illegals. Those are the kids that get county aid.

Maria Shriver has probably been holding out in memory of Uncle Teddy.

And speaking of the governator. He's going to be speaking at my girlfriend's graduation. I hope he says some funny shit.

How is cutting school funding a liberal agenda? Sounds more like a typical conservative one.