Students, professors to protest education cutbacks
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 6, 2024 14:05
VIEWED: 9750
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Berserkely is at it again, as usual. This has been an ongoing problem since the Govenator considered the education budget his own private playground:Quote:
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/92510/archives/2010/03/04/protest-underw
The media was out in full force in anticipation of today’s “Day of Action”: There were about as many news cameras as there were demonstrators at the intersection of Bancroft and Telegraph this morning as today’s protests against cuts to California public education got underway at UC Berkeley.
Crowds grew as the morning wore on, until Sather Gate was completely blocked by protesters chanting “No cuts! No fees! Education must be free!” and “Layoff Yudof,” referring to the deeply unpopular president of the UC system.
Picket lines were in effect at the Sather Gate, North Gate, and West Gate entrances to campus, and around California Hall, and are expected to remain until noon, when protesters plan to march from UC Berkeley to Oakland for a rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza, at 14th and Broadway.
ay-at-uc-berkeley 
At least they're not alone:Quote:
(more at http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/04/us.day.of.action/index.html?hpt=T2
A movement born of $1 billion in budget cuts to California's state university system has blossomed into a nationwide protest, as students and professors in 33 states will challenge administrators and state lawmakers to ante up.
Most of Thursday's demonstrations will focus on cuts to state-funded colleges and universities, which supporters say drive up tuition, limit classes and make higher education unobtainable to many.
A blog called Student Activism said in a Twitter update that 122 events are slated from coast to coast -- most on campuses, and some at state capitals.
Dissatisfaction, anger and an uncertain future have led professors and students to call for a day of action to defend education.
Interactive map of states participating in protests across the nation today at http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/04/us.day.of.action/index.html?hpt=T2
"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10
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my heart goes out to these kids. seriously.
but amidst all of the protests, and anger, i do not detect an alertnative to the cuts. the message seems to be: cutting education sucks and is evil. ok. but what can we cut instead, and what are other ways to make up the short fall?
absent some other solution, the financial reality is that educational funding is being cut to the bone. protests, while emotionally satisfying, do not "move the needle." might as well protest being broke.
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They are working on other stuff, this is just what gets media. OUR problem is the govenator--he's put us in such a position that education funding now has to be cut, but if he hadn't had his finger in the till on it all along, we wouldn't be as bad off.
Education has to be a priority, to me. How about cutting some salaries outside education, like bureaucrats? Unworkable I know, but I'm allowed to dream. There are I'm sure many programs that, if they went through the budget, could be cut to produce funds...anyone ever see "Dave"? Okay, so I like to imagine fantasies as possible, but don't lump me with the wind who thrives on TV and move heroes, please!
Arizona:Quote:
Ted Ferris said he'll be open to anything when he leads a panel to recommend alternatives to higher-education cuts as Arizona faces a $3 billion budget deficit for the coming fiscal year.
That's why the Arizona Board of Regents assembled the Fiscal Alternative Choices Team, said Ferris, former head of the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority - to offer ideas.
"The regents just want to make sure, for the sake of higher education and education generally in this state, to include as many creative ideas as possible," Ferris said in a telephone interview Monday.
Nationwide:Quote:
California:
Already, 27 states have announced education cuts. In California, a state that teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, Governor Schwarzenegger has slashed $2.5 billion for K-12 education. New York is gutting $2.5 billion from public universities and colleges.
State leaders warn they have no choice. But cuts are not the only option. Rather, cuts are the policy demanded by big business in this situation. Over the past period, big business has fought for tax breaks and bailouts, inevitably paid for with cuts elsewhere, like in educationQuote:
It's a start...
An economic recession, even a severe one, need not mean we are doomed to endure spending cuts in education and other services. It’s time to recall that it was in the middle of the worst of economic times—the Great Depression of the 1930s—that Americans were able to win the most expansive increase in social programs by going into the streets to demand a reordering of social priorities.
