A noon rally brought out professors, staff, students and administrators who asked the audience of about
400 to stand united with them to bring attention to an already strained educational system.
Cuts to the 2008-09 budget proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could mean $312.9 million less for all California State University schools. And that could mean about $3 million to $5 million less for CSUMB.
Senior Jamila Jones said she already felt the pinch last fall when she was unable to get into a psychology class she needed to graduate. The class was already full and the university did not open another section to accommodate the overflow.
As a result, Jones' graduation date was pushed back to December.
"It frustrates me to be a student," said Jones, one of the featured speakers at the rally Thursday.
Jones said she's working two jobs this year to help pay her way through school.
"You go to work or you drop out," Jones said. "You got to hold on. ... Having an education is part of the solution."
Many who gathered Thursday pushed the message that the state university system is a solution to a troubled economy.
"We are part of the economy and infrastructure," said CSUMB lecturer Linda Turner Bynoe, treasurer for the local chapter of the California Faculty Association. "Students finish their M.A. and B.S. degrees and get into the economy and pay taxes."
She has also seen tutoring for math and writing skills cut. "The legislature needs to find a way to do this work," Bynoe said.
Bynoe said her students tell her they are concerned about potential fee increases and disappearing
services.
CSUMB President Dianne Harrison told the crowd she will lobby to protest the proposed cuts.
"This is not in the state of California's best interest," said Harrison. "The one-year cut will have a multiple-year effect."
Harrison said the university is devising a plan to accommodate the cuts if they are eventually approved.
"We're in the beginning stages of trying to do a contingency plan," she said. "Nothing has been finalized. These are potential cuts and we're trying to change that."