Right before Thursday’s protests, a fellow student came to my philosophy class to talk about the protests being held at various campuses across the country, and how they would affect Fresno State.
“We’re trying to make sure the government follows up on its promise to fund the university,” she said. “That’s why we’re organizing the protests.”
There is just one little problem: There isn’t any money left to give. We’ve been seeing the results of this since August, in the form of those ever-annoying furlough days, the frustration of seeing classes cut and having to tell family that they better hold off on sending those graduation announcements because you’re (ahem) not graduating this year.
During this particular class, I was glad to realize I was not alone in my conservative viewpoints. One guy asked, “Why should I be expected to not go to class so I can protest against the government not giving me the classes that I’m not taking this semester?” After a very long-winded answer that could’ve taken about 20 seconds to explain, another guy asked, “Can we start lecturing now?”
It seems to me that everyone is starting to get the picture. Despite the fact that the California State University system is the people’s university and has been run on almost entirely government funding, we need to stop bugging the government for more money that they don’t have and turn to where the money actually is: the private sector.
Since last spring, private donors have given more than $130 million to Fresno State. That rivals the amount of money the entire CSU gets from the state government. We have well-funded programs thanks to local businesses and alumni, ranging from the Smittcamp Family Honors College to the $10 million donation to athletics provided by NykelBam International last summer to the Jordan family’s $29 million cash donation to our Agriculture students.
Considering that there are so many people in our community who have rallied around the school in a time of financial crisis, it’s safe to say that there are other, and probably much better, ways to pay for our education, rather than relying on the government to give us what we need. Cal Grant didn’t come through? Try Fastweb. Try Scholarship.com. Both Web sites provide more than $10 billion worth of scholarships every year to students of every walk of life. The government isn’t the end all, be all of financing your education. As students, that’s our responsibility, not Gov. Schwarzenegger’s.
I understand how difficult it is to get up in front of a lecture hall full of people and give your spiel on something that the audience may not understand your passion for. I understand the difficulty of trying to explain something to someone you’re pretty sure doesn’t share your view. And for the students who are brave enough to do that, kudos. But it’s time to stop beating our heads against the wall and start advocating something that actually has a chance of succeeding, and that’s seeking money for our school from places that actually have it. At this point, not taking personal responsibility for our education is something we can’t afford to do.
Dan • Mar 15, 2010 at 5:49 am
The NykelBam donation doesn't exist. Bigelow never delivered the second check, nor is there any indication he will ever deliver more money.
Roger • Mar 12, 2010 at 1:53 am
Maddie, I must tell you that you are terribly misinformed about the State's budget. Higher Education is currently less than 7% of the California Budget, it used to account for about 11% (20 years ago). Funding for other sectors, such as Prisons, have increased dramatically during the past two decades. Prisons used to be about 4% and are now about 9% of the State budget. My point is that there is plenty of money at the State level for Higher Education, it is just being misdirected.
Now, even if the CSU system gets more money to add to it's $6.7 billion budget for 2009/2010, it will NOT solve the deeper problems which are causing the current crisis. Let's say the CSU Board of Trustees give Welty an additional $50 million this semester. The problem is that he, and he alone, decides what to do with that money. He can throw it all into athletics, or business, or theater, or even into the deeply indebted Save Mart Center. All this money may NOT actually help the students who can't afford tuition or the faculty members losing their careers. It is completely up to him. The system makes it his decision.
The deeper problem is this Authoritarian power structure of the CSU system. The message you might have missed (pretty hard to do) on March 4th, is the call for a change of the CSU power structure into a Democratic system. A system in which YOU and everyone else connected to the University, have an EQUAL say in what happens to that additional $50 million. Wouldn't it be great if the money went to the places, where everyone decided, it could have the greatest benefit?
I agree that we all need to take more responsibility for our education. What better way than to put yourself in a position in which we all (students, faculty, staff, community members) are EQUALLY responsible for the operations of OUR University? Bring Democracy to the University!