"Hell No to Furloughs!" Chant CSUF Students

****UPDATE CNN JUST TAGGED THIS VIDEO FOR USE BY THEM @ IREPORT.COM http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-335529 ****

CNN-(Fullerton, Calif.) California State University Fullerton students protested the current budget cuts to the school causing a 32% increase in tuition and 10% decrease in pay for teachers.
On July 21, 2009 CSUF officials sent out an urgent notice to all students that their tuition would increase only one month before classes were to begin. At the same time, teachers were told that they would have to take a mandatory cut in pay and take nine furlough days for the semester, three mandatory, six voluntarily. This also caused many classes to be canceled, even those necessary for seniors to graduate on time.
Over 200 students walked through the quad, the Titan Student Union, and through the Steven G. Mihaylo Hall, the business and economics building. The crowd started out with only about 30 students, but grew with faculty and professors included as they marched around campus. With chants and signs, the signal was clear, hell no to furloughs!
The California State Budget of Trustees voted to raise the tuition due to the budget cuts of $54.5 million, according to the CSUF website of frequently asked questions:
How much has the universitys budget been reduced?
State budget reductions, unfunded mandates, campus priorities, and loan obligations required a Cal State Fullerton budget reduction for 2009-10 of $54.5 million. These reductions break out as follows:
•$38.7 million budget reductions from the state
•$4.1 million in unfunded mandatory costs (e.g., faculty/staff benefits)
•$5.2 million to support campus priorities identified by PRBC (e.g. faculty searches, research support, etc.)
•$6.5M to repay campus loan obligations
These reductions have been addressed via the following:
•$17.0 million in additional student fees ($15.9 million from 20% state university fee increase, net of financial aid and $1.1M from 10% nonresident tuition increase)
•$17.7 million savings from faculty/staff furloughs ($8.3 million from staff and $9.4 million from faculty furlough savings)
•$1.0 million from utility savings
•$15.3 million in division budget reductions
•$3.5 million from the lottery fund to supplement instructional activities

According to a flyer spread about the campus, its the administrators on campus that make the final decisions about the budget as it pertains to CSUF. With this in mind, the decisions like cancelling classes, laying off teachers, and closing the library at night while the gym stays open.
Harriet Edwards, a professor of mathematics at CSUF addresses the issue of the 2/3 vote needed in order to pass a budget in California as a downfall to the universitys budget needs.
Lauren Vondracek, who spoke at the protest, said that they are not only against the tuition hikes, but they also wanted to show their support for the great teachers at CSUF.
The next protest is scheduled for October 13th and plans are being made to continue until their voices are heard.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• csuf
• protest
• furloughs
• california
• budget_crisis

[juliannearner]

o well, that is also happening in any countries.

[mdelgado1992]

YES TO FURLOUGHS!

[jaybogaters]

FUCK YEAH ! I HATE THIS , I spend so much money and n education like... sme professor get made because they have to cut down there class in order to cover the whole semester

[Rockynurse]

I love how students are so incredibly stupid. If every CSU and community college student gave $5 and they created an account full of money that could be used to lobby the state government then stuff would get done.

$5 from every student would add up to millions in lobby money. That would speak louder than picketing voices.

[chunkyFLOVER]

I'm surprise they were allowed to walk through the halls of the buildings. I was in SGMH when they came shouting through the doors. I had just finished my econ test.

PS.....do you guys know Aaron Gilman?

[waverly2468]

Is this a comedy like Reno 911? That math teacher wants to make it easier to raise property taxes ? Calif. is bankrupt--there's NO MONEY. If you want to help your college then buy $1000 in lotto tickets, because the lottery is a regressive education tax. The only growth industry now is collection agencies going after student loan debt. Do you want fries with that?? And when you get home you've got 5 calls from Sallie Mae. If you can't afford college, THEN DON'T GO!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nillok]

Instead of these protest saying "fight for education!" and all of this, I would rather see an alternative solution. Someone should see the budget and tell them what to cut, because at the moment it's as if they are advocating that the school and government should have a deficit mounted upon the people so kids going to CSUs won't have to pay more for education (yet, still cheap compared to schools around the country)

[Nillok]

If an econ major at the top of her class believes that something in the world of scarcity can be free it concerns me about the future of our society. I shouldn't be shocked, keynesian economics has plagued academics so much that such thinking is bound to sprout up.

[Nillok]

Capitalism, which is something we don't even have, didn't cause the inflation we are seeing and going to see or the devaluation of the dollar. The Federal Reserve is to blame for their interest rates which creates the boom and bust cycles we see over the years. Failure to understand this is failure of understanding the fractional-reserve fiat currency system we are currently using.

[abitdifferent1014]

Furthermore, CSUF students did protest the war and we are upset about the banks getting bail out after bail out, especailly when higher education was promised that they would be protected from being cut.

There is lots of talk on how capitalism and those in charge and with something to gain from it exploit citizens, and ulitimately, this is what is causing inflation and the devaluation of the U.S. dollar.

Maybe you need to find out what is really going on at the campus before you start judging