[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dina Cervantes
Chair
California State Student Association

The leadership of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC), California State Student Association (CSSA) and University of California Student Association (UCSA) have come together in a historic coalition, called Students for California’s Future and announced that Monday, April 21, 2008 will be a Day of Action across California with major marches being planned at the State Capitol and downtown Los Angeles.

Over 3.2 million students at the California Community Colleges (CCC), California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) systems are represented with the unification of these organizations because all would be adversely affected by $1 billion dollars in cuts to higher education.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Governor Schwarzenegger's 2004 plan to dissolve 117 boards and commissions may be realized soon-- in part. Five boards that Schwarzenegger had targeted three yearsago are due to expire next year. "If the Legislature cannot passemergency legislation to save the boards, they will become statebureaus controlled by Schwarzenegger officials rather than by appointedboard members, giving the governor greater control over theiroperations."

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer has suggested privatizing the entire UC system in a recent report. UC President Robert Dynes despises the idea: "Thecentral heart and soul of the university is its support from the stateof California. That has to remain."

An editorial in today's San Jose Mercury News urges California to sue the EPA over greenhouse gas emissions. The suit would seek a waiver under theClean Air Act to allow California to enforce tougher standards.

There's more... 

Image courtesy of Sacbee.com

by wu ming [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

In a recent report in the Bee, CA State Treasurer Bill Lockyer brainstorms ways to balance the state budget, including a suggestion that that we consider cutting the UC system off of all public funds, and having "public" universities raise their own funds by - you guessed it - raising student fees. As if the state hasn't already kicked students in the gut repeatedly by jacking up tuition and fees, turning our public universities into de facto private institutions.

This from the same "Democrat" who proudly said he voted for Schwarzeneggar for the recall in 2003. And a graduate of UC Berkeley in 1965, back when tuition was so low as to be nearly free. But I guess those were different times, eh Bill?

But in a sense, Lockyer is right despite himself. The state infrastructure is woefully underfunded and underbuilt, given our growing population. We've got a 25 million person infrastructure in a 37 million person state, and we're headed towards 50 million in the decades to come. Yet his proposals largely suck. So what else could we do, since we're in modest proposal mode?