Illustration by Christine Hipp.

Roughly 40 UC Santa Cruz students lobbied in Sacramento March 3 as part of the March for Higher Education, an annual protest for higher education reform. While turnout was smaller than last year’s action, over 1,000 UC, CSU and community college students came to show their investment in the issues at hand.

The UC Student Association (UCSA) organizes travel and accommodations for UC students annually, with Banana Slugs joining the tide of other UC students through Student Union Assembly (SUA). Organizing director of SUA and representative of UCSA Kevin Huang spoke of the experience in Sacramento.

“We try to make sure that … the conference isn’t just for the delegates, [but also for] people who go who are able to come back and bring the information and knowledge back onto our campus,” Huang said.

Approximately 2,000 students marched almost one mile from Raley Field to the Capitol Mall on the morning of March 3. As per a pre-planned lobby schedule negotiated by UCSC third-year and UCSA legislative liaison Maria Jennings, groups of UCSC students met up with multiple local representatives afterward and lobbied for a broad spectrum of issues. In an effort to maximize influence, students mostly met with legislators local to Santa Cruz.

Students discussed the budget for UC, online education, caps on class credits, campus diversity, Proposition 13 and Cal Grant reform. They also lobbied legislators to address the high school-to-prison pipeline, citing an increasing amount of California high school students being sent to prison before any form of higher education.

Having arrived in Sacramento late Friday evening, the UCSC students attended a series of worshops on effective lobbying on the weekend.

“Our students were really engaged throughout the entire conference,” Huang said.

His last year attending as a student, Huang said he was encouraged to see younger participants.

“Most of the people who came were first- and second-years who never experience things like this,” Huang said. “It was a great growing environment for these students.”

Illustration by Christine Hipp.

Funding for insurance fraud investigation may soon double in Santa Cruz County, as employers who fail to maintain worker’s compensation insurance are subjected to stricter regulation of state law. District Attorney (DA) Bob Lee is petitioning for the maximum state-allocated amount of $248,665.

If the funds are granted, a projected eight new prosecutions and five new convictions will arise in Santa Cruz next year.

“We need to convince business owners the risk of getting caught is not worth the potential saving,” DA Lee said.

In 1991, the California State Senate declared insurance fraud a felony and established a fund, the California Worker’s Compensation Insurance Fraud Program, for enforcement.

Since its implementation, the program has spared an estimated $1,150,136,727 of potential state costs. This number represents a small fraction of the actual fraud taking place, according to the California Department of Insurance’s (CDI) website, as few cases are actually reported or investigated.

In California, injured workers can receive monetary benefits — including medical cost compensation and lost wage entitlement — without proving their injury to be somebody else’s fault.

According to the CDI website, “these benefits make fraudulent workers’ compensation claims an enticing target for criminals.”

While insurance fraud cases can run from relatively simple to extremely complex, in Santa Cruz, fraud occurs most frequently in a specific sector: employers who fail to provide and maintain worker’s compensation (WC) insurance, which covers an employee’s injury treatment costs.

“Each of our sweep/sting operations over the past four years have netted employers who know they need WC insurance,” DA Lee said in his report to the state, “but have chosen to take the chance and go without.”

Without WC insurance, employers may manipulate their employees to not pursue compensation and misrepresent them on insurance claims.

Santa Cruz is a “bedroom community, where the cost of living is high and few large-scale, high-wage employers exist. This adds incentive for lax employer adherence to WC insurance,” according to the DA’s report.

In March, the owner of Brookdale Inn & Spa appeared before a jury trial for prosecution of multiple charges. Sanjiv Kakkar was accused of failing to maintain worker’s compensation insurance. Kakkar was accused of two accounts of insurance fraud, issuing bad checks and dissuading an injured employee from pursuing compensation.

Historically, Santa Cruz County has contracted one part-time prosecutor. Should CDI approve the funding, a full-time investigator will augment the prosecutor’s periodic sting sweeps with more targeted investigations, according to the DA’s report.

Andrea Paradise, manager of Petroglyph Ceramic Lounge on Pacific Avenue, said providing WC insurance is easier for some businesses than others.

