Students at UCSA conference call for more funding, transparency

Hundreds of students marched to the California Capitol in Sacramento on Monday, demanding more state funding for the University of California and calling for Gov. Jerry Brown and UC President Janet Napolitano to be more transparent in their budget negotiations.

The UC Student Association, which advocates for University students on student-related issues such as tuition, held its annual Student Lobby Conference this weekend.

Students lobbied legislators and went to workshops where they learned strategies about how to advocate for specific issues. They also attended workshops on UCSA’s budget and legislative priorities.

Undergraduate students from UCLA attended the conference, with delegates coming from all UC campuses except UC Hastings College of the Law. About 400 students attended the conference.

In November, the UC passed a proposal to potentially increase tuition by up to 5 percent annually for the next five years, contingent on the state increasing funding for the University. Brown’s proposed budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year allocates about $120 million more in state funding, $100 million less than what the UC has asked for. The additional state funding is contingent on the University holding tuition flat.

Brown and Napolitano are the two members of the Select Advisory Committee on the Cost Structure of the University, the so-called “committee of two” formed in January to look at the University’s cost structure. They will update their committee findings at the next UC Regents meeting in May. However, students have called for them to discuss the findings further publicly.

Students at the lobbying conference, calling themselves the Committee of 240,000, staged a rally on the west steps of the California Capitol on Monday. The 240,000 number was meant to represent the approximate number of students at the UC.

“Committee of two. We are out here; where are you?” students chanted.

Students at the rally also held up signs criticizing Napolitano and Brown, with messages such as “Committee of two, shame on you” and “Brown better have my money.”

Students also tweeted with hashtags such as #Committeeof240000 and called for the committee to hear more student input.

Napolitano told the Daily Bruin Editorial Board on April 9 that she would be open to talking with Brown about bringing students into committee meetings.

At the conference, students also held an awards banquet, where Fossil Free UC received the Advocate of the Year award for its work calling for the UC to divest from companies that profit from the extraction of fossil fuels. Kevin Sabo, chair of the UCSA Board of Directors, received the award for Student Advocate of the Year.

Brown will release his revised state budget for the next fiscal year in May, when students may learn more about whether the UC averted a tuition hike.

Compiled by Jorge Valero, Bruin contributor.