The recent student protests over plans to raise tuition by about a third is only the latest manifestation of student and faculty unrest over plans by administration officials to deal with that state’s budget problems. The latest plan applies to the state’s University of California System.
University of California Education
The state of California has a three-tiered state higher-education system. There are 23 schools in the University of California system. These schools comprise the state’s research schools. The State University system is comprised of schools that primarily serve undergraduates and have some Masters’ degree programs. There is also the state community college system which provides two-year professional program degrees and also serve to prep students for transferring to the a four-year school. All of the levels of the higher education system have not been immune to California’s fiscal crisis.
The latest plan approved by the University of California regents would push the annual cost of tuition of these schools above the $10,000.00 mark for the first time in system history.
The move was the subject of two days of protest by students who say they won’t be able to afford school. The regents say the move is necessary to keep from cutting programs at the schools.
There have been smaller, more localized protests against budget-cutting moves this year.
Previous Protests This Year
The UC campuses of San Diego and Berkeley were the sites of protests in September. At that time, the President of the system, Mark Yudof, was proposing salary cuts and furloughs for faculty. Students joined faculty for walkouts at the various UC campuses. San Diego was the site of a 400-person strong faculty and student walkout. Crowd sizes were estimated to be larger at Berkeley. In addition to demanding no faculty pay cuts and no furloughs of faculty, students and faculty demanded greater transparency in the budget process. But eventually, the student unrest filtered down to the community college level as well.
Protests At Southwestern College
Southwestern College, near San Diego, was the also the site of protest. A local budget-cutting initiative would have eliminated 400 sections of courses at that college. Students and faculty were also upset with how the protesters were dealt with. Some faculty who participated in the protests were suspended. As a result, both the faculty and student senates at Southwestern issued votes of no confidence in the college’s president.
The budget woes and how to deal with them have produced no end to tension in the California Higher Education system.
Jon Pike - Pike is a Ph.D. in communication and writes about activism and popular culture topics for Suite101.
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