“We [at Petroglyph] provide it … but we [only] pay a higher amount for insurance when our workers are near the [ceramic] kilns,” Paradise said. “For other businesses like construction, where the conditions are extremely dangerous, paying for insurance is a lot more expensive.”

The state has classified construction worker’s compensation a sector of highest priority, as the inherently hazardous working environment puts the business at a high-risk for employee/employer insurance fraud. In Santa Cruz, most construction firms are small, non-union independents, adding incentive for fraud.

The county is “targeting the construction industry for possible premium fraud cases,” Lee said in the report.

Manthri Srinath, owner of local coffee shop Lulu Carpenter’s, said the idea of not maintaining WC insurance is “crazy.”

“Without WC insurance, one [employee injury] claim could put you out of business,” Srinath said. “I wish the cost wasn’t so high … but to be honest, I think the reason it costs so much is insurance companies have to cover the costs of fraud.”

The DA’s office could not be reached for comment.

On March 1, students and supporters of the Occupy Education movement gathered at universities across the nation to protest tuition hikes and call for state reform. On March 5, thousands of student protestors from higher education institutions in California gathered in Sacramento with a similar message.

Jeb Purucker, a UC Santa Cruz literature graduate student, emphasized the global nature of the movement.

“Protesters were gathering in London and people were getting tear-gassed in Quebec while we were out in the rain on Thursday,” Purucker said.

On March 1, the UCSC campus was shut down at 4:00 a.m. as close to 250 students gathered to listen to speakers and take part in a “Tent University” staffed by activists and faculty. A wide variety of issues were discussed and opinions expressed, but most protesters agreed on the basics.

“I’m here because the state of our education is currently in a crisis and I believe the people in power are not fit to address it,” said Chris Cuadrado, a fourth year Latin American and Latino studies major and emcee of the tarp-covered truck that served as a stage for student and faculty speakers. “I believe it is essential for us to come together and decide what our response is to that crisis.”

Protesters gathered peacefully for the majority of the day. At 8:30 a.m. a Ford Mustang attempted to breach the blockade at the base of campus, knocking over students. No one was seriously injured.

A larger protest occured in Sacramento on March 5. Four busloads of UCSC students took part. Activists, union representatives and students marched to the State Capitol, carrying signs and banners bearing slogans condemning recent budget cuts and actions of the UC regents.

Thousands of people gathered on the steps of the Capitol to listen to speakers including Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and civil rights activist Van Jones, as well as several student representatives. The speakers advocated new taxes and in favor of further budget cuts.

“We’re here today because the California dream is in danger. We’re here today because we have more than tripled the cost of higher education in this state in the last decade and more than doubled it in the last five years. We’re here today to say enough is enough,” said Newsom. “We built the envy of higher education for the world 50-plus years ago … It’s time to reconcile our proud past.”

After speakers left protesters entered the Capitol. Around 2 p.m., a general assembly was organized by several hundred protesters, as they discussed the changes they’d like to see. These were later formalized in a list of demands.

Most filtered slowly out of the building as the night went on, but 68 were arrested for refusing to leave after a dispersal order was issued. They were released later that night and slept in a Sacramento Church until morning, when buses from their respective cities and universities took them home.

John Kenny, a UC Berkeley environmental engineering grad student, was impressed with the turnout.

“I came to this General Assembly because I like how this is some kind of democratic process where we can come up with what we want to do,” said Kenny. “I was impressed by the number of people [who] were here earlier.”

Others like Mike Rotkin, UCSC Community Studies field study coordinator, said celebration was premature.

“All of your lives for the next few decades are going to be determined by a raging crisis at the world level in the economy,” said Rotkin as he stood in the rain and addressed the crowd from the truck on March 1. “There aren’t gonna be any rising wages and rising benefits for you. Your lives are gonna be about fighting for the scraps you have and trying to figure out a way to build some power in this country, so your children have a future.”

“Tax, tax, tax the rich — we can stop the deficit!”

