More than 130 students and faculty members gathered outside of Chancellor Charles Reed’s office Wednesday to protest cuts to higher education.
The event put on by the California Faculty Association highlighted cuts to classes and, in some cases, entire departments at public universities throughout the state.
“Under the guise of budget cuts, [the trustees] are doing things that they have wanted to do for a long time,” CFA President Lillian Taiz said. “They’re doing it without any public discussion.”
Taiz said the chancellor and the board of trustees are taking advantage of a dire economic climate to make cuts, which will not improve that climate.
She added that program cuts and rises in applications will create a more elite student body, with less of the local students whom the California State University campuses were originally intended to serve.
Cal State Los Angeles sophomores Balbino Ramos and Ariel Solomon showed up to the protest in part because they were not able to register for classes they needed this fall.
Solomon, a civil engineering major, said classes were full by the time he was allowed to register. Ramos, a social science major, was in need of several courses that were not offered at CSULA this semester.
“I’m basically taking two classes that I don’t need to take because I need to be a full-time student,” Ramos said.
On March 4, the CFA is organizing events on CSU campuses throughout the state in protest to cuts to higher education.
“We’re going to do something big to stand in solidarity,” said Kasey Lewallen, student leader of the Long Beach chapter of Students for Quality Education. He suggested that students e-mail the organization at [email protected] for information on future events.
Taiz said, “If students want to control their education, they have to stand up and fight.”