Students march on state capitol to say no to education cuts

On March 16, thousands of students, mostly from the California community college system marched on the state capitol to protest a 33 percent increase in per-unit costs at two-year colleges across the state. The community college system provides a stepping-stone to the completion of a four-year college degree for over 1.7 million students

Students march in Sacramento against budgets cuts, March 16.

Students, teachers and workers from the two- and four-year systems came by bus, carpool and some even flew to gather at Rawley Field and march to the steps of the state capitol.

The CC system enables people from working-class and oppressed communities to gain knowledge and skills so they can better provide for themselves and their families. Sixty percent of the student population is Black, Latino, Asian, Native American or from another nationally oppressed community.

Liberation newspaper asked students from across the state why they were present.

An organizer from Cosumnes River College in Sacramento commenting on the proposed budget cuts and fee increases told Liberation, “How can we be leaders out here in our community if we are not getting the right education?”

Nora Atwal, an older student from San José City College told Liberation she was marching because “cuts in education will affect all of us, not just students.” Atwal said she had marched “back in the heyday when welfare rights, the Panthers, Cesar Chavez, all the issues that got to where we are today.”

Marcus King, an at-large senator from the Student Senate at Alan Hancock College speaking to the crowd said, “We have people in office that benefited from the same college system we currently attend, not for $20, not for $10 a unit, but for free. We either fund the front-end, education, or fund the back-end, prison and unemployment. Which would you rather pay taxes for?”

Jeremiah Larsen, a student from Fresno City College speaking about the bonuses paid to AIG CEOs with federal bailout money given to the company, said, “You could start a lot better places than banks and corporation, such as prison reformation, education.”

Activists from the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) handed out thousands of flyers with the title, “Money for Education, Not for War and Bank Bailouts.” The leaflet contained a statement that linked the cuts in education to the spending on war and occupation. Many of the students, a large number of whom came from the San Francisco Bay Area said they would be at the March 21 rally to protest the beginning of the seventh year of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the widening war in Afghanistan and the continued U.S.-back Israeli siege of Gaza.