Around 300 students, teachers and community activists encircled a statue of Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella in the state Capitol’s rotunda as they chanted for a change in state budgetary priorities.

Roughly 60 UC Santa Cruz students joined teachers from the California Teachers Association union (CTA), community activists and other college students in Sacramento on Monday. Students from CSU Sacramento were expected to have a larger presence, but some UCSC students said they may not have been informed.

Photo by Sal Ingram.

The rally over budget cuts and just taxation of corporations and the rich ended with 68 total arrests, including 23 UCSC students. Despite the expectation of a larger turnout, fifth-year Melissa Cornelius said the mass arrest was effective in terms of publicity.

“They’re putting so many cuts on vulnerable people in the state, so I think the [mass arrest] was a beginning response to that,” Cornelius said. “It plays a role in bringing attention to the issue … People don’t have to take state legislation if they don’t want to.”

Numerous CTA members from across the state did not teach on Monday in order to travel to Sacramento to participate in the rally and voice their opinions.

“If we don’t have [tax] extensions, there will be 35–40 kindergarten through third grade students per teacher in our district,” said second grade teacher Greta Benavides from South Whittier.

Kindergarten teacher Jessica Hobbs from San Francisco had a different reason to be there, as she marched in the sea of matching CTA light blue shirts reading “We Are One.”

“We need to change our tax structure where corporations and the rich are justly taxed,” Hobbs said. “That’d save our budget deficit situation.”

Around 200 CTA members were present, and six stayed and were arrested, second-year Noah Miska said. UCSC students said it was hard to occupy the Capitol, as the CTA members had multiple priorities and many were on the fence about staying.

“It was difficult to get a clear message from everyone on what they’d do,” Miska, who was arrested, said. “If everyone at the rally would’ve stayed we wouldn’t have been arrested.”

The majority of CTA members left after the hour-long rally when their permit to be in the rotunda expired at 6 p.m.

“They were using the imagery of what happened in Wisconsin, but were lobbying,” Cornelius said. “That’s not what happened in Wisconsin.”

Photo by Sal Ingram.

The rally caught the eye of San Rafael City Council member Marc Levine. While most passersby clad in business attire walked through the crowd of activists without paying attention, Levine clapped with the beat of the chants and reminisced about his experiences protesting 16 years ago as a CSU Northridge student.

“I have awe and respect for them,” Levine said. “I’m here to support them.”

Neha Sobti, a community activist, came by bus from San Francisco. Sobit said she found activism of this nature important in general, as she’s pursuing a career in education, and on this day particularly, because she could afford to be there when others could not.

“I can use my body in place of teachers who can’t,” Sobti said, about rallying on a school day.

The activists who stayed past 6 p.m. continued chanting, “We’re doing this for your children.”

Miska said it had an impact on the California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers, who were more courteous than the police officers.

“[CHP officers] didn’t want to make eye contact,” Miska said. “They were just following orders.”

After the arrests, the activists were eventually taken to the county jail, where they were kept in holding cells.

“They were disgusting, like being in a public bathroom for seven hours,” he said.

The students were released the next morning starting at 3 a.m., and Miska and Cornelius said they were thankful supportive students waited around for them.

Though first-year Adam Odsess-Rubin did not stay for the full occupation, he said everyone’s presence was essential.

“Unless students stand up, the government will keep cutting,” Odsess-Rubin said. “That’s why I’m here. My education is important and I value it.”

Rallies and sit-ins in five cities across California are to begin today, May 9. Demonstrators from all over California are mobilizing to the state capitol to kick off the week of action with a sit-in. The CTA is demanding that lawmakers pass tax extensions to stave off deeper cuts to public education.

