Update on regents final decision

The Board of Regents made their final decision on Nov. 29, to increase tuition by 32 percent much to student's dismay. According to the Los Angeles Times, of the 21 regents, only one student regent, Jesse Bernal, voted against the tuition spike. Alumni representative regent, Rolald Stovitz also was against the fee hikes in the professional graduate area. The regents assured that more financial aid would be given to students, but doesn't guarantee anything.

Students, faculty, and community did not take the news lightly. Some 100 protestors surrounded the parking garage at the UCLA campus, and wouldn't allow the regents to leave. Police had to clear a path for cars to leave. Demonstrators also blocked traffic in Westwood Village at UCLA. It wasn't just students and faculty from UCLA protesting, people from other campuses in California attended. Whether or not students from CSULB were there is unknown.

-Photo borrowed from Los Angeles Times

UCLA is fighting back!

UCLA protesters were making a stand against tuition hikes, and some people even got arrested during their two day rally that started Wednesday. How come CSULB supporters weren't locking themselves in Brotman Hall and getting hauled away in handcuffs? I actually don't know. What I do know is, despite the efforts of the 10 people at the protest on Tuesday outside the CSU Chancellor's office, and despite the 300 protesters at UCLA over the past two days, the Board of Regents still approved the fee increases. Today it is going to the full Board of Regents, which will make the final decision.

Update on the Board of Regents decision will be posted later.




Photo borrowed from Los Angeles Times

Protest outside CSU Chancellor's office

There were almost as many camera crew members as there were protesters at the small rally in downtown Long Beach today. The circle of organizers from Student's Fight Back only consisted of about 10 people, who were posted up in front of the CSU Chancellor's office building.

The group was carrying signs that read, "Fire CSU Trustees! Reverse Cuts/Hikes," and were loudly chanting, "Money for jobs and education. Not for banks and corporations."

The group was rallying against the budget cuts while inside, a the California State University Board of Trustees Finance Committee was proposing a $900 million request in state funding for higher education. If more state funding is not provided, students are worried that tuition, which has already gone up 30 percent for the 2009-10 fiscal year, will once again increase.

"There's a budget crisis going on that was caused by the banks because of the mortgage crisis, and the fact that, you know, the revenue in California, the number one source of it is property tax, so the banks failed and caused the budget crisis, which has been passed on by the state to the different systems: CSU, UC, and community colleges," said Dough Kauffman, one of the leaders of SFB, and also a student at CSULB. "When that was passed on to the CSU/UC systems, our leaders in those systems, the chancellors, the trustees, the regions, all those people should have been turning around at the state and demanding that they fund education, but instead they passed it onto us and voted to cut salaries of teachers by 10 percent, and fire workers on our campuses, and to increase our tuition."

The Chancellor will be going up to Sacramento next week to speak with politicians about more funding, according to Sid Garcia from ABC news.

Across the street were two blue eye witness news vans from ABC channel 7 news, and another team from KTLA channel 5 covering the story. Although there was only a small group at today's protest, the media has certainly taken an interests in their efforts to fight for higher education.

Applications for fall are on the rise

In the first week that the CSU system was accepting applications, Oct. 1 to Oct. 8, there were 66, 399 submissions. These numbers are almost double from last year, in which 35,020 applications were sent in within the first week. Twelve of the 23 campuses will still have very limited enrollment in the fall, but it's improvement from the zero enrollments for the spring semester.

Students who have been trying to transfer are becoming discouraged and frustrated. After learning about the record number of applications for fall, Ryan Craven, a junior at Saddleback College who is applying for the third time said, there is no way he's going to be accepted. "It doesn't make sense," said Craven. "If they want to make more money, then why are they taking in less students?"

Unfortunately, tuition only contributes to a very small amount of the CSU budget even with the increase in student fees, therefore, the CSU system is forced to cut back on acceptances until the state budget grows for higher education.

Some information provided by Daily 49er

Van Wilders are getting the boot.

There are currently 1,420 super seniors at CSULB who are exceeding 140 units and are being pushed to graduate, according to Lynn Mahoney, associate vice president for undergraduate studies. The super seniors were notified that unless they filed for spring or summer graduation by October 15, there would be a hold put on their account, which would prevent them from registering for the spring semester. If students aren't graduating, then new students cannot be accepted because the budget cuts have caused an enormous decrease in acceptances as it is.

