By: Anthony Orrico and Linsey Towles
On Tuesday morning members of multiple student and faculty organizations crowded the courtyard outside the CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach.
The proposed multi-year tuition increase was introduced in June 2023 by the CSU institution, which would increase tuition for all 23 campuses by 6% every year.
CSU police and security stood watch at the building entrance as students were let in one by one after being cleared in a security screening. Most protesters remained outside, chanting, “let the students in.”
“We’re about to disrupt this meeting and a lot of people are about to see it,” said Gary Daniels, a masters student at CSULB. “You all are fighting for 450,000 students in California, plus future generations.”
The meeting opened with nearly three hours of public comment, yet many protesters were forced by CSU police and security to stay outside.
“I was trying to help a disabled student into the building so he could be heard but I was pushed and shoved by CSU police,” said CSULB student Dorhean Gaffney.
Karla Montavo, who works with CFA at Cal State Northridge, said that she hadn’t seen this kind of push-back in a meeting before.
“They usually allow people in but there are so many people today and it’s so loud that I don’t think they’re letting us in,” Montavo said. Despite this, Montavo added that this was the best turn-out in over a year.
Gaffney also said that the energy and passion of the protest was “beautiful.”
“This is not a black or brown or white issue. This is an issue of class, of just being able to get by,” said Gaffney.
Police only let about 20 to 30 people in a time, but the trustees did extend the public comment beyond its normal 90-minute limit to over two and a half hours.
Students, faculty and union representatives from the Teamsters and the California Faculty Association (CFA) rose to speak during the public comment. ASI Presidents from nearly every CSU campus also came to oppose the increase and all spoke.
“Education is the cornerstone of progress and prosperity and should be accessible to all regardless of their financial background and institutions are an integral part of the community they serve,” CSULB ASI President Mitali Jain said during public comment.
Some speakers expressed their concern about how this increase will affect future generations of students, while others lambasted the administrator’s salaries suggesting that they should take a cut to their salaries to make up the budget gap rather than raise tuition.
“Currently the money is going into as we see, higher-ups are getting paid increasingly more and more and we see their wages constantly increasing compared to what our faculty are currently getting,” said Vaughn Wilbur, a third-year sociology major at California State University, Fullerton.
The average salary of a CSU President in 2023 is $436,284 per year. The highest being Adela de la Torre of San Diego State making $533,148 annually and the lowest being Richard D. Yao of Cal State Channel Islands making $362,210, according to the California State University website.
CSULB President Jane Close Conoley is set to make $479,505 this year. The Interim Chancellor Jolene Koester is set to make $625,000 this year.
During their Aug. 30 meeting, the ASI Senate finalized a resolution to formally oppose any tuition increases.
The meeting concluded with the remaining students chanting inside the auditorium, “Up up student rights…down down tuition hikes,” as they exited the chamber.
Chair of the Board of Trustees Wenda Fong concluded the public comment by thanking the speakers for their comments.
“To all of our speakers, we appreciate your participation and we extended our 90-minute public comment to over two and a half hours so we could hear your voices and hear your voices we did,” Fong said.
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis addressed the protesters outside after the meeting offering her support against the proposed tuition hike.
“The fact of the matter is your elected officials can speak for you but nobody speaks better for you than you do. The trustees, the public and the press needed to hear your voice today,” Kounalakis said.
The Board of Trustees is voting on the proposed tuition increase on Wednesday.
This story was updated on Sept. 13, 2023 for quality purposes.