Buses carrying students from UCSC are leaving for Sacramento at 7am this morning. City on a Hill Press is on board and will be providing updates from the state capitol throughout the day.

~~~~~~

Photo by Sal Ingram

7:52 p.m. 5/9/2011

Police are arresting the remaining protestors. Around 20 including UCSC students have already been taken into custody and handcuffed with zip ties. The other 40 have created a circle and are singing the national anthem. Police continue to arrest protestors one by one.

6:54 p.m. 5/9/2011

At 5 P.M. around 200 activists came together and chanted around the lower rotunda of the capitol building. Their messages included the chants “Tax tax tax the rich we can stop the deficit,” and “bail out the schools not the banks.”

Most of the activists left the building at 6 P.M. when the CTA’s permit for the rotunda expired, but around 60 remained and took seats on the floor as cops armed with pepper spray looked on.

City on a Hill Press will be publishing a recap of the day’s events later this evening. -Laurel Fujii

3:41 p.m. 5/9/2011

Photo by Sal Ingram.

Approximately 70 California Teachers Association members and students from across California are currently occupying the capitol building. Some told City on a Hill they believe a tax re-format would help balance the budget.

“We need to change our tax structure where corporations and the rich are justly taxed,” said kindergarten teacher Jessica Hobbs from San Francisco.

While students and teachers gathered in the rotunda inside the capitol building, police blocked off access to prevent more activists from entering. A few hundred more demonstrators remain outside.

Students also skipped class for this opportunity. “My teacher told me if I skipped class today I’d get a C in the class,” UCSC first year Adam Odsess-Rubin said.

Odsess-Rubin said he doesn’t believe this was the appropriate response.

“Students shouldn’t be punished for being politically active and fighting for their education,” Odess-Rubin said. -Laurel Fujii

UCSC students gather in front of the capital building to fight for tax increases for corporations and the wealthy. These tax increases would provide a larger budget for education. Photo by Sal Ingram

2:15 p.m. 5/9/2011

UCSC students who showed up for the day of action were told to vacate the grass in front of the capitol building by California Highway Patrol, because another group had a permit for the lawn and steps. Student activist Leo Rtiz-Barr was upset that the foster care program did not act in solidarity with the protestors.

“It’s a little disheartening to see the foster kids organizer…not stand up for college students.” Ritz-Barr said.

UCSC students are now waiting on the sidewalk for more CTA members and demonstrators to arrive. Three buses from the bay area are expected.

As of this post, demonstrators had just entered the capitol building. CHP reporters will provide updates on the situation inside. -Laurel Fujii

Photo by Sal Ingram.

12:08 p.m. 5/9/2011

Protesters dressed in the all pink uniforms of the anti-war group code pink line the street in front of the capitol building holding signs with messages like “tax the rich.” Activists hand out flyers promoting the occupation of the capitol as school children roam the steps. More groups are expected to arrive within the hour. -Laurel Fujii

Photo by Julie Eng.

Photo by Julie Eng.

Photo by Julie Eng.

A diverse coalition of people walked the final mile of a 365-mile march in protest of state budget cuts to education on Wednesday, April 21.

Protesters filled three city blocks on their way to the Capitol.

Rain beat down on the group as they gathered in a Sacramento park before it became a drizzle.

The 48-day march, dubbed The March for California’s Future, began with five “core” walkers. A San Diego community college professor, a Los Angeles probation officer, a Watsonville teacher, a Marina del Ray substitute teacher, and a retired Los Angeles teacher began to walk in Bakersfield, with the ultimate goal of rallying on the steps of the Capitol.

“I am marching because I believe the only hope for education is for us to get out in the streets and educate people about how we fund public education in California,” said Jenn Laskin. She has taught for 11 years at Renaissance Continuation High School in Watsonville, and was among the group of core walkers.

The group was joined along the way by teachers, students, union members, public service employees, and parents and grandparents of students, among many others. They came out, most for hours and some for days, to show support for the walkers and solidarity with the movement.

The crowd held almost as many umbrellas as picket signs in the air, relics of their willingness to face the weather.

Felix Cabrera, a second-year at the City College of San Francisco, joined the march to express his own frustration over his inability to take the classes he needs to graduate.

“The current budget crisis and the cuts to education are forcing me to take more courses per semester, but take longer to graduate,” Cabrera said. “Not only that, but because of the cuts to the UC system I might not get into the schools I want. They’re just preventing my future from really happening.”

