College Students Confront Gov. Terminator
Drastic Education Cuts Undermine Moderate Image
By Jaime Ruiz

     On April 26 over 2,000 supporters of California’s higher educational system—students, faculty, administrators, alumni and others—rallied outside of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Los Angeles office at 300 South Spring Street, denouncing what they perceive as an unnecessary and dangerous assault on an “unparalleled public education system in the world.” 
     In January, the governor proposed cutting California State University (CSU) appropriation by nine percent and raising tuition by another 10 percent each year until the economy stabilizes, in addition to last year’s cuts and hikes. Tuition has already increased 70 percent during the past two years, jeopardizing the long-held promise for obtainable higher education for all Californians who graduate from high school, which in turn produces a more educated and productive workforce
     The rally, sponsored by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the Coalition of Students, Teachers and Staff, included politicians, labor leaders, musicians and representatives from many of the 23 CSU schools. They highlighted their opposition to on-going budget cuts, rising tuition, cutting of classes, faculty layoffs and the elimination or reduction of outreach programs, such as the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). 
Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza explained afterwards, “I was lucky to have a mentor help me to attend CSU Long Beach. This mentor helped me apply for college and financial aid. But not everyone already has a friend or mentor in a position to help. Outreach programs are critical to those who don’t already have family or friends who can help them.”
     The President of the California Faculty Association, John Travis, noted that if you take into count this year’s proposal and last year’s budget cuts, it amounts to the operational budgets of the three largest CSU schools. Arianna Hufffington questioned a state riddled with corporate loopholes while gutting education. 
In addition to last year’s cuts of $300 million, mid-year’s cuts by the governor going into effect in July will amount to half a billion dollars. Schwarzenegger will present a revised budget to the California legislature in May, which may include more mandatory cuts and mandatory enrollment limits. 2004 has already witnessed a 6.7 percent decrease in enrollment, with sharper decreases for already underrepresented minorities. 
     According to David Bradfield, San Pedro resident for over 20 years, and chapter president of the California Faculty Association at Dominguez Hills, the CSU system is the primary source for “working-class families to get a foothold,” a resource that produces teachers, nurses, engineers, those who become taxpayers. The budget cutting agenda, he concludes, places higher education out of reach for working-class families.
     Students, proving their leadership skills, displayed a mixing of various forms and traditions in their slogans and signs, from hip-hop, the Chicano Movement and antiwar protests, including the chant “No Cuts, No War, The Cuts Are For the War.” Many had class overtones, such as “Tax Corporations, Not Education” and “We Want Education, Not Incarceration,” referring to the prison-industrial complex, which remains immune to cuts. Others swiped directly at the governor: “Stop the Terminator, Not the Educator.” One student quipped that students can only ride in Hummers if they join the military.
Mayor Jim Dear of Carson, alumnus of Cal State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), claimed that CSUDH represented the most ethnically diverse campus in the system that “represents the future of the state and the future of the nation.” On the other hand, freshman Martha Hernandez from CSUDH noted the lack of support from administration and stated, “my major Chicana/o Studies is being cut at my school.” The Chicana/Chicano Studies Department at CSUDH, reeling from historical neglect, an untimely reorganization plan by the administration and budget cuts, is a local example of the governor’s agenda.(See “Remembering or Dismembering?—The Fate of Chicana/Chicano Studies Department at CSUDH”, RL, April 2-15, 2004, p.20).