By A coalition representing more than 3.2 million California students will be rallying Monday at various locations throughout the state in opposition to the proposed budget cuts to California’s public higher education systems.
The coalition, called Students for California’s Future, will hold major demonstrations at the State Capitol in Sacramento and in downtown Los Angeles, with additional marches also planned in Santa Barbara, San Diego and Riverside.
At Humboldt State in Arcata, there will also be a two-week “call blitz” of students calling major politicians demanding that the state increase investment in education.
The coalition includes members and their supporters from all levels of California’s public higher education: the California State Student Association, the University of California Student Association and the Student Senate for California Community Colleges. Some universities will also be bussing participants from their campus to the rallying locations, according to the coalition’s website, StudentsForCalifornia.org.
“This is absolutely groundbreaking. These systems have never come together like this and worked to this capacity,” said Stephanie Chan, one of the coordinators of Students for California’s Future and a junior English major at UC Berkeley. “We don’t have any kind of funding, so it’s all on the students to get together.”
Twenty-four Cal State Long Beach students, including some from Associated Students, Inc., will be present at the morning rally in Sacramento, according to Michael Yi, ASI secretary for system-wide affairs. Later that afternoon, some will be speaking with members of California legislature, including California State Assemblywoman Betty Karnette of the 54th District, which covers the CSULB campus.
The demonstration in downtown Los Angeles begins at 10 a.m. in Pershing Square, and will be followed by a press conference and picketing of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s and California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez’s district offices.