More than a thousand protestors filled the Capitol lawn as students from San Francisco State University opened the rally with a skit starring “The Draculator,” a vampiric satire of the governor who “also represents the generous bankers and the brave generals … who want to suck the blood from each and every one of you.” An 8-foot tall paper maché puppet played the role of The Draculator’s victim, a student still paying back loans from beyond the grave.

This was followed by several speeches from representatives of the numerous sponsoring organizations and unions, including the United Farm Workers, the California Teacher’s Association, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The speakers focused on rallying the crowd around the state budget’s need to better fund social services.

Doug Moore, international vice president of AFSCME, called for continued activism to affect this change.

“We will not restore the California dream by the end of this march, or by the end of this legislative period,” he said. “But I promise, if we band together we can restore the American dream for all Californians.”

Cheers and shouts of encouragement from the crowd indicated support of Moore’s views.

Among the crowd was Janice Carol, a member of Service Employees International Union Local 721, who joined the march on behalf of her granddaughter and the students of California.

“Everyone has the right to work. Everyone has the right to raise their children, send them to college, and we the taxpayers have to let the legislators know that,” she said.

“Young people need to start a movement now, to make sure your future is what you want it to be, and don’t let those old guys, so-called lawmakers, plan anything for you that’s not appropriate,” Carol continued. “Take over!”

Photo by Kathryn Power.

Photo by Kathryn Power.

Photo by Kathryn Power.

Thousands gathered at the Capitol, on campuses and in the streets — more specifically the freeways — across the state last Thursday. Students, parents, educators and administrators from K-12 public schools, California community colleges, California State University (CSU) campuses and the University of California united to protest cuts to California public education.

UC Berkeley students Meegan Brooks, a fourth-year political science major and Eden Amans, a first-year English major, said they made the trip from their campus to the Capitol to join the group of 2,000 advocating for public education alongside the California Faculty Association.

“We’re really just showing support,” Amans said. “That’s what’s really going to get the most attention — the fact that all of us are here from all over and we’re all united in this one cause.”

The actions at the Capitol and on individual campuses garnered the attention of national media like “Saturday Night Live,” the San Francisco Chronicle, and CNN.

UC Davis specifically was criticized for extreme actions taken by protesters on campus. An estimated 300 protesters attempted to march onto Interstate 80 after gathering on the UC Davis campus. More than 120 campus, city, county and highway patrol law enforcement officers resorted to the use of force in an attempt to halt the crowd’s progress onto the highway. Officers wielded batons and fired pepper balls at the advancing crowd. They arrested one student.

On campus, protesters pulled fire alarms, disrupting classes and library patrons.

Julia Ann Easley, senior public information representative for the UCD News Service, said March 4’s events were extraordinary for the Davis campus.

“For the most part, our campus protesters are peaceful and law-abiding,” she said.

Easley, who has served on the UCD campus for more than 12 years, said the administration’s primary concern on March 4 was student and community safety.

“It’s the first time I’ve known students to try to lock up the interstate,” she said. “It made my heart sink out of the danger.”

Although rumors of violence and disruptive behavior at UC Santa Cruz circulated on Thursday, it has been determined that the protest was nonviolent, and reports by the administration of destructive behavior were misinformed. The rear windshield of a single car was broken when the vehicle attempted to forcibly cross the picket line, and, contrary to initial reports from the UCSC administration, thus far no police reports have been filed indicating the use or presence of weapons at the demonstration.

In Sacramento, representatives from the California Faculty Association and members of the legislature and state Senate addressed the crowd on the north steps of the Capitol building. Assemblyman Alberto Torrico was one of several politicians to speak at the podium, but he was the only one scheduled to do so.

Torrico focused on promoting Assembly Bill 656, an oil severance tax that would fund public education. Torrico, who authored this bill, is an advocate for higher education.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg also spoke, and applauded the protesters’ actions as a means of protecting California’s economic future.

“If we are going to create jobs, if we’re going to improve our economy, if we’re going to have a better budget, the last thing in the world to do is to cut public education,” he said.

Reid Milburn, president and regional senator representing Sacramento for the Student Senate of California Community Colleges (SSCCC), also addressed the crowd at the Capitol. Reid and members of the SSCCC are organizing a second march on the Capitol for March 22, and expect around 8,000 participants from across the state.

