Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) is sponsoring a bus to take student activists Monday to a march to the state capitol.

To the editor: One of the great things about our university is its openness to new ideas and free speech. However, accuracy is also important, especially if we are to have a fair discussion of serious issues.

A group of 13 students and faculty held a demonstration Monday to declare displeasure with the university administration. The Free Speech Area was the site of the demonstration as the students and faculty read from a prepared document that they called “a declaration of academic independence.”

Last month, the California State University Board of Trustees voted 17 to 1 to increase state university fees for the 2009-2010 academic school year. The vote slashed state funding for higher education by 20 percent. Full-time students will now be asked to pay nearly $5,000 to make up for the CSU̢۪s $584 million shortage.

After a stint as Associate Students Inc. (ASI) vice president of finance at Fresno State, Russel Statham is continuing his administrative career as a student trustee of the California State University (CSU) system.