Even in hard times, education is a priority

There’s plenty of electricity in the air. It’s a new year, a new quarter, and in two weeks, we’ll have a new President. There are a lot of things to be optimistic about. That said, the U.S. is dragging a lot of baggage into 2009. This year, we as students need to look out for our own interests, as everybody else is too busy handling other things.

Push aside the Gaza crisis, Obama’s inauguration, and the new Democratic majority in Congress. While these are all important issues, California has its own worries. Since Gov. Schwarzenegger and the legislature are in gridlock over the 2009 budget, the state may be out of money by March. State Controller John Chiang has warned that he may have to pay state employees with IOUs as early as next month.

California is facing a $41 billion budget deficit, and the governor’s budget proposals are unrealistic: K-12 schools will cut $5 billion over the next 18 months, with $2 billion cut by June. In the midst of a recession, the state will borrow $4.7 billion from the private sector. California is tied with Louisiana for the lowest credit rating in the 50 states, and Standard & Poor is anticipating a further downgrade.

In short, California, the world’s eighth-largest economy, is watching trouble trickle down as fast as prosperity did. In desperation, the Democratic leadership has submitted a proposal with $18 billion in program cuts and revenue already included, with $7.3 billion cut from schools and health care, $667 million cut from state employee compensation, and accepting the governor’s proposal to cut $132 million from the CSU and UC systems.

Everybody’s getting stepped on here, and this isn’t anything new. However, higher education has been hit time and again over the last five decades. UC fees were $84 a year in 1956, $320 in 1968, $1,624 in 1990 and $8,309.88 for the 2008-09 school year. Public college education in California, however prestigious, doesn’t match its reputation for accessibility and public service. I’ve only been here a year, and I’m already sick of fee increases.

The regents and the legislature need to stop gambling with California’s education system and automatically assuming that there have to be fee hikes and budget cuts. We need breathing room. One possible way the regents have explored is to follow the example of other colleges: freeze tuition and limit enrollment until the situation improves. There may be other solutions. However, it’s up to us to stimulate the “college talk” with President Yudof, the regents, and the state government.

It’s time for us students to continue agitating for our own interests ““ affordable resources and a competitive education. We need to get loud, louder than we’ve ever been before. Even louder than this last election, when student votes made history. And our noise can’t be sporadic squeaks, drowned out by the clamor of special interest groups. We need a sustained roar fed by dedicated student-run institutions and faculty support.

Act now. Find out who your State Senator and Assemblymember are and write to them. Tell your parents, your friends back home and at other colleges, and their parents to add their voices to the fray. Push your USAC representatives and the UCSA to remonstrate with the legislature and the governor. Get together with your friends and start thinking of ways to get Sacramento’s attention: walkouts, protests, taking over an office or two. E-mail the Regents, including Student Regent and fellow Bruin D’Artagnan Scorza. Do something.

Right now, we’re pieces on Sacramento’s chessboard, sacrificed to checkmate debt. No matter how many sacrifices we make or how much the regents raise fees, the tide of debt keeps rising with them. If we don’t start thinking up drastic responses now, the California Master Plan for Higher Education will collapse, felled by the dry rot of budget cuts and the axes of other interests. While everybody is hollering about taxes and sacrifices, we need to remind the state that we matter, too.

Gambling on the state’s future isn’t wise. Let’s remind our elders of that.

If you feel like taking over Murphy Hall, e-mail [email protected]. Send general comments to