“I highly encourage any and all UC students — and any students or educational supporters from across the state — to join us,” she said in an e-mail to City on a Hill Press. “It is about time students stood up and helped California understand that the first priority in a fiscal crisis such as the recession should be to educate its people.”

Steinberg encouraged students on March 4 to continue their involvement in actions like the March 22 rally.

“You have already made a huge difference,” he said. “You have already changed the debate, but there is a long way to go. Let this be the beginning, and let this — once again, because of your activism, your advocacy, your stubborn unwillingness to take no for an answer — let this be the year that we begin restoring the California dream of public education.”

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

“I have class.” “It won’t make a difference.” “I’m not an anarchist.” “I don’t even know what’s happening.”

These are just some of the excuses UC Santa Cruz students can use to justify not going to Sacramento on March 1 and 4 to speak up for higher education. As UC students, we are excellent at complaining. And for good reason — dissent is a vital part of democracy, and Lord knows we have plenty to bemoan. But grumbling alone will never change anything.

When Student Regent designate Jesse Cheng came to speak at UCSC several weeks ago, he echoed a scary truth. “The public seems to think that we are the entitlement generation,” he said.

We deserve quality educational institutions that are affordable and accessible, but we can’t sit back and wait for someone else to defend our opportunities. We need to show California voters and decision-makers that we back up our demands with action by marching on the Capitol on March 1 and 4. They won’t listen unless we make them, and words are not enough.

For many of us at UCSC, it’s not that we don’t care. We constantly see protests and demonstrations that go disregarded and seem to have no effect. But it’s important to remember the power that we as a student body have always had. In 1985, UC student protests helped convince the regents to divest $1.7 billion from companies operating in apartheid South Africa. This was a key part of a global movement that eventually forced the end of the racist apartheid system.

This year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed to restore $370 million to the UC budget. This isn’t the full amount that has been cut from the UC, but higher education is one of the only areas of the budget where there is any increase at all. Social programs, prisons and public transportation, among other things, are all facing cuts even larger than last year’s.

A Schwarzenegger staff member said that the widespread demonstrations around the state in support of higher education this year contributed to the governor’s decision to restore funding, even though the state’s fiscal situation is in an ever-deepening downward spiral. Now is our chance to demand even more support.

Any type of action that you can participate in on March 1 and 4 is positive. Demonstrating on campuses is better than doing nothing, but showing our presence on the steps of the Capitol is really key. It’s important that we keep our local administrators alert, but there will be no money for them to be accountable for if it does not come from Sacramento. The legislature holds our fate in its hands much more than our chancellors do.

March 1 is Lobby Day, when members of the UC Student Association and other students will speak directly with legislative leaders. March 4 is a march on the Capitol made up of a coalition of educational supporters, from K-12 to higher education. Both have different event plans, but both are opportunities for students to show up and voice their opinions.

Some of the excuses you come up with to stay at home might be legitimate. But think about what your sacrifice of one day could mean for the future of the state.

The legislature is currently in the process of passing the 2010 budget. Even the small increases to higher education that the governor has proposed could easily be chopped. Our presence can make or break higher education’s budget for next year, and the coming years after that. The budget isn’t just a number — it’s one more student who is accepted to school, one more who gets a scholarship, and one more student who will be the first in his or her family to attend college.

Think about everything you hate seeing at UCSC now: packed classes, students going back to community college or their home states, piles and piles of loan debt accruing in young people’s names. History has shown that together, we can stop injustices in our state and even the world. California is a democracy, but it might as well not be if none of us claim our democratic rights and duties. No one else is going to do it for us. We can’t afford to be lazy.

Congressman Kevin Deleon and Victor Sanchez (left), the external vice chair for UCSC’s Student Union Assembly, discussed the drastic cuts at last week’s state budget hearing. Photo by Arianna Puopolo.

