City College walks out

By Fleur Bailey
News Editor

Around 200 students, faculty and staff walked out of their classes and gathered outside the chancellors office at Conlan Hall Nov. 18 to protest tuition fee raises and class cuts.

In a recent decision from the Board of Trustees, all regular core classes will be cut from summer school 2010 in an effort to save approximately $4 million for future semesters.

"I can't graduate because of the cuts," Xochitl Bernadette Moreno said. "This unfair policy is only for people who have money. We, the people who make the majority, are not able to advance. Our basic human services are in a dire position. It is another attack on poor and working class people."

After listening to speakers from the City College Socialist Club, students held up their picket signs, many reading "Education is a right, not a privilege," and began to march through Ocean campus chanting, "Education under attack! What do we do? Stand up, fight back."

Luis Escobar, a counselor for new students at City College, advises a student-run club called ¡Ya Basta! (enough is enough) for social justice and educational equality. Escobar attended the walkout in the hope of creating awareness about the club. He said he wants to see what makes up the current statistics of transfer rates for Latino students and hopes these numbers will increase.

“The big picture is money,” said ¡Ya Basta! member Lorena Ontiveros. “They’re spending it in all the wrong places, like prisons. They would rather put people in prison than give me an education, but if they had more people in education there would be less in prison.”

Frustrated faculty members also attended the walkout, holding signs which read “We demand funding for education, health care and other human services. No increases in fees and tuition.”
“I think it’s a travesty,” ESL teacher Jim McKinney said. “Most of us went to school for free, but these students have to pay. The government needs to re-order its priorities.”

Rodger Scott, a teacher in the African-American scholastic program, serves on the executive board of the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121, and said he has been an activist for many years. He said he hopes to build public revenue for a massive active movement against the cuts on March 4.

“They are spending obscene amounts of money on war and military technology for no purpose, when we’re not threatened,” he said. “California is a rich state. They are spending money on all the wrong things. Obama needs to be pushed to end the war and use the money for education, health care and other services.”

The rally concluded with a march to the chancellors office at Conlan Hall, where Chancellor Dr. Don Q. Griffin was not available to speak to the crowd.

Dr. Mark Robinson, vice chancellor of student development, went to address the protesters in the hallway, telling them they are not the only ones who are feeling the effects of the cuts.
“It’s not like we want this, it is not our decision, it just happens to be on our watch,” he said. “It is not just the students who feel the pain, it is affecting the administration, faculty and staff as well. It is based on a lack of funding from Sacramento.”

Robinson said that cutting summer school will create a domino effect that students don’t realize. He said it would affect the bookstore, the library, Muni, BART and even the businesses on Ocean Avenue.

“The state of California is in bad shape, it is a difficult time, not just for education,” he said.