Yesterday, members of Students for Quality Education (SQE), California Faculty Association (CFA) and other students and faculty from all over the California State Universities (CSUs) rallied against fee hikes outside the Capitol in Sacramento, California.
After Governor Jerry Brown announced his 2018-19 budget, the CSUs had also announced their fee increases for the coming school year due to the lack of funding that was presented for higher education on behalf of the state leaders.
According to the CSUs fee increases layout, an undergraduate student’s fees will increase by $228, a credential student’s fees will increase by $264 and a graduate student’s fees will increase by $432. This will create a total fee increase ranging from $5,970, to $7,608 for the 2018-19 school year fees.
“The [$228] might not seem like a lot of money…there is huge need for food for students who are food insecure and if they already don’t have enough money for food, I’m pretty sure that charging them another [$228] is not going to improve that picture,” Dr. Steven Filling, President of the CFA Stan State chapter said.
Essma Nasher (senior, Sociology) agrees with Dr. Filling and says that if students already cannot afford rent or their meals, they will not afford any fee increase either.
“$228 for a better-off person might not seem like a lot, but to me that’s my whole month’s worth of food and two different bills, like that’s a lot to me,” Nasher added.
Before the rally had begun, participants were asked to download an augmented reality application on their phones so they could go up to a few posters and see images come to life. One of the augmented reality images that was popular among participants was one that briefly summarized the state’s budget and the decrease of the CSU budget.
Hundreds of students from all over California and CSUs then started to chant in a crowd, announcing the beginning of the rally around 10 a.m.
Some of the chants were “Stop cuts! Stop hikes! Education is a right!” “Education not deportation!” “Free the CSU, fund the dream!” and other chants.
The crowd of students and faculty who were chanting and making noises with bells and claps made its way to the front of the steps of the Capitol, having personnel inside the Capitol Building looking from outside of the windows.
Throughout the rally, many students served as guest speakers. They spoke about the negative effects that this fee increase was presenting to them and future generations.
However, though the rally was primarily focused on advocating for more funds for the CSUs, many of the student speakers took the podium to give light to social issues that are systematically seen across the CSUs and the nation.
Students were asking for a moment of silence for the recent death of Stephon Clark, who was shot on Mar. 18 by Sacramento police officers who thought Clark was holding a gun when in reality it was his phone he was holding.
Other students spoke about the systemic racism that occurs at an administrate level all over the CSUs, while others also brought to light what it means to be undocumented and unfamiliar with the American culture and still be discriminated and asked to pay more for their education.
Pablos Fuentes, a student speaker from CSU Los Angeles, presented himself to the crowd as an undocumented student. He took the podium to advocate for a fully funded CSU.
“A fully funded CSU is absolutely critical to students, faculty, employees and the state of California. By the state fully funding the CSU budget request, they are finally saying to students ‘you should not be held financially responsible to cover those costs that we as state leaders should be covering’,” Fuentes said.
Hellen Lee, English professor at CSU Sacramento and CFA chapter Delegate to General Assembly, was also a speaker at the rally. She spoke about the systemic racism that is being experienced at an administrative and governmental level when talking about fee increases.
“Years ago, before all of the CSUs were made up of more than 50 percent of students of color like now, funding was not an issue. Now that students of color all over the CSUs are more than 50 percent we see budget for our higher education decrease and fees increase…hmm…why is that?” Lee said, implicitly making the connection of systemic racism.
CSU Chancellor Timothy White was also present, and although he was greeted with boos and chants that silenced him, such as “Fund the dream!”, he spoke about the “Californian dream” and what that means through an affordable CSU education.
“I welcome all of our students from all walks of like, not just the red carpets of privilege and opportunity, but students who are willing and able to perform their work and earn their degree, their certificate, their credentials,” Chancellor White said. “I join the course of voices here today calling on our elected allies here in Sacramento, whose districts are full of CSU students, faculty, staff and alumni, to place our budget ask at the top of their priorities during budget negotiations.”
His speech was interrupted with anger and shouts from the crowd when Chancellor White closed his statement saying that “this is both personal and professional for me. The CSU lifted and launched me as a kid…”
After the end of the rally was announced, attendees were encouraged to start attending more CFA and SQE meetings in order to create a bigger collective of higher education advocates.
To contact Stan State’s CFA, visit their website, as well as Stan State’s SQE Facebook.