If social programs could be established and funded in the Great Depression, they certainly can be now. California, like the nation as a whole, has enormous wealth. Unfortunately over the course of the last 30 years much of that wealth has been flowing upwards from working and middle class families to the corporations and the wealthiest 10 percent of the population. Recent Congressional Budget Office reports indicate that in 2005 the income of the wealthiest 3 million Americans was approximately equal to that of the bottom 166 million.
"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10
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Unfortunately, their protests are not going to produce much. California has more problems than probably any other state......gigantic budget deficit, un-funded union pension deals for eternity, energy shortages, bankrupt health system, bankrupt cities, a declining tax base, and out of control illegal immigration. And now the Legislature, in its' infinite wisdom, has come up with a great new plan....Make cursing illegal, and issue fines to people for bad language! I'm not joking, there is a measure in the Captol now to do just that. In many ways it's a look into the possible future of America.
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i have friends, berzerklers, at the protests, and their suggestion is basically: RAISE TEH TAXES ON TEH CORPORATIONS! so, not really an alterantive, though i recognize they don't speak for the larger protests.
and granted, i generally think that protests are not necessarily the most persuasive tools.
the anti-cursing stuff is part of a large phenomenon of commemorative legislation. you know, the process that brought you national avocado day, and trans-gender-appreciation-awareness-and-guilt week. now we have talk like a school marm week! this stuff is popular, because it 1) involves glad handling 2) allows for pious bloviating and 3) costs no money. whats worse, is that the anti-cursing legislation is in part inspired by a high school student's crusade against colorful language. the little bitch.
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You owe Arnold $10!
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in other news, california's funding short fall was solved today by the state's new anti-cursing legislation.
"i can't fucking beleive that the goddamn state of California sent me a bill for 5 billion fucking dollars," said mincingbeast. "Might as well try to squeeze jizz from a stone, assholes. I would like to invite all Californians, collectively, to kiss my goddamn ass."
Mincingbeast later specified that he was reffering to "the bad part of his ass."
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California is largely a victim it's constitution - and a Ronald Reagan mindset.
By constitution, California isn't allowed to retain a meaningful surplus from the good years to tide it over in the bad ones. Bad move, there.
The constitution REQUIRES a supermajority to pass the yearly budget. Every single year. (California. A constitutional provision dating back to 1933 requires a two-thirds vote for general fund appropriations for purposes other than public schools)
The constitution allows for the proposition process. It was that process that gave it mind-numbingly bad Prop 13, benefiting large landholders (railways, utilities, refineries, commercial real-estate holders) who will NEVER see their property taxes go up - as property taxes are only revalued on sale.
That same proposition process created term limits for legislators - Prop 140 in 1990. That guarantees that only the best funded (read business-supported) newcomers will gain seats. Bad idea if you're looking for a legislature to represent the people.
It's that self-same constitution that allows bond measures to be put on the ballot. And they are ALWAYS pitched as 'something for nothing' b/c, as they ALWAYS proclaim - WITH NO NEW TAXES !
BTW - that Ronald Reagan mindset causes many problems. The idea that somehow taxes are the big evil, instead of a necessary function to pay for common infrastructure.
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Silence is consent.
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fair points rue. taxes are the price we pay for civilization: this is not a new idea. in california, we seem to believe that civilization is something that we need not pay, nor work for, so long as we are californian enough.
californians generally evidence an absolute sense of entitlement, complete naivety, and stubborn belief that we can have all of the warm-and-fuzzy services that we desire, without paying for them. sort of the worst impulses of conservatives and liberals conspiring to produce a failed state.
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Perhaps the school needs to spend its money more wisely...
Maybe eliminate some programs that may not lead to employment opportunitys for the graduates, perhaps other programs with similar themes should be merged together...
http://grad.berkeley.edu/programs/list.shtml
African American Studies
Asian Studies¹
Buddhist Studies¹
Ethnic Studies¹
Folklore¹
Jewish Studies¹
Near Eastern Religions
Rhetoric
If someone want to have a degree in basket weaving that is well and good... but public money needs to go to programs that have some public benefit...
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