Around 2,000 upset students demonstrated around the State
Capitol Monday morning in Sacramento, protesting against the governor’s decision
to cut $1 billion to California’s higher education system.
The demonstration was just one of the six rallies organized
across the state by the student-led coalition, Students for California's
Future. The coalition was formed of organizations from the California State
University system, the University of California system and California's
community college system.
The only politician to join the protest was Lt. Gov. John Garamendi,
a California native who graduated from UC Berkeley. He was the one who led the
march from Raley Field, where it started, to the Capitol.
“I don't think anyone wants to cut education, but this is
about choices. It's about prioritizing, and when the Lt. Gov. John Garamendi is
presented with a choice, he'll be with the students, the faculty and working
families, not yacht owners,” Michael S. Roth, Garamendi's director of
communications, explained the situation, according to local news sources.
Due to the governor’s decision, as many as 50,000 students could
be kept from California community colleges and 18,000 would not receive
financial aid, according to Diane Woodruff, California
Community Colleges chancellor. The budget cuts would also reduce student
services, including counseling and access to libraries and laboratories, California
State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed said.
The demonstrators held signs reading “Don’t Deny Our Access
if You Want Success,” “Support Education” and “Don’t Cut Funding.” They also chanted
slogans such as “Kick us out, we will vote you out.”
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal
will decrease the $11 billion share of the state budget for higher education to
$10 billion, resulting in dramatically reduced spending and higher fees for
students.
“They keep talking about us being the
future of California, but if they keep cutting education, there will be no
future," said Tiffany Trujillo, a 22-year-old junior at San Francisco
State University, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “It seems like
education is always the first thing they cut.”
