hair in the Redwood Room was occupied and students lined the walls during today's forum, which highlighted the California Master Plan for Higher Education, its history and what it means in today's budget crisis.
About 175 students and faculty members attended "The People's University in Peril," which was hosted by the California Faculty Association."I think we all need to understand that the words 'Master Plan' have become symbolic of everything we do," former Sacramento State President Donald Gerth said. "It's a symbol of everything we can do here and in the University of California and in the California community colleges."
The 1960s Master Plan created a system for postsecondary education by defining the roles of California's three segments of public higher education: the UC schools, California State University system and community colleges.
Government professor Jeff Lustig said the Master Plan "crystallized" a promise of education in California.
"The constitutional founders of the state were very clear that they didn't want California to be as class bound as other societies," Lustig said. "They wanted to prepare a higher education system that would be open to everybody, a gateway of opportunity rather than a bulwark of privilege."
Lustig said those “good days are over,” and all segments of public higher education must come together to oppose fee increases and class and salary reductions.
"The educational community needs to organize