On
the last day before students went on spring break the U.S. Department
of Education held a summit at the San Diego Community College campus.
Despite the timing, over 100 students and faculty arrived at the
campus at 8 a.m. to protest the hypocrisy of the education summit.
According
to government documents, the President Obama’s goal for 2020 is for
the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates
in the world. In reality,
government policies are driving more students out of higher
education. A recent announcement informed students and part time
faculty that the summer session for the entire San Diego Community
College District would be canceled. As a result of the cancellation,
all part-time faculty will be laid off, and as many as 35,000
students will be affected.
Students and faculty from campuses
throughout the district came and spoke about the real problem facing
public education—capitalist greed.
Student after student gave testimony as
to how the cancellation of summer session was going to affect them
and how if the government really wanted to help students and veterans
they should stop canceling classes and raising student fees.
Protesters then began a march around
the school and took over the street on Park Blvd. in downtown San
Diego. From there they marched straight to the Seville Theater where
the summit was being held. Students and faculty were hypocritically
excluded from participating in the education summit despite attempts
to enter.
The protesters then decided to hold
their own summit in the street in front of the theater. Again
students denounced tax breaks for the rich and endless funding for
war. SDCC student Irvin Pachuca said, “It’s hypocritical that
there is enough money to beautify the campus in order to impress
government officials, while at the same time the students are told
that there isn’t enough money for classes, teachers or other
student resources. We realize all the lies we are told and are
becoming more involved in direct action against these destructive
cuts to public education.”
Due to pressure, a district
administrator came out to speak to the student protesters. He offered
only lip service and attempted to give excuses for the budget
problems that students are forced to deal with.
After shutting down the street for over
an hour, students marched back to the campus to continue the protest
of the summit at their lunch break. This time the police prevented
the students from even stepping foot into the campus quad.
The summit organizers had ordered the
lock down of the whole quad area where the summit lunch was being
prepared. Students quickly reorganized and found a gap in the police
lines and were able to get back onto the campus. The students then
proceeded to occupy the lunch area and held a sit-in at the white
linen-covered tables set with silverware. By this time the
administration and police had become furious and started surrounding
the students, while staff also removed all of the linens and
silverware.
This caused City College President
Terrence Burgess and the District Chancellor Constance Carroll to
come and speak to the students in another futile attempt to make
excuses for the ruling class.
After a stand off, the administration
was forced to agree to meet with the students to discuss what
students feel could fix the budget problem. At the top of the
students’ list was taxing the rich.
The rally that took place and the
spontaneous action on behalf of students and faculty show the
potential strength of the working class over the capitalists and
their servants. The ruling class trembles in fear when the working
class comes together to demand what is rightfully theirs—free
education, jobs for all and an end to imperialist wars.