Mahoney can't predict how long the graduation policy will last, but says, "I imagine as long as the CSU continues to experience unprecedented budget and enrollment changes."

Not every super senior will move on after the spring or summer session. Some students have filed for fall graduation. This requires filling out a form, which gives compelling reason for more time. Some of these reasons include, but are not limited to: studying abroad, studying part time, or simply not having all the requirements for their major.

The average student at Cal State Long Beach will earn about 145 units by the time they graduate. According to Mahoney, another reason students are sticking around at CSULB is because they decide to take on another major late in the game. To prevent this from happening, there is a policy being proposed to lock students into a major at 90 units.

Some students disagree with this proposal. "We are paying for it," said Daisy Lezama, a sophomore criminal justice major. "We have to take our time."


Information provided by Daily 49er
Photo provided by Google images

Furlough what?

Friday there was another state budget closure day at CSULB where not a soul could be found on campus besides campus police. Due to budget cuts, CSULB will experience four more of these throughout the academic year. However, that does not count for all the furlough days that will have students and faculty taking plenty more of days off.

A lot of students have similar feelings towards furlough days. "I like them, but don't [like them]," said Jocelle Untalan, a 23-year-old junior majoring in public relations at CSULB. "It's a day off, but at the same time it sucks because it's less education for us and we are paying more tuition."

Students know that a furlough day means no class, but what is a furlough day exactly? According to CSULB Academic Affairs, faculty members who have a 12-month work period must take 24 furlough days and a faculty member with a 10-month work period must take 20 of these days. During a furlough day, faculty may not have any contact with students or use that time to do work. Teachers are allowed to take furlough days during final exams weeks, which could be unfortunate for students who have questions they need answered, but are unable to contact their instructor. Usually, a teacher will not take more than one furlough day in a week, but there are always exceptions. They are allowed one month where they can take up to four furlough days in a week period in, which case, a teacher goes M.I.A.

"I'm not sure if teachers knew about furlough days before they made the syllabus, but it seems to really affect the whole schedule," said Nina Hamouni, a 20-year-old junior majoring in psychology at CSULB. "In all of my classes they keep revising the schedule and it's really confusing."

This is not a free vacation for everyone though, faculty's wallets are taking a huge blow with a 9.23 percent pay cut, and students tuition has increased about $336 per semester. According to the CSULB 09-10 budget summary, the CSULB permanent budget problem before furlough was over $20 million, but the major decrease in salaries has evened that out. Thirty percent fee increases and 10 percent non-resident tuition increases has raised $18.5 million, but the CSULB projected budget shortfall is still in the red almost $36 million.

According to Untalan, the tuition increase has been quite the burden on her and her family because after tuition was paid for, there was another fee students were hit with, which had to be paid within 30 days. Since her brother is also in college, her family has to struggle to support two children so they can have a higher education.

Exchange students can't get into classes

The budget cuts have majorly impacted students who come to CSULB to study abroad. There has been a buzz around campus with upset exchange students not getting into classes they need. Many of them were forced to petition classes in the beginning of the semester, but much to their dismay. The faculty in the Center for International Education want exchange students to have a positive experience when they come here, according to Ide Williams, the head of the department for exchange students. Instead, they are struggling with their schedules and meeting the requirements to study here.

"Normally the department will just make a new class," said Williams. "Now the budget cuts have caused classes to be cancelled that they [students] were already enrolled in."

Immigration laws require students studying abroad to have at least nine units, so if they were enrolled in nine units and then the class was cancelled, they need to find an alternative class to fulfill those missing units. That is very difficult when classes are full and aren't accepting add-ins. At that point, students must take any class they can get into, which most likely will not count for units they need for their major.

The Center for International Education try to figure out ahead of time which classes aren't going to be available by having meetings with departments that are impacted. They also try to gauge how many students from a department are leaving CSULB to study abroad themselves. If an advisor knows a student has an impacted major (like business), and needs very specific units, they will suggest they don't come. However, their efforts haven't eliminated problems exchange students are facing this semester.

Another difficulty exchange students face is the fact they don't have a degree progress report. Therefore, if an exchange student wants to take an upper division class that requires a prerequisite, they have to obtain a class permit code for every single one of those classes. Students who go to CSULB already have that information in the system, so it makes registration less difficult.

