Budget rally erupts on campus
By: Adam Elmahrek
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: News
A welcome home rally for the CSUF basketball team held outside the Becker Amphitheater quickly turned into a budget cut protest Tuesday, with protestors marching around campus and shouting, "No more budget cuts."
Members of the CSUF basketball team, who for the first time in 30 years made it to the NCAA tournament, were introduced on the amphitheater terrace to loud applause.
The event was planned to coincide with the end of a budget cut meeting held in the TSU pavilion, where between 200 and 300 students, faculty and administrators met to discuss the issue.
ASI Vice President Curtis Schlaufman said the event was a combined effort to welcome back the CSUF basketball team and protest the planned CSU budget cut, which is projected to leave Cal State Fullerton in a $10 million to $15 million deficit.
"Administration wanted to get more students out so they thought they'd tie the two [events] together," Schlaufman said.
Students and faculty merged for an aerial photo with a banner that cried, "The CSU is the solution."
Many students wore white t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan, "Don't shortchange our education."
The picture was taken to show all the faces the budget cut would be affecting, Schlaufman said.
"We're all just students here who want to get by and budget cuts aren't going to help," Marty Delgado, a 23-year-old Art Education major said. "With a big outcry such as this, it has to make a statement."
Students held up banners that read, "Protect our future" and shouted, "We won't go down without a fight" to the rhythm of a Balinese Djembe drum.
"This kind of stuff works, just look at Vietnam," 18-year-old journalism student Kerry Kullback said.
Protestors marched around campus and eventually came back to the Becker Amphitheater.
As the march rumbled on however, many students dropped out. It slowly petered out into a gathering of about a dozen students.
The last protestors ended the rally with a rising clap and shouts of "student power."
One of the last students to go, 22-year-old Anastasia Hoff, who is a business administration major with an emphasis in marketing, said that the rally addressed an important issue and hoped it would force other students to care.
"Hopefully other students will be encouraged to do something," Hoff said.
Members of the CSUF basketball team, who for the first time in 30 years made it to the NCAA tournament, were introduced on the amphitheater terrace to loud applause.
The event was planned to coincide with the end of a budget cut meeting held in the TSU pavilion, where between 200 and 300 students, faculty and administrators met to discuss the issue.
ASI Vice President Curtis Schlaufman said the event was a combined effort to welcome back the CSUF basketball team and protest the planned CSU budget cut, which is projected to leave Cal State Fullerton in a $10 million to $15 million deficit.
"Administration wanted to get more students out so they thought they'd tie the two [events] together," Schlaufman said.
Students and faculty merged for an aerial photo with a banner that cried, "The CSU is the solution."
Many students wore white t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan, "Don't shortchange our education."
The picture was taken to show all the faces the budget cut would be affecting, Schlaufman said.
"We're all just students here who want to get by and budget cuts aren't going to help," Marty Delgado, a 23-year-old Art Education major said. "With a big outcry such as this, it has to make a statement."
Students held up banners that read, "Protect our future" and shouted, "We won't go down without a fight" to the rhythm of a Balinese Djembe drum.
"This kind of stuff works, just look at Vietnam," 18-year-old journalism student Kerry Kullback said.
Protestors marched around campus and eventually came back to the Becker Amphitheater.
As the march rumbled on however, many students dropped out. It slowly petered out into a gathering of about a dozen students.
The last protestors ended the rally with a rising clap and shouts of "student power."
One of the last students to go, 22-year-old Anastasia Hoff, who is a business administration major with an emphasis in marketing, said that the rally addressed an important issue and hoped it would force other students to care.
"Hopefully other students will be encouraged to do something," Hoff said.
Multi
The Archives
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Sophia
posted 3/26/08 @ 10:10 PM PST
Go Stasi! ^___^
Post a Comment