From preschoolers to professors, thousands from California to New York plan to stand together on March 4 as a part of a “day of action to save public education.”
The California Faculty Association (CFA) students and supporters from all segments of public education have been planning for months to join forces on Thursday to “Mobilize for Education,” a movement that has now sparked interest from other parts of the country and from other nations.
“It’s really a great opportunity for college students to stand up for education,” said Matt Hardy, spokesman for the United Educators of San Francisco.
Stemming from the budget cut protests at UC Berkely last fall, roughly 800 activists got together to discuss what to do next. The result? A national call for education and a day of unified action.
After passing a resolution for a day of action in December, the CFA’s Board of Directors encouraged campus chapters to hold visible and effective displays.
“The idea is for something to happen everywhere on that day at every campus … whatever people felt appropriate,” Brian Ferguson, CFA Communications specialist said.
Not only are all 23 California State Universities, the majority Universities of California and most community college campuses participating throughout the state, but organizations in 17 other states will be marching along with California.
“I’ve been doing this for years, and I certainly haven’t seen anything like this,” Hardy said.
Alabama University in Montgomery is hosting a statewide rally at the Alabama State House where more than 2,000 participants are expected to attend. There will be a walk-out at New York University as well as a rally at City Hall. The list goes on with schools in Michigan, Rhode Island, Texas and Minnesota, among others.
“There is lots of less formal action going on,” Ferguson said. “People are hearing about what’s going on in California and want to do something of solidarity.”
Considered by the faculty association to be a historic movement for education, social media has been a major player in expanding the movement to not only the rest of the nation, but the rest of the world.
“A university in Mexico will be holding demonstrations and … the March 4 action will be endorsed by a group of educators in India,” Ferguson said.
On or near the campuses, participants will gather through rallies, demonstrations, marches, sit-ins or class walk-outs. Cal Poly is hosting a “Rally in Support of Public Education” at the office of state Senator Abel Maldonado from 3:30 to 5 p.m.
There will also be on-campus events held all day Thursday as part of Cal Poly’s own “Day of Action Against the Budget Cuts.” Starting with a walk-out in the morning, students will convene at Dexter Lawn before marching to the administration building for a rally.
Erik Fernandez, an architectural engineering junior is part of a recently formed group called “United We Stand for Education” at Cal Poly. The group is helping to organize the day’s events. He said materials will be handed out at Dexter Lawn about the budget cuts and butcher paper will be available for students to write answers to provocative questions.
“A lot of students at Cal Poly are apathetic,” Fernandez said. “Hopefully we will be able to unite more students under a more formal, organized group in order to educate on budget cuts.”
There will also be a video camera where students can give testimonials. The footage will be part of a documentary covering the day’s activities that will hopefully reignite student interest later on, organizers said. The group plans to show the film during spring quarter during a student-organized town hall meeting in the middle of April.
“It’s not just about March 4, it’s about the days after,” Fernandez said.
Biological sciences sophomore Haydn Mitchell is also a member of the group and an organizer for the March 4 day of action. He said this is a unique event for Cal Poly.
“I was sitting in a room weeks ago planning this, and now it’s happening, and people are actually interested,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell is helping plan a teach-in on the effects of budget cuts in the University Union. They will be showing a video of the Berkley demonstrations and interviews with Governor Schwarzenegger as well as skits performed by students. This will also be added to the documentary.
“We are doing the documentary to keep the spirit alive and keep up awareness,” Mitchell said.
The CFA chapter president for Cal Poly, Richard Saenz, is part of planning the rally at Senator Maldonado’s office on Marsh Street. There will be speeches by sponsoring organizations and education dignitaries. He said he’s been e-mailing superintendents of county schools, high school principals, President Baker and the president of Cuesta College to come speak, but he hasn’t heard back from any of them. He also invited Senator Abel Maldonado to come out and speak.
“We should see easily 100 people,” Saenz said. “With many more than that, it’s going to be hard to keep people on the sidewalk, which we are supposed to do.”
The California Federation of Teachers Unions from Cuesta and Paso Robles will be there.
“It’s not too often you get students together to do protests like this,” Saenz. “I thought that was nice that this was happening for Cal Poly.”
“I’ll tell you what I told a cynical faculty member. We certainly aren’t going to keep what we have or get any more if we don’t say anything,” Saenz said. “We have to remind them that we are here, that we need the money and that education matters. If we don’t say a word we might get forgotten. This will at least keep us in the forefront.”
“We are trying to make it a positive rally,” Saenz said. “It’s kind of like motherhood and apple pie; who’s going to be against us?”
At the same time, the Marsh Street rally ends, a coalition of student and educator groups throughout the bay area are holding a rally at the San Francisco Civic Center.
“There will be a massive rally in San Francisco,” Hardy said. “We are expecting about 5,000 plus in an effort to bring attention to the devastating cuts to education in the past few years and the true cause of those cuts,” Hardy said.
Hardy believes that an event like this will only make a difference if it’s seen as the beginning.
“What I can say for students down there is, come out on March 4, but be prepared to fight the next day,” Hardy said. “That’s what it’s going to take for colleges to win, but it’s not going to be easy.”
“You’ll see on the news the rallies in Sacramento or San Francisco, but now you can say there’s one on Marsh Street too,” Saenz said.