In the past, there weren't very many classes being canceled, but since funding is so low and only getting worse, it only makes sense to cut down classes that have fewer students. CSULB might seem like a great place to spend a semester, but international students may want to think twice if they want to get into classes they need.

Budget cuts are decreasing student programs

Student programs will be decreasing up to 15 percent next semester, according to Keya Allen-Littleton, CSULB's program coordinator for the University Student Union. Some programs that will be affected include: movie showings, guest speakers, Rags II Rhythms annual fashion show, and give-a-ways during finals week. Allen-Littleton says that student programs are really the only outlet that student's have on campus.


In the past, movie showings were every week, but they are quickly reducing. This semester they are only showing seven films, and next semester even less. "There's no way we can show that many next semester because it's too expensive," said Allen-Littleton. Sometimes, Paramount or Disney will give the school an advanced screening, which is free for students.


Allen-Littleton has noticed an increase in students attending school programs and she believes it's because they can't afford to do fun activities off campus. There were about 200 students that attended the showing of "The Soloist". With $2 admission and .50 cent popcorn, it's a small fee compared to what a student would spend at the movie theater.


This year is the 10-year anniversary of Rags II Rhythms fashion show, so Allen-Littleton wanted to try and make it big, but because there isn't enough funding she has to downsize the show instead. Her way of dealing with less funding is by still making it happen, but just reducing it. "I will always find a way," said Allen-Littleton.


Even with her staff dwindling from five people to two, she is trying to find creative ways to host events for students. For example, there was a Speed Dating event and another dating event coming up called 12 Major Hearts. The cost to organize it is inexpensive, it's fun for students, and some people even make love connections.


In the past, the school was able to fund concerts for students with big names such as: Ludacris, Pepper, and Black Eyed Peas. Now, bigger events are a thing of the past.

Protest today at CSULB

Students Fight Back organization held a protest against budget cuts and tuition increases today at CSULB that included around 30 students. A small number compared to the 2,000 students and faculty that participated in the walkout at UC Berkeley last Thursday.

The protesters could be seen carrying signs that said, "Education is a right! Reverse cuts/hikes," and various other slogans that could also be heard while they shouted. In a peaceful, but militant way, the protesters marched through the student union where they overcame the police force trying to stop them. Then they marched to the fountain in front of Brotman Hall. When the protesters tried to walk through Brotman Hall they were finally stopped by a force of police officers. According to one participant, there were almost as many officers as there were protesters.

"I think it was definitely a success," said Jessika Bardales, art major, who is one of the three main organizers of Students Fight Back.

Another participant in today's demonstration was Nicholas Digs, an Independent Congressional Candidate. He graduated from CSULB in 1991 and has been teaching in the Long Beach Unified School District for 15 years. "The budget cuts are affecting the future of our nation," said Digs. "We can balance the budget without raising taxes, but can only do that by ending the wars."

Students Fight Back started a week before the new semester, and is trying to recruit more people. They have a mailing list in which they send out e-mails and fliers to those who sign up, and can also be found on facebook.

"We are going to keep moving and making it larger and larger every time," said Doug Kauffman, English major, who is also a leader of the organization.

Students and faculty mourn the death of education

There was a mock funeral Wednesday in downtown Long Beach where over 100 student, faculty and community members showed up to protest budget cuts for universities in California. The funeral included pallbearers, a coffin, bagpipes, and 50 tombstones. The protest was held outside of the Chancellor Charles Reed's office.

A very large number of students were not admitted into the CSU system this fall semester, therefore each of the 50 tombstones represented 1,000 people who weren't accepted. The tombstones decorated the lawn, while faculty members and students gave eulogies and speeches expressing the magnitude of tribulations that have arose due to the cutbacks.

"The 2009-10 CSU system wide budget was cut by $564 million compared to the previous year," wrote Tim Lynch of the Daily 49er. "There were also some solutions offered. One was Assembly Bill 656, which would increase taxes to oil companies so the CSU system could receive some of the revenue generated."

The mock funeral was not the first, or the last of protests that CSU students, faculty, and community members will participate in. The day after the protest in front of the Chancellors' office, thousands of students and faculty members walked out of classes at UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Berkley and other schools. Tues. 29, there is another protest held at CSULB and other campuses such as, UCLA and Cal State Fullerton.