Forum held to rally students
Dylan Slusser
Issue date: 11/30/09 Section: News
About 60 students attended "Raise Your Voice," a student reaction forum on Nov. 19.
Alpha Gamma Sigma and Phi Theta Kappa coordinated "Raise your Voice" as a way to rally students in the face of the pending ravaging of classes.
$60 billion has been cut from the state budget in the last two years.
This year $16 billion is being cut from social programs, healthcare and education.
Education will be cut by $10.6 billion in the next two years, including elementary schools, high schools, community colleges and public universities.
Community colleges have been hit for $840 million over the last two years. In addition, student fees have been increased, taking another $80 million out of students' pockets.
At the forum, students told personal stories of experience, hope and redemption in the community college system.
"Our hope is to organize students to send a message to Sacramento and Washington D.C. about the dismantling of our community college system," Doug Robinson, environmental engineering major and AGS member said.
Robinson came to California with a drinking problem and an eighth-grade education.
He received his GED while incarcerated for drinking and driving.
After doing incredibly well on the test without studying, personnel at the jail encouraged Robinson to pursue a higher education.
Upon his arrival, he was confounded as to what direction to take with his life. He became inspired while taking oceanography and a film history class, two classes now on the chopping block.
Today, he is a leader on campus through his work as a student body senator and as the Inner College Council Representative for AGS.
"My mentors were bartenders … and now they are professors," Robinson said. "I have an 11-year-old son and I want to make sure that all of the opportunities that were given so freely to me will still be here for him."
From an inmate to a community activist and leader, Robinson is an example of how community college support the empowering of citizens in our community.
"We need students to start raising their voices about budget cuts. If we remain apathetic our situation can and will get worse," said Shaniel Maharaj, 33, accounting major and president of AGS.
"This is why…(we) are holding events for students to express their feelings and concerns," Maharaj said.
"We can't afford to keep cutting education at the expense of our futures," she said.
Alpha Gamma Sigma and Phi Theta Kappa coordinated "Raise your Voice" as a way to rally students in the face of the pending ravaging of classes.
$60 billion has been cut from the state budget in the last two years.
This year $16 billion is being cut from social programs, healthcare and education.
Education will be cut by $10.6 billion in the next two years, including elementary schools, high schools, community colleges and public universities.
Community colleges have been hit for $840 million over the last two years. In addition, student fees have been increased, taking another $80 million out of students' pockets.
At the forum, students told personal stories of experience, hope and redemption in the community college system.
"Our hope is to organize students to send a message to Sacramento and Washington D.C. about the dismantling of our community college system," Doug Robinson, environmental engineering major and AGS member said.
Robinson came to California with a drinking problem and an eighth-grade education.
He received his GED while incarcerated for drinking and driving.
After doing incredibly well on the test without studying, personnel at the jail encouraged Robinson to pursue a higher education.
Upon his arrival, he was confounded as to what direction to take with his life. He became inspired while taking oceanography and a film history class, two classes now on the chopping block.
Today, he is a leader on campus through his work as a student body senator and as the Inner College Council Representative for AGS.
"My mentors were bartenders … and now they are professors," Robinson said. "I have an 11-year-old son and I want to make sure that all of the opportunities that were given so freely to me will still be here for him."
From an inmate to a community activist and leader, Robinson is an example of how community college support the empowering of citizens in our community.
"We need students to start raising their voices about budget cuts. If we remain apathetic our situation can and will get worse," said Shaniel Maharaj, 33, accounting major and president of AGS.
"This is why…(we) are holding events for students to express their feelings and concerns," Maharaj said.
"We can't afford to keep cutting education at the expense of our futures," she said.
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