Alliance protests governor's proposed budget cuts
CSU system to work with $386-million cut
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers FULL HOUSE- It was standing-room only at a budget summit on the campus of CSUCI last Thursday. The forum was part of an effort to detail the impact of proposed budget cuts and to encourage students, faculty and administrators to take action to oppose the cuts.

Chanelle Timmons may have to get a second job . . . again.

Timmons, 19, worked two jobs while taking a full load of classes at California State University Channel Islands last year. This year the sophomore cut back on work to take 18 units and depends on grants, one part-time job and the loan her parents took out on their Northern California home to pay the bills.

Some months some bills don't get paid, however, and the governor's proposal to raise tuition 10 percent threatens to further upset Timmons' economic situation.

"We struggle from month to month," said Timmons, a Modesto native who is the first in her family to attend college. She plans to go to medical school after graduating from CSUCI.

"I just have to be in school; that's where your future is," she said.

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers GETTING THE FACTS- Camarillo resident and CSUCI student Corie Hill listens to speakers at a budget summit on the campus of CSUCI last Thursday. The forum gave many an opportunity to express their frustrations concerning possible budget cuts that may affect the quality of education within the entire CSU system.

Timmons joined more than 400 other CSUCI students, faculty and administrators at a rally last week on the Camarillo campus to protest the governor's proposed cut of nearly $400 million to the CSU system.

The Alliance for the CSU- a coalition of faculty, administrator, employee and student groups- sponsored the March 27 event and has staged or plans to stage rallies at all 23 CSU campuses by April 8.

Earlier this year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a 10 percent cut in state programs and services to close a $14-billion deficit the state faces next year. For CSU to absorb what amounts to a $386million cut, school officials would have to close three campuses the size of the Camarillo university, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and California State University Monterey Bay, or eliminate some courses and increase class sizes at all 23 campuses, which means students will take a longer time and pay more to graduate, the alliance said.

"It's not about numbers," said CSUCI President Richard Rush to a standingroomonly crowd assembled in Malibu Hall on the school's campus. "It's not about money; it's about the future of California."

CSU is still reeling from more than $500 million the state cut from its budget in 2002 and 2003, and if the Legislature approves the current proposal the state school system will have endured close to a $1billion loss, Rush said.

"The budget denies access; it denies opportunity and, what we at Channel Islands focus on, student success," Rush said. "It's denying the future."

Alliance officials said CSU schools will probably have to turn away 10,000 qualified students next year if the governor's proposal is approved.

"It's the students, especially students we will have to turn away, that will suffer," said Terry Ballman, Spanish professor and chair of the Academic Senate at the Camarillo campus.

David Bradfield, a vice president of the California Faculty Association, an alliance member, said in an interview that the financial loss would exacerbate the state's economic situation.

"We're the economic engine that can drive us out of this situation," Bradfield said. "We provide the human infrastructure."

Every $1 invested in the state school system returns $4 to the economy, he said. College graduates earning a higher salary contribute more in taxes; others open up businesses and employ workers.

What's more, CSU schools provide jobs. Three campuses about the size of the Camarillo university employ around 18,000 people and generate more than $59 million in tax revenue, the alliance said.

And Bradfield said the universities' students tend to come from working-class families who can least afford a heavier financial burden.

A professor of music at CSU Dominguez Hills, Bradfield said he knows students who dropped out of college because the financial burden was too great and others who are working two jobs and carrying loan debt now.

"This is going to make it that much more difficult for workingclass families to go to college," Bradfield said. "This is just a devastating suggestion."

But at least one CSU administrator seems to be taking the proposed cut in stride. "We'll make the adjustment to provide the same kind of quality service we've been providing all along," said George Morten, CSUCI's assistant vice president of student affairs. "In general I think it's one of the difficulties that we're confronted with."

Timmons, on the other hand, is concerned about the toll the additional financial load could take on her and her family. Her mother offered to get a second job, but Timmons turned her down.

"My parents work way too hard to have to work extra on top of that," Timmons said "It's a lot of stress."