CSU Board of Trustees approves 9 percent tuition hike
Despite student protest
LONG BEACH, Calif.—The California State University Board of Trustees approved a 9 percent tuition hike for the 2012-13 school year today, despite a vocal student protest that disrupted the panel’s meeting as police tried to usher people out of the meeting room.
After the confrontation between students and police erupted, the board members reconvened in a different room and approved the tuition hike on a 9-6 vote. Tuition will increase by $498, meaning undergraduate student fees will go from $5,472 in 2011-12 to $5,970 for 2012-13. With campus-specific fees added in, the total cost for undergraduate students would be just more than $7,000 for the full year.
The increase will be on top of a 12 percent tuition hike that took effect this school year, and a 9 percent increase that was imposed in 2010.
CSU officials said the proposed increase is necessitated by continued cuts in state funding, which they say has been slashed by $650 million in recent years, with another $100 million cut possible next month.
The board, however, was also expected to request an additional $138.3 million in state funding, and if it is approved, would eliminate the need for the boost in tuition.
More than 150 angry protesters descended on the board’s meeting, with most being forced to stand outside due to limited seating in the board’s meeting room. Students and other protesters inside the meeting eventually clashed with police, forcing the board to take a break.
The skirmish between police and protesters eventually led to officers using pepper spray, and a glass door was shattered. At least one officer suffered cuts from the broken glass.
Police in riot gear eventually surrounded the plaza outside the building.
It was not immediately clear if anyone was arrested, although at least three people were handcuffed at the scene.
According to CSU officials, the availability of financial aid will mean about 45 percent of the university system’s students would not be impacted by the tuition hike.
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a member of the CSU Board of Trustees, said he opposed the tuition hike.
“We have an obligation to our students and their families to send a strong message to Sacramento that our higher education system and economy cannot meet its potential unless this catastrophic trend is reversed,” he said.
Dozens of students in the California State University (CSU) system recently rallied in protest outside university headquarters in Long Beach where a board meeting was being held to discuss fee increases.
Students were outraged, and took the meeting as an opportunity to speak out and urge officials to find an alternative means to increase revenue at the schools.
LONG BEACH, Calif.—The California State University Board of Trustees today approved a 5 percent mid-year tuition increase and a 10 percent hike for the 2011-12 academic year.
The board's Finance Committee approved the tuition hikes Tuesday during a meeting in Long Beach.
A dozen students from six Cal State campuses, including four in the Southland, are on a hunger strike to press their demands for tuition cuts.
The action began Wednesday and is intended to end next Wednesday, when the California State University Board of Trustees meets at the Long Beach campus, where the hunger strikers hope to present their demands, the San Fernando Valley Sun reported.
Now I’m not trying to hate on Occupy LA, but after looking at news photos of the recent goings on, I couldn’t help but think of the National Organization for Women—and we all know that NOW was never about the liberation and equal rights of Black women.
All that’s to say, if the center of corporate greed for activists involved in Occupy LA is a closed City Hall on the weekend—then we’re obviously battling two different types of corporate greed and collusion.
A lone heckler didn’t stand a chance at a House of Blues fundraising event for President Barack Obama in West Hollywood. Shortly after Obama thanked actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson of the television series, “Modern Family,” who introduced him, and recognized the presence of Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and West Hollywood Mayor John Duran, the heckler shouted something about “The Christian God is the one and only true living God, the creator of heaven and the universe.”
