In the know: Sacramento protest a significant step for student protesters
By Gina Kass
March 8, 2012 11:42 p.m.
College students from across California gathered to bring their grievances to the Capitol building in Sacramento on Monday. Some marched all the way from the Bay Area, and some, including almost 70 UCLA students, made the journey north, culminating in a march of thousands advocating for solutions to the diminishing funds to California’s public universities.
The rally, titled “Fund our Future,” was organized by the University of California Student Association, the California State Student Association and the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, each representing a different public higher education system.
According to a statement released by the three groups, Monday’s march marks the first time in years that students from all three systems have collaborated in Sacramento. The event was not only a display of solidarity between California’s higher education systems but also an important step in engaging lawmakers in discussion regarding important legislation.
A group of students met with legislators inside the Capitol to garner support for bills AB 1500 and 1501, which would, in tandem, raise taxes to establish a system to give scholarships to middle-class students. UCLA students, including members of Occupy UCLA and the Undergraduate Students Association Council, joined in to lobby for these two bills.
Students also called for passage of AB 970, which would require the UC Board of Regents as well as the CSU Board of Trustees to provide the legislature with yearly reports about expenditures. This bill foreshadows a potential alliance of UC and CSU students with their system administrators, a development that would help the two groups cooperate and be more communicative to reach their goals.
The bill also would implement a six-month notice of fee hikes before they can be enacted, and it would prohibit system-wide fees from being referred to as “tuition” so as to ensure clarity and communication from system administrators. This is the kind of working relationship that would foster the development of new and innovative ideas that may benefit both students and regents.
Several Sacramento lawmakers were featured as speakers at the rally, including Assembly Speaker John Pérez (D-Los Angeles), Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. The protest even prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to release a statement through a spokesperson, using the opportunity to urge Californians to vote for his plan to raise taxes in November.
Monday’s protest marked a concerted effort by students from across California’s higher education systems to let themselves be heard by lawmakers in Sacramento. The push to move the site of protests from individual campuses to the Capitol did not go unnoticed by legislators, and the specificity of the protesters’ demands implies a level of organization which could indicate the beginning of a new phase in California’s fight for higher education.
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