Education costs and Governor Brown’s budgeted cuts to higher education were the main focus of the Wednesday protests on the California State University Northridge campus.
Gov. Brown’s budget would cut $500 million from California State Universities. If state legislatures do not pass more tax extension measures, the proposed cut of $500 million could double to $1 billion.
CSUN students Jonnae Thompson and Alejandro Hernandez talk about the protests and what the proposed cuts mean to them. (Video by Nimisha Thakore)
Students like Alejandro Hernandez, a CSUN junior, rallied against the proposed cuts. “Personally it’s really hard to come up with this money. I’m already working two jobs, how many more jobs can I pick up?” said Hernandez.
“It’s been felt across campus because the reality is we have less money than we had last year, and we had less money last year than we did the year before,” said Carmen Ramos Chandler, Director of News and Information Marketing and Communications at CSUN.
Last semester, the CSU Board of Trustees voted for a fifteen percent student fee increase. Much of the protesting today was directed at Charles Reed, the head of the board. Students are arguing that while administrators salaries have increased by twenty-two percent since Reed took office in 1998, student fees have increased by 242 percent.
CSUN activists plan on joining other students at the “March for Higher Education,” to be held in Sacramento March 14.
