Sit-in CSU Fullerton aimed at raising awareness about budget cuts



Listen to an audio story by Annenberg Radio News:

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image Sleeping bags and boxes of food lined the halls of the administration building at CSU Fullerton on Thursday. However, students weren’t preparing for the outdoors. They were protesting budget cuts and tuition hikes to raise awareness for the issue.

“It’s kind of uncomfortable at times,” said David Inga, a fourth-year history major at CSU Fullerton. “I mean, it can get kind of cold in here. Not really being able to shower. But I mean for the most part, I think everybody has helped each other to make it as comfortable as possible and as relaxed as possible.”

Inga was also one of the dozens of students who started the protest after President Milton Gordon refused to sign a statement the students called a “Declaration to Defend Public Education.”

Last night, six Cal State University campuses joined the sit-in to support the efforts of the Fullerton students.

“So, last night it was so crazy,” said Jaimee Dee, a CSU Fullerton student who stayed over night. “I’ve never seen so many students on this level before. There were students sleeping all the way through the back corridor and around through the lobby area — just sleeping bags and just trying to walk back form the bathroom, you had to be careful not to step on everyone.”

However, university officials said they aren’t the ones in charge of the slashed budgets. Christopher Bugbee, a CSU Fullerton spokesperson, says that students should be standing up to Sacramento instead.

“The issue does not lie on the campuses of California’s public educational institutions,” Bugbee said. “But it in fact lies in Sacramento, with the inability of the state legislature to address this issue.”

Just last fall, tuition was raised 15 percent to reduce the budget gap. And students are worried that Cal State Universities will face another budget short fall — that is, if the legislature passes Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed $500 million CSU budget cut.