A major mobilization is coming March 1 – 5, 2012, to put pressure on the Governor and legislature to renew support for public education in California and for raising taxes to restore the state funding that UC, the CSUs, the CCs, and K-12 to meet the needs of our people for high quality, affordable education. There will be a variety of marches, rallies and other activities around the state, culminating with a protest on the Capitol grounds in Sacramento on Monday, March 5th. A key part the action is a “99-mile March for Public Education & Social Justice,” starting in Oakland/Berkeley on March 1 and going to Sacramento.
We urge university faculty to participate. First, please consider taking some time to discuss the impact of the budget cuts on your campus and the rest of public higher education with your students. The cuts are not only leading to an upward spiral in tuition, they are affecting faculty and student staff support, course offerings, graduate student recruitment, building maintenance, and a host of other things that are compromising our ability to carry out research and instructional missions. Please share your own concerns and listen to what they have to say about theirs – and what can be done to solve the problems.
Second, if you can, please attend one of the marches, rallies, or other events being planned for March 1. At UC Davis this is taking the form of a funeral for higher education to be held on the Quad from noon to 3 pm (details available here). A list of other events is available at Occupy Education CA. Bus and carpool transit to many of these events is also available. It would be great to have faculty attend in robes, if you have your own regalia. If many faculty attend in gowns this would be sure to get press attention — and, no doubt, interviews. It would be good to have as many faculty as possible talk to the press.
Third, if you can, please join the demonstration at the Capitol on Monday, March 5th. The first rally will begin at 11 am on the north steps and a second rally is scheduled for 5:30 pm, with other events planned throughout the day. A signup form for bus transit from the Davis campus and around the state is available here.
If you would like more background information about the state fiscal crisis, what can be done to solve it, and the movement for refunding the state budget and supporting public education, please check out the information at the links below: