Imagine a school bus full of children barreling quickly toward the edge of a cliff. Inside that bus, they scream madly for someone to turn the steering wheel or hit the brakes, but no one takes the initiative to do so.
My friends, you are those children, and public higher education is your speeding death carriage. We are drowning in a crowd of apathy, blame dodging and buck passing, but this is no game of hot potato.
Criminal justice professor Cecil Canton, associate vice president of affirmative action for the California Faculty Association, calls the situation “already critical.”
“We may already be witnessing the redefinition of the mission of the CSU, from ‘The People’s University’ to ‘Some People’s University,’” Canton said.
California State Student Association President Steve Dixon said tuition and fees will be raised much higher. He also foresees whole departments and majors being axed, classes designed for 30 students swelling to 70, English 100 being taught to rooms of 650 students.
“They are already looking at how they are going to do it, and who’s going to get cut,” Dixon said. “The quality of education will be gone.”