May 1, 2008 3:00 pm US/Pacific
CSU Students Urge Gov To Reconsider Education Cuts
(BCN)
Students and faculty at three California State University campuses were to call and fax Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office Thursday to urge him to reconsider an expected budget cut to the university system.
Banks of phones and fax machines are set up today at CSU Monterey Bay, Sacramento State, and Cal State Los Angeles so that students and faculty can call and deliver a common message: "The California State University is part of the solution to an economic downturn; don't cut it!" according to a statement released by the California Faculty Association.
The event is part of an ongoing campaign, "Governor: Can You Hear Us Now?" Since the campaign began April 14 at Sonoma State, more than 20,000 contacts have been made to the governor's office through voice mail messages or faxes, said association spokeswoman Alice Sunshine.
Thursday's event kicks off a May push to get the governor to reconsider his proposed cuts of $386 million to the CSU budget. The Alliance for the CSU released an economic impact report Wednesday that says the budget cuts would have long-term effects on the state, including student fee hikes, reduction in staff, and cause for turning away up to 10,000 students.
Tim Gage, who served as director of California Department of Finance from 1999 to 2003, and later founded Blue Sky Consulting Group, prepared the report for the chancellor's office.
The report argues that the CSU system graduates more than half of all minority students who get four-year degrees in California, and contributes more than $7 billion to the state's economy as well as providing jobs and economic activity in communities where the schools are located "at a rate of $4.41 for every dollar spent on the CSU," according to a statement.
"We're going to undermine ourselves. To solve a short-term problem we're going to produce a long-term economic problem," Sunshine said.
The Alliance for the CSU includes members of the California Faculty Association, students, university staff, and community members from cities where CSU campuses are located, according to the group's Web site.
The phone and fax campaign will continue at other CSU campuses for at least another week, and some schools that have already held their events have chosen to continue sending faxes and making phone calls, Sunshine said.
Organizers chose telephone calls and faxing over an email campaign because they have found it has greater impact.
"It's just too easy to ignore email, it seems," Sunshine said.
Campaigners at some events placed so many phone calls and sent so
many faxes that voice mail boxes were filled and fax machines were turned off at those locations, Sunshine said. Instead of stopping, she said the group found other offices and numbers to call and fax to, and they plan to do the same for upcoming events.
"We'll just keep trying to get (the governor) to hear us," she said.
Other events are scheduled into next week at CSU Stanislaus, San Jose State, CSU East Bay, San Francisco State, and more.
More information on the events and the economic impact report can
be found at
www.allianceforthecsu.org, or
www.calstate.edu/impact.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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