CSU, students not a special interest

By LIZA BOLANOS / Special to The Collegian

The loss of more than half a billion dollars in the CSU system has resulted in elimination of programs and underfunding of education.

Last year the coalition to rebuild the CSU restored $37.7 million. Now $7 million are in question, which will put outreach programs and enrollment in jeopardy. The governor restored $211.7 million in the CSU this year; $101.2 million came from working families and students in the form of student fee increases. Student fees have increased by a cumulative 63 percent since 2003 and face a proposed 16 percent increase.

Gov. Schwarzenegger has referred to students and faculties as special interests. According to Schwarzenegger, California does not have a revenue problem but a spending problem, and in order to fix it we need to starve the public sector, which includes students, professors, nurses, police officers and firefighters, and instead feed the private sector.

He recently decided to pull the plug on the initiative on CalPERS, a temporary relief, but he plans to pursue it in 2006. The private sector includes corporate special interests who stand to make millions off of privatizing the CalPERS state pension plan and financial institutions who are profiting on student loans, which in recent years have expanded due to fee increases.

Despite asking students to tighten their belts, Schwarzenegger is proposing a special election that will cost taxpayers $70 million. The education system is not a business and should not be run as one. The master plan of the 1960s assured that the top 33 percent of eligible students would have a place for them.

The state of the CSUs can only be changed if students take action. On April 27, students will have a rally in front of the governor’s Fresno office asking the governor to restore adequate funding to the CSU system. Transportation will be provided. There is no excuse not to go and look out for your own future.

—Liza Bolaños is a California Faculty Association student intern and vice president of the Sociology Club.