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Thousands
of students gathered in front of the Capitol building
in Sacramento to protest budget cuts. Photo by Rachel
Sonnenshine.
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College
Students March on Sacramento
James McKleam, a middle-aged former student from Sacramento, has
been directly affected by the fee hikes in community colleges last
year. Unemployed at the moment, McKleam says he can’t afford
to return to school. “This is a disgrace,” he says.
“This should have never happened to begin with.”more...
District-wide Budget Woes
Hard times have come, and more are on the way, with San José
City College facing a tremendous fiscal crunch. The coffers are
dry and the district must make further cuts for 2004. Several programs
face significant reductions, as a result of both statewide and district-wide
efforts to reduce deficits. more...
Campus
Celebrates Welcome Week
Tuition fees, books, overcrowded sections, long Admission and Records
line, and good grades seem to be the most prominent worries on the
minds of San José City College students as the new semester
sets in with the Welcome Week of Jan. 2-6.
“School costs a whole lot now,” says Andrew, a returning
student. And, indeed, the cost of education is rising, and it seems
that it hasn’t reached its peak yet. Last semester the fees
rose from $11 per unit to $18.more...
SJCC
Alum Gets Award for Documentary on Native American Heritage
As a part of celebration of Native American Heritage Month, an alumna
of SJCC and an American Indian filmmaker Rosemary Gibbons presented
her award-winning documentary on American Indian residential schools
in Canada on campus Wednesday..more...
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College
Students March on Sacramento
Ivan Nikittin, Managing Editor
James McKleam, a middle-aged former student
from Sacramento, has been directly affected by the fee hikes in
community colleges last year. Unemployed at the moment, McKleam
says he can’t afford to return to school. “This
is a disgrace,” he says. “This should have never happened
to begin with.”
On March 15, McKleam marched on the Capitol
in Sacramento together with the crowd of over 8,000 students and
teachers from community colleges and universities all over the state
to protest educational cuts and fee increases in the budget.
The protesters marched from Raley Field
all the way to the Capitol building through the Tower Bridge carrying
signs that said everything from “Cut fees not classes”
and “Education is a Right for All” to “Books not
Bombs,” and “Keep the Doors Open.”
The stage near the Capitol, where the speakers
addressed the public, was decorated with several rows of creatively
painted human-sized dolls representing the students who were denied
access to education due to fee hikes. This number of “missing
students” was estimated to be up to 175,000 last year, and
is expected to rise much higher with the new increases.
San José City College President
Dr. Chui Tsang who marched alongside the students says that the
governor and the legislatures should listen closely to the demands
of the protesters since community college system is a very important
educational fragment in California.
“I came here last time, and I come
again this time because we are the unsung hero of high education,”
says Tsang. “We are not as visible as major universities, and
we don’t have the lobbying power for all the segments of high
education in California, but we are really and truly an equalizer
in a real democratic system.”
“If this is the way that we can gain
attention and support, we need to continue to do that,” asserted
Tsang.
He also mentioned that the success of the
march and the budget decision translates into the number of seats
that are available for students on SJCC campus and the services
that can be provided to them. “It is very important to me,”
he added.
According to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s
budget proposal, 10 percent of UC and CSU freshmen will be sent
to community colleges despite the profound cuts in the system. This
means that next year community colleges will have to turn away a
number of potential students because as many as 7,000 students that
would otherwise attend UC or CSU would have to be admitted instead.
The 109 community colleges in California
are estimated to be under-funded for the equivalent of 150,000 of
the total 2.9 million students. Although Schwarzenegger proposed
a three percent increase in funding for enrollment growth, the tuition
fees will have to rise 44 percent in addition to last year’s
60 percent, growing to $26 per unit comparing with the present fee
of $18 per unit.
Students Express Concerns
SJCC A. S. President Joseph Macedo’s
speech caused rolls of thundering applause among thousands of students
gathered near the stage. He said that community college changed
his life. Former convict, Macedo decided to return to school after
20 years of “insanity.”
“I thought the knowledge I got on
the streets would get me somewhere but it never gave me anything
but misery and pain,” he told the roaring crowd.
Macedo says that upon entering college
two and a half years ago he could not tell a verb from an adjective,
yet after five semesters of hard effort he has a 3.5 GPA and enough
credits to transfer to SJSU. Macedo came to the rally to demand
a fair share of the budget and an education that is accessible to
all.
“They got money for prisons, they
got money for war, but when it comes to education, they claim they’re
poor!” says Chabot nursing student Phyllishia Rattiff, one
of the thousands of students who gathered around the podium near
the Capitol building to listen to the speakers.
Las Positas Community College students
Karen Whitfield and Sarah Wagenaar, sitting on the lawn near the
stage to escape the hot sun and the afternoon heat, say that they
came to the rally because they wanted their concerns to be heard.
Whitfield, music and theater major, says
that the cuts will only damage the economy even deeper. Since people
won’t have access to education, she says, they won’t be
able to get decent jobs and help the economy revive. Wagenaar, graphics
and photography major, adds that it is wrong to take away from the
state’s future.
Whitfield wishes the cuts were taken from
elsewhere but the education. “Although it sounds selfish, it’s
really not in the long run,” she said.
“I came here because it’s not
fair for me; I don’t work—I’m on disability,”
says Maria Santos, College of Alameda medical assistant student.
She says that paying for school is already hard for her, and she
has to take classes little by little. The new cuts can delay her
diploma for an indefinite period of time.
Lack of education means lack of money,
and many Californians, former Sacramento student McKleam asserts,
will be left with few possibilities: work low-paying jobs all their
lives, emigrate to another country, or go to jail. “This is
the war on the poor,” he says.
Many ESL students like Julio Cesar from
Santa Rosa Junior College and people from Chinatown Campus of San
Francisco Community College came to the rally to protest cuts in
the program. Signs like “I want to learn English” were
seen throughout the march. “We are here because they want to
cut ESL classes,” says Cesar.
Teachers and Faculty Supports Students
“It is really wonderful to see; I
have so many of my students here,” says David Yancey, SJCC
History and Political Science instructor, who marched together with
many other SJCC faculty members. Yancey says he encouraged his students
to participate by giving them extra credit for attending and writing
their opinions about the event.
Mark Newton, SJCC/EVC Faculty Association
President, who was present at the rally with other FA members, says
that teachers are bound to support the students. “Teachers
and students have symbiotic relationship; that’s what we (teachers)
care about,” he says.
SJCC President Tsang hopes that the governor
will take advantage of the event to demonstrate how correct he is
in providing funding for community colleges.
‘Big United Student Voice’
Although Schwarzenegger was out of town
and no legislatures came down to speak with the students, the organizers
were satisfied.
Adam Welch, DeAnza student and one of the
Students for Justice coordinators, says he is content with the event.
He says that students were the ones to speak on the event, not the
legislatures.
“The people in the government are
not representing us—they represent corporations (…); they
are not our people,” he says. “This is our day to have
our voice and our message (…) heard, and we are going to make
it loud and clear to the politicians.”
“We just want a big united student
voice,” says Ian Martin, another SFJ activist. “We hear
politicians’ voices too much; they monopolize the voice in
the society.”
“We got to keep the fight up! It’s
not a one day rally; it’s a year long process,” says A.
S. President Macedo. “The tool that we have to fight with is
our voting power.”
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