Built up anger over increased tuition fees caused students from EC and other community colleges to gather together to protest in Sacramento Monday in what was known as “The March in March.”
Tension was filling the already dense air and the heat from the sun was growing hotter by the minute.
It was said on the news early that morning that temperatures would reach up to 85 degrees in Sacramento, but with thousands of community college students preparing to march from Rally Field to the Capitol Building, the heat wasn’t what students noticed.
“You say cut back, we say fight back,” was shouted over and over by angry community college students while they marched to the Capitol Building.
The students were marching due to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal and the impact it will have on the community college education system.
As of now, community college students pay tuition fees of $18 a unit, but sometime in the next two semesters, students could be paying $26 a unit.
The Californians for Community College, an organization whose efforts are to promote awareness of higher education, organized the protest rally for equity, accessibility and affordability.
During the protest, several assemblymen and women Gloria Romero, Mark Leno, Jackie Goldberg, Robert Pacheco, Paul Koretz showed up to show their support.
“You are a powerful force,” Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante said, “in a pursuit of a cause, that is greater than even yourself.”
Bustamante, who attended a community college, marched with the protesters to show his support.
“Generations in the past have shown the kind of sacrifice and the kind of grit that is necessary to be successful,” Bustamante said.
Bustamante said that the protesters have a right to speak to their government, to have access to affordable education and the right to demand it.
Students are demanding more money be put in community colleges.
“You have the right to tell this administration that they cannot balance the budget on the backs of the students,” Bustamante said.
Bustamante also said that when the door of opportunity is open for one, then it is wider for all.
Luke Freiburghouse, 19, said that the protest was for a worthy cause. Freiburghouse was one of the students who participated in the march.
Freiburghouse did not know what to expect from the protest, but after the whole experience, he said that it was better than what he expected.
He said that he liked one of the speakers who used to be in prison but now is a president for his community college.
Freiburghouse said he thinks the governor’s plan to make community college students pay more for their education is ridiculous.
But with all the protests that have happened, Freigburghouse said that some who did go to protest will not help all the way.
“I think when you get into a large setting and someone starts cheering something you just get motivated indirectly by peer pressure to do the same thing,” he said. “So sometimes it comes off as people being more into it than they really are.”
Even though he thinks some protesters may not help the cause, he said he hopes more will stay focused on the goal.
Now that the protest is over, Freiburghouse said that in order to spread the news of what is being planned for community colleges, students who went to protest need educated other students.
Throughout this experience Freiburghouse said that his favorite experience at the protest was the many testimonials from student speakers from different community colleges.
favorite experience at the protest were the many testimonials from student speakers from different community colleges.
“Just the moment when they helped the disabled man speak and put the microphone down,” he said. “That got me.”
Maurice Jones, history major, was at the protest and said that there should have been more personal stories for the audience.
Jones said he was skeptical when the assemblymen and women came out to speak to the protesters.
“They seem passionate about what they have to say,” he said. “They gave the answer that is right to the crowd.”
Like Freiburghouse, Jones agrees that not all of the people who protested on Monday will support the cause by voting.
“I seriously doubt that a third of that crowd would vote,” he said. “I mean it’s sad.”
Alex Calderon, an Inter-Club Council representative for the Cinema Arts Club was also a part of the protest.
“I thought the turnout was pretty nice,” he said. “I was happy with it.”
Calderon said that he was more impressed by the students who were there than the actual speakers.
“I heard all the speakers; I heard what they had to say,” he said. “But talking to the people who were there, the students were passionate about hearing the different stories.”
He also said that the assemblymen and women sounded generic and that they were repetitive.
“It really didn’t motivate me,” he said. “What really motivated me was hearing from the student speakers.”
Calderon said that the protest would be noticed by Schwarzenegger.
“The protest may not leap bounds,” he said, “but it did take us (students) forward.”
Voting is the next step for the protest. However, Calderon said there wouldn’t be as many voters to support the protest.
“I did see a lot of people there who just wanted to get out of class and go to Sacramento,” he said. “They were cheering by the moment but when they got home, they wouldn’t want to spend anytime doing anything about it (the fee increases).”
Dance major Susan Stark from EC said that the protest went pretty well.
“Hopefully, we got the message across about the community colleges,” Stark said. “Because we don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Stark said that for a lot of people community colleges are good alternatives and it’s for their education.
“And I just hope everyone knows that these kids care and are doing something about it,” she said. “And they’re putting their education first by actually going to this protest.”
