Campus Community Rallies Against Proposed Budget Cut

Claire Crosbie, Staff Reporter 

Claire_Crosbie@csumb.edu

April 7, 2008

The March 13 budget rally turned into a historic event when students, staff, faculty and community members all gathered together to fight for one common cause, the future of the California State University (CSU) system. The purpose behind the campus-wide rally was to emphasize and to educate the community about the negative effects Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $386 million cut from the 2008-2009 school year’s budget would have for the 23 CSU campuses statewide. 

In addition to the proposed budget cut, the $73.2 million General Fund revenue required to avoid an increase in student fees is not incorporated in the proposed budget for this year. The governor’s proposal came as a shock to everyone, as four years ago the CSU was cut by half a million dollars, and as CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) President Dianne Harrison said during the rally, “the CSU has still not recovered from previous budget cuts.”

The proposed budget cut will have many negative impacts on the CSU system, including larger class sizes, and impacted or eliminated classes, which will create a longer pathway to graduation and a degree. Student fees will increase by another 10 percent and a remarkable number of students will be rejected from attending college. Many Latino, African- American, Native American and first-generation students will be further disadvantaged if this budget cut takes effect. Also with the budget cut, the CSU will not be able to support any new programs to further assist students in their education.

The main request heard at the rally was for students to take action and fight against this budget cut. Steven Levinson, Vice President of CSUMB’s California Faculty Association, gave a list of actions students can do to voice their opinions against the cut. 

“More public events need to be held, legislatures should be contacted, and students just need to inform people the impacts this cut will have on students,” Levinson said. 

The rally offered students throughout the CSU campuses many ideas for what they can do to help stop the cuts, such as: visit allianceforthecsu.org and sign a petition card as well as learn more ways to get involved, telling others, posting signs on campus and in town, attend events such as the Budget Summit and write to legislators such as Senator Jeff Denham.

More information concerning the proposed budget cut can be found at csumb.edu/budgetsolution.