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Tomorrow the California State University Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on proposed cuts within their operating budget that will have staff and faculty accepting twice-monthly furlough days, student services and class offerings reduced, enrollment caps and freezes implemented, and tuition raised 20 per cent--on top of the already approved 10 per cent increase voted on just two months ago.
Students have already begun to gather outside the Chancellor's office in Long Beach and are coming here from all over the state, conducting a 48-hour vigil in protest. They are expected to be joined by faculty tomorrow under the collective of their union, California Faculty Association (CFA), to voice their objection to the cuts and increases, and to express frustration at the potential damage to the students' education and the employees' jobs.
Protesters and advocates agree that the value of higher education in California is expressed long-term, but with the current fiscal crisis in the state, the only solutions on the table take into consideration short-term and immediate measures to address the millions and millions of dollars the State University system is going to be short this coming academic year.
