Message to UCSB Students and Parents

Today, September 24, 2009 a broad coalition of UCSB staff, faculty, and students has joined a UC-wide call for a Walkout and organized a “Day of Action” against the mismanagement of the current budget crisis by the UC Regents and UC President Mark Yudof, and for a reversal of current trends towards divestment in public higher education by the Governor and the Legislature:

1) We wish to call into question the recent increase in student fees and the possibility of an additional increase. While we do recognize that the state cut the UC budget by $812 million, we also know that the total budget is $20 billion, and there are over $50 billion in the UC investment and pension portfolios.

2) We do not think that the UC needs to reduce course offerings, increase class sizes, and eliminate teachers and classes. We believe that the UC President needs to fight for more state funding, but we also know that in the short-term, there is enough money in the system to prevent drastic reductions in educational quality.

3) To help fight for the students and the value of public higher education, we are protesting against the university’s recent move against the core principle of shared governance. Too many decisions are being imposed from above, and students and faculty have not been given their proper role in the decision-making process.

4) We plan to work with students and other groups to force the UC system to have a more transparent and fair budgetary system, and we feel that everyone suffers when faculty and staff are forced to take unpaid days off.

5) We also believe that the UC President is hurting undergraduate and graduate education in order to force the state to fund the UC at a higher level. While we support this need for better funding, we do not think that the students and the faculty should be sacrificed in this effort, and we reject all student fee increases.

We have chosen to call our “Day of Action” on the first day of classes at UCSB not to maximize disruption to students, but to signify the urgency of the situation. The task of unifying faculty, staff, students, parents, and the community at large around the objective of reclaiming public education (both K-12 and Higher Ed) for this generation and all future generations of California students, cannot wait for a second day! Nor can it stop at a single “Day of Action.”

Come to our Rally at 11:30 at the Arbor

Become educated about how the UC system works and keep current on all aspects of the crisis by visiting any of the following websites:

http://changinguniversities.blogspot.com/

http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/

http://option4.ning.com/