Anna Jacobsen / The Collegian
The California Faculty Association used some theatrics Thursday in order to drum up support from students at California State University, Fresno.
Several faculty members and student volunteers used an old favorite, musical chairs, to demonstrate the systematic and ongoing losses that are affecting California State Universities, said professor Diane Blair, the vice president of the CFA̢۪s local chapter.
Blair addressed a crowd in the Free Speech Area before the demonstration.
“In a sense, local administrators, the chancellor, the governor and the state legislature are all playing musical chairs with our students’ education and with our professional careers,â€Â Blair said.
Blair pushed support for Assembly Bill 656. The bill would provide for a 9.9 percent tax on oil and natural gas extracted from the state that would create revenue for a California Higher Education Fund (CHEF). In comparison, Alaska̢۪s extraction tax is 25 percent.
In an interview with The Collegian, Blair said that AB 656 is a better solution.
“Furloughs, layoffs, course reductions, enrollment reductions – those aren’t real solutions,â€Â Blair said. “Those don’t protect higher education.â€Â
Periodically throughout the game of musical chairs, one faculty member read facts about CSUs over the loudspeaker. For example, the cut to the CSU system was more than half of a billion dollars.
The participants circled eleven chairs with fake cash in hand to the sounds of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)â€Â and Journey’s “Any Way You Want It.â€Â As the music stopped, the leftover participant represented a person left behind by budget cuts.
However, in this version of musical chairs, in order to stay in the game the remaining participants were forced to hand some of their fake cash over to Chancellor Charles B. Reed, or rather a person holding a large cutout of Reed̢۪s head. The fake cash donned the faces of Reed and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
One onlooker, senior civil engineering major Juan Martinez, was not impressed by the performance and doubted its effectiveness.
He said that he would not support AB 656, because he didn̢۪t think it would be effective either. Martinez chalked it up to his own pessimistic opinion.
President John D. Welty released a statement.
“The CSU has not taken a position on AB 656 but does have concerns about this legislation,â€Â according to the statement.
He said that the bill would create confusion about who is responsible and accountable for CSU system̢۪s annual budget, and that the state legislature and governor could ignore the bill̢۪s provisions.
The CHEF is modeled after a Texas foundation that has been in place for nearly 100 years, and uses the funds on construction costs at the University of Texas, according to the bill̢۪s author California Assemblymember Alberto Torrico.
Blair was pleased with the overall event and said she would continue to gather signatures for AB 656. She said that she was surprised that the administration has not supported the bill, even though it has support from the CFA and Students for a Quality Education.
“The chancellor’s office and the administration have not come out in support of it, as of yet,â€Â Blair said. “We would like them to.â€Â
T J Richmond • Oct 17, 2009 at 8:47 pm
I’m sorry, but while I recognize the honorable intentions here (i.e. trying to get students involved by making protests “fun” and “whimsica” while still trying to prove a point), such actions tend to diminish the impact of voicing disagreement and frustration. Granted I wasn’t there and wasn’t privy to the overall mood of the demonstration, but I can imagine students/teachers/administrators reading this headline and laughing. Seriously. Musical Chairs??? It’s pretty sad that such demonstrations are the approach we are taking. Now I’m a little torn between this whole affair, because education isn’t the only thing that’s suffering. Everything is. But on the other hand, Education seems to have been targeted first. And in that case it seems like protestors would want to do something a little more extreme, (and I don’t mean walking into the library and silently placing little signs around) but something truly substantial, something that will catch the eye of the real media. Of course, there simply aren’t enough people who care, or people who have enough time. I don’t know. Where are the people willing to risk being arrested by storming the administrator’s office? Where are the people who will go to the even semi extreme to make a point? I know having the right leaning collegian reporting on musical chairs as protest isn’t going to accomplish anything. Ahhhhhhh. Who cares anyways? I mean, it’s not like I’m going to spend an extra year here due to these budget cuts. Wait, yes I am.
T J Richmond • Oct 18, 2009 at 3:47 am
I’m sorry, but while I recognize the honorable intentions here (i.e. trying to get students involved by making protests “fun” and “whimsica” while still trying to prove a point), such actions tend to diminish the impact of voicing disagreement and frustration. Granted I wasn’t there and wasn’t privy to the overall mood of the demonstration, but I can imagine students/teachers/administrators reading this headline and laughing. Seriously. Musical Chairs??? It’s pretty sad that such demonstrations are the approach we are taking. Now I’m a little torn between this whole affair, because education isn’t the only thing that’s suffering. Everything is. But on the other hand, Education seems to have been targeted first. And in that case it seems like protestors would want to do something a little more extreme, (and I don’t mean walking into the library and silently placing little signs around) but something truly substantial, something that will catch the eye of the real media. Of course, there simply aren’t enough people who care, or people who have enough time. I don’t know. Where are the people willing to risk being arrested by storming the administrator’s office? Where are the people who will go to the even semi extreme to make a point? I know having the right leaning collegian reporting on musical chairs as protest isn’t going to accomplish anything. Ahhhhhhh. Who cares anyways? I mean, it’s not like I’m going to spend an extra year here due to these budget cuts. Wait, yes I am.
lol • Oct 16, 2009 at 8:30 am
“Furloughs, layoffs, course reductions, enrollment reductions – those aren’t real solutions,â€Â Blair said. “Those don’t protect higher education.â€Â
Neither is throwing more money at the existing system. We have been in a state of perpetual fiscal crisis for years now. Every time more money is put in (and even when it is not) it goes to salaries for executives, new layers of administration, buildings – everything except the fundamental and most important relationship that exists on this and any campus – the one between student and teacher. Everything else is only supposed to support that dynamic, yet it is always last on the list of priorities.
lol • Oct 16, 2009 at 3:30 pm
“Furloughs, layoffs, course reductions, enrollment reductions ”“ those aren’t real solutions,” Blair said. “Those don’t protect higher education.”
Neither is throwing more money at the existing system. We have been in a state of perpetual fiscal crisis for years now. Every time more money is put in (and even when it is not) it goes to salaries for executives, new layers of administration, buildings – everything except the fundamental and most important relationship that exists on this and any campus – the one between student and teacher. Everything else is only supposed to support that dynamic, yet it is always last on the list of priorities.