The writer is a student organizer at California State University Long Beach.
Hundreds of students and allies protested on the California State University Long Beach campus July 21 as the CSU Board of Trustees approved a whopping 20 percent fee increase and two furlough days per month for nearly all faculty and staff. This action, approved by a 17-1 vote, followed a previous 10 percent student fee increase in May.
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The furlough days amount to at least a 10 percent pay cut for CSU faculty and staff. If unions representing faculty and staff workers refuse to go along with the furlough days, Chancellor Charles Reed has threatened massive layoffs. The Board of Trustees warned that more layoffs would not only result in thousands of faculty members losing their jobs, but also 15 percent of courses would potentially be cut statewide.
Such threats by the very people entrusted with running the CSU system amount to a knife at the throat of all faculty and students.
A sign at the student-led protest read, “450,000 minus 40,000 in two years equals segregated schools.” CSU plans to cut its 450,000-student enrollment by 40,000 in a two-year span. This, along with the fee hikes and furloughs, is all part of a plan to close CSU’s $584 million budget shortfall caused by an unprecedented drop in state funding.
The state of California is currently cutting $15 billion, mainly from social services, health care and education, to make up for its own $26 billion budget shortfall. California’s two public university systems, CSU and the University of California, will lose 20 percent in funding. Last week, the UC Board of Regents approved a budget plan that would lead to deep funding cuts at its 10 campuses and force most employees to take furloughs and pay cuts ranging from 4 to 10 percent.
As usual, the government cuts are aimed at working-class people. Taxing the rich and big corporations was never seriously considered as Democrat and Republican leaders reached a budget deal.
Inside the CSU Board of Trustees meeting, students showed outrage at the fee increases: “I’m feeling angry … with your mediocre leadership and cowardice in not speaking up for the students,” CSU Los Angeles student Gabriela Serrato said. “Give us the money and we’ll fight with the government ourselves.” (Los Angeles Times, July 22)
Getting a college education has become more and more unaffordable—in California and beyond. CSU is the country’s largest four-year college system. Sometimes called the “People’s University,” the CSU system has been one of the most affordable for working-class students and students of color, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college. With these fee increases and the promise of more over the next two years, the opportunity to get a higher education is being stripped away.
This fall, students who can afford it will be paying almost $1,000 more than the previous semester.
“You’re going to see the gentrification of the CSU and the door close to higher education for working-class people,” said Aaron Buchbinder, a graduate student in social work at San Francisco State University. “I’m going to pile up more debt, and it’s going to take me longer to pay off.” (Associated Press, July 22)
As the CSU Trustees exited the meeting, the student protesters chanted militantly. Many yelled out slogans like “Education is a right,” and a popular chant was “Bailout students, not banks!”
It has been seen time and time again—economic burdens are placed on the backs of workers and students, and the rich continue to get richer. This is becoming apparent to many students as trillions of dollars go to fund imperialist wars and prop up the biggest banks and corporations, while cuts eviscerate education and the most crucial social services.
Why should students and workers be asked to bail out banks and pay for wars of profit and greed as our communities and schools are experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression? We shouldn’t. This crisis was created by the capitalists and their system. They should pay!
The attacks on CSU and higher education are not over. The fee increases will continue unless we join together and fight back. We in the Party for Socialism and Liberation will continue to organize and stand with students, teachers and allies to oppose any increases or layoffs. Education is a right and must be affordable to all!
