By ERIC LEINS
&
amp; ZEB CARABELLO
Staff Writers
SACRAMENTO
– Three bus loads packed with Gavilan College students joined
the estimated 8,000 to 10,000 students from throughout the state
who flooded the lawn of the Capitol Monday to protest budget cuts
they say will cripple California’s community college system.
By ERIC LEINS & ZEB CARABELLO
Staff Writers
SACRAMENTO – Three bus loads packed with Gavilan College students joined the estimated 8,000 to 10,000 students from throughout the state who flooded the lawn of the Capitol Monday to protest budget cuts they say will cripple California’s community college system.
Speaking to state legislators and brain-storming with their peers, the 135 Gavilan College students in Sacramento Monday found plenty of sympathetic ears to express their concerns about looming cuts they say will destroy many students’ only chance at higher education.
“The day was phenomenal,” said student senator Laurie Head. “That kind of energy is very powerful and moving when you’re all there for the same cause.”
Head and other students hand-delivered to state representatives a survey they took of Gavilan students in recent weeks. The survey says that if fees are increased from $11 per unit to $24 as proposed by Gov. Gray Davis’ budget, 20 percent of Gavilan students would be forced to drop out and more than 50 percent would cutback on their course loads.
Several Gavilan programs would also face severe hardship if Davis’ budget passes, and Monday Gavilan students carried large cardboard cutouts of tombstones with the names Extended Opportunity Programs and Services and Disabled Student Services.
“All we’re asking for is parity,” said Gavilan College President Steve Kinsella, who did not attend the rally but said he supports the students who did. “The Governor doesn’t understand the role community colleges play in revitalizing California’s economy as well as the local economy.”
A record statewide budget deficit has forced cuts to all levels of public education, but California’s community colleges and its 2.9 million students will be hit the hardest.
Under a plan approved by lawmakers last week, the system of 108 community colleges would take a $141 million cut this year and could face a $530 million cut next year.
While Davis’ proposal calls for cuts of 6.2 percent across the board for California’s 108 community colleges, it plans for a 4.1 percent budget increase for the University of California system and a 1.2 percent funding boost for the California State University system, Kinsella said.
“The basic feeling is that we’re being treated as second-class citizens,” said Leslie Tenney, the faculty advisor of Gavilan’s Associated Student Body, which organized the local effort to attend Monday’s rally.
The Sacramento trip came on the heels of a face-to-face meeting last week between Kinsella, students and Assemblyman Simon Salinas (D-Salinas). The Gavilan contingent wanted to “put a face on” the budget cuts, Kinsella said last week.
“I think the meeting was important for all parties involved,” Kinsella said. “(Salinas) got to hear first-hand accounts of how these cuts will effect students’ lives.”
At Gavilan College, officials are cutting back expenses by $1.2 million for this school year and next. More than 100 course sections both this spring and next fall have been eliminated in order to save hundreds of thousands of dollars on part-time teacher salaries.
And although no full-time faculty members at Gavilan have been laid off, several of its outreach programs are facing major cutbacks.
Anne Ratto, the associate dean of Gavilan’s Extended Opportunity Programs and Services, said her program’s $400,000 annual budget will be cut by 43 percent next year.
EOPS provides services to low-income, disadvantaged and first-generation students through personal, career and academic counseling. The program also provides grants and books to its 500 active students – nearly 10 percent of the school’s enrollment.
“If the budget goes through like this it would basically cut the service we provide to current students in half,” Ratto said. “But I’m most concerned about closing the doors to our future students who wouldn’t be here without (EOPS).”
The combination of cuts and higher fees is expected to drop enrollment at all state community colleges next year by up to 200,000 students – or 7 percent, said community college Chancellor Tom Nussbaum.
If the cuts are approved, he said, California would have to back down from its historic 40-year promise to provide a higher education to anyone who wants it.
“If the budget as proposed by the administration were to be adopted, the promise of open access would be denied,” Nussbaum said. “And the quality of service to the remaining students would be of a lower quality. That’s another form of betrayal.”