Twelve hours after leaving UC Santa Cruz, the caravan of student government officers and interns prepared to leave Sacramento behind. Hundreds of UC, CSU, and California Community College system (CCC) students filed out of the Capitol Building, clinging to the hope that legislators might heed their testimonies. 

“What is at stake here,” UCSC Student Union Assembly (SUA) external vice chair Victor Sanchez said to the budget committee, “is more than the future of our system of higher education, but that of the state of California.”

This public hearing, during which the public was allotted time to address a special budget committee, was scheduled in response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent budget proposal.

The proposed statewide cuts would cut academic preparation programs; slash UC, CSU and CCC budgets; eliminate the Cal Grant; cut subsidized child care programs; release nonviolent prisoners one year early; eliminate the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Program; shut down 80 percent of California’s state parks and beaches; and reduce or eliminate various public healthcare programs.

Originally scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. with comments from advocates of public healthcare for children, the hearing ran several hours late. Students and employees of California higher education systems formed a line obstructing any walking room in the halls outside the hearing facility. 

Of 11 UCSC SUA members present at the Sacramento hearing, only two had the chance to deliver their personal stories and pleas to the committee.  

UCLA student government representatives drove to Sacramento the night before the hearing to have their chance at the podium. Only one of the four who made it was able to address the budget committee.

UC San Diego students who flew up for the hearing chose to reschedule their flight home to accommodate the scheduling delays, only to ultimately miss the hearing when student testimonies were delayed until late into the 4 p.m. hour.

The chancellors of the CSU and CCC systems and UC President Mark Yudof addressed the committee before students entered the chamber.  

Yudof attempted to convince Chairwoman Noreen Evans, of the 7th Assembly District located near Napa, of the importance of protecting Cal Grants and warned against the overarching implications of such a budget cut. 

“This will be, in many ways, an unraveling of a master plan in terms of access research and all the rest of what went into that great master plan that California adopted about 50 years ago,” he said, referring to the establishment of the California Master Plan for Higher Education (CMPHE).

The CMPHE was developed in 1960 by a survey team organized by the UC regents and the California Board of Education. Its goal was to define the objectives of the UC, CSU and CCC and establish the admissions standards to be used throughout the UC system. Additionally, the CMPHE established that every Californian is entitled to higher education regardless of economic standing. 

This focus on accessibility to higher education for all Californians was central in Yudof’s argument against the cuts.

“The hardest hit is on the low-income families, with [annual earnings] under $60,000,” he said. “That’s just the reality of it.”

UCSC SUA treasurer Eric Piccolotti is a second-year feminist studies major affiliated with College Ten. He was one of several students denied the opportunity to speak at the budget hearing due to time restrictions.  

Piccolotti said he trekked to Sacramento because Cal Grants and curricular diversity are important to him, and he fears the implications of the proposed budget cuts to these areas.

“Education is a right for all Californians,” Piccolotti said. “These budget cuts are infringing upon that right.”

Olgalilia Ramirez is the director of the Office of Governmental Relations for the California State Student Association (CSSA) and an alumna of CSU Sacramento. She attended the budget hearing as a liaison for CSU students.  

“It’s important that students give their story, because they’re the only ones that can give that story and that is very valuable for the community to hear,” she said. “[It is also important] to get across the message that investing in students is an investment in California’s future economy and also our present economy.” 

Ramirez and Clais Daniels-Edwards, the legislative director of UC Students Association (UCSA), collaborated to organize students present at the hearing.  

As an indication of solidarity between California public higher education institutions, students wore yellow bands on their wrists, which they raised every time a fellow student said “California” during their testimony. 

Callin Curry, a UCSC first-year and SUA intern, relayed his personal story to the committee. 

With the proposed elimination of Cal Grants, and having come out of the California foster care system without family to help him cover the costs of a university education, Curry faces an ominous future. 

“With the government’s current proposal, a dream 19 years in the making [of attending a four-year university] is slowly being destroyed,” Curry said. “I have protested as I have watched higher education take those devastating cuts, with affordability and access decreasing exponentially. This current situation is one of the biggest threats to education.”