This story was reported for the San Diego News Network on March 4, 2010.
Hundreds of San Diego college students took part in a protest against state budget cuts to higher education Thursday.
Making another attempt to have their voices heard by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the State Legislature– students at San Diego State University, City College and UC San Diego joined thousands of California collegians in expressing their anger once again.
“We hope that we can get the message to anyone out there who is listening,” said SDSU sociology graduate student Paulo Camacho. “It is a statewide rally so maybe the Governor will listen this time.”
Statewide student rallies began last fall when 800 students, workers and teachers signed a resolution at UC Berkeley’s Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education. Membership grew as 32 colleges and universities agreed to participate in the March 4 rally, dubbed “Strike and Day of Action in Defense of Public Education,” according to its official Web site. The date was chosen to coincide with the National Day for Public Action.
Organizers said they have a list of demands for Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers including: free public education from preschool through graduate school; outlawing charter schools; stopping what they call “union busting,” and restoring cuts and expanding “vital” public programs.
Protestors expressed optimism that the statewide scope of the gathering would yield results.
“Schools across California are all participating in today’s protest. I think it’s really helping to get our voices heard,” said Debora Santos, a senior sociology major at SDSU, where over 200 people participated in the march.
Santos, who said she had to move back in with her parents because of the increase in tuition and fees this school year, said the entire higher education system has been an “inconvenience.”
Lori Stewart, a professor of religious studies at SDSU, said she chose to march alongside the students to show support for their cause.
Stewart said her salary was cut and she now works fewer hours because of the budget crisis. But she has just as much work as before because of the stress that students are now facing, she said.
“Classes have been reduced but I still have 80 students per class,” she said. “It’s not a lot but when you have 120 crashers asking you if they can be in your class, it’s hard to turn them away. My students are involved in an education system that is working against them.”
The City College campus saw just as much anger against the state government Thursday as hundreds gathered in front of the school’s cafeteria.
One student encouraged her peers to respond to lawmakers by saying, “f- that” the next time they say, “cut that.”
Rene Vera, who said he has participated in numerous protests in past months, said it’s been difficult for him to get into the classes he needs even though he’s attended City College for four years now. Vera said though morale may be down given the frequency of protests, today’s statewide effort would “definitely make a difference.”
Perhaps the most anger and frustration found among California students was found at UC San Diego as protesters tied in racism and prejudice, claiming that budget cuts would hurt minority students most.
More than 300 students, along with some faculty and staff members, marched through the center of the UCSD campus, which has been rocked by several recent racially charged incidents.
The students chanted as they marched, banged on drums and carried signs that read “Equal Access, Equal Rights,” and “Public Service is not Public Plunder.”
The news conference was hosted by the UCSD Faculty Coalition, the UCSD Coalition for Educational Justice and a union that represents many University of California system employees.
Earlier Thursday, the Black Student Union held a rally outside the offices of Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.
“Racism has gone unchecked for so long (that) UCSD’s continued failure to act has resulted in promoting the bigotry behind the recent events,” Mohamad Raad told the more than 200 people in attendance.
Racial tensions on campus were inflamed last month when a party dubbed the “Compton Cookout” was held during Black History Month. More recently, a female student left a noose in the seventh floor of the Geisel Library, and someone placed a white pillowcase crudely fashioned into a Ku Klux Klan-style hood on a campus statue.
“Under-represented groups have long felt unwelcome at UCSD,” said Raad, a fourth-year medical student.
Students began protesting heavily last year after campuses saw a series of million-dollar cuts which forced administrators to raise tuition and fees and cut classes and teachers.
In previous statements, Schwarzenegger’s office said he understood the frustration felt among students but that the state can “only spend what it has.”
The statewide protest will end Thursday evening in different civic centers throughout California’s major cities.
Check SDNN later for more coverage of the rally that is expected to end at Schwarzenegger’s San Diego office Thursday evening.
City News Service and Associated Press contributed to this report. Hoa Quach is the political editor for the San Diego News Network.