Student-protesters fill Capitol

EDITOR's NOTE: This article originally published on AccentAdvocate on March 5, 2012. To view original post, visit AccentAdvocate.com.

SACRAMENTO — Students are mad as hell and they aren't going to take it anymore.

Protest organizers said 10,000 community college and university students from all of the state's higher education campuses, including about 90 from Contra Costa College, rallied against budget cuts and student fee increases during the annual March in March rally at the Capitol on Monday.

"We march today with the purpose to give voice to the other 364 days of the year," San Jose City College student Karrawinds Salters said in front of the Capitol. "Education is our right."

The two-hour-long, multifaceted "Fund Our Future" demonstration started with a march from Southside Park downtown, leading to a rally with speeches in the Capitol Mall. Students were also lobbying state legislators inside the Capitol to stop cutting education.

The ASU contracted two yellow school buses, which took at least 35 protesters in each, for the protest while another 10 ASU representatives followed in a van.

"(State lawmakers) are trying to cut a significant portion of (CCC's) budget," ASU President of Clubs Mikhael Bunda said. "The ASU has a responsibility to students and represent what students need."

More than a half-billion dollars has been cut by the state from community college budgets in the 2011-12 academic year.

The state initially cut $313 million from its 112 community colleges at the beginning of the year. Then, two mid-year trigger cuts reduced funding by a combined $102 million. Last month, the state was caught off guard by a surprise $149 million deficit, which also has to be settled by the end of the semester.

These cuts are in addition to student fee increases from $20 per unit in fall 2007 to $46 per unit starting this summer.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said at the rally that the cost of higher education has tripled in the last decade and doubled in the last five years.

University of California Associated Students Sen. Sydney Fang said, "It's upsetting to see the state balance its budget on the backs of students. We need to find sensible solutions and revenue for education and public services."

Leaders from the community college, Cal State University and UC systems all spoke at the rally on the West Steps.

"I don't see UC, CSU or community college students (protesting). I just see students," Cal State-Stanislaus ASI President Mehran Khodabandeh said. "The only way we can have any change happen in this system is to be united."

The group presented a unified front throughout the day and asked everyone to update their Twitter page with the hashtag #supporthighereducation.

During the mile-long walk from the park to the Capitol, student-protesters shut down traffic with the help of police and made noise so all of downtown Sacramento knew the rally was happening.

"I think (the protest) sucks," California Labor and Workforce Development Agency employee Michael Wiesenburger said as protesters marched past his office at 722 Capitol Mall, two blocks from the Capitol building.

Leaning on a black cane under a large mold of the California state seal, wearing black sunglasses over his prescription glasses and smoking tobacco from a black and brown pipe, Wiesenburger, a Navy veteran, said, "These kids could be in class or go out and get a job.

That's what I did when I was their age."

Even members of the Legislature who supported the march heard opposition during the rally.

When Speaker of the Assembly John Peréz, author of the Middle Class Scholarship, spoke in front of the Capitol, students broke into a chant.

Promoting his legislation to close corporate loopholes and reduce the cost of attending a UC or CSU by two-thirds for middle class students, the chant wanted Peréz to back up his claims.

"We have to keep the promise to our students," he said.

Students replied, "Show us! Show us!"