FREEDOM HAWK: Protesters do not recognize fiscal reality
Published: Sunday, March 14, 2010
Updated: Monday, March 15, 2010
Last week many students, faculty and staff from the 10 campuses in the University of California system walked out of class for a demonstration billed “Day of Action to Defend Education.” The march was in protest of the so-called “tax” — as professors and members of the UC and California State University system have labeled it — according towww.wsj.com. This was quite odd; during most large and unfair tax increases in our state, you generally don’t see an uproar from America’s most progressive public university system. But this tuition increase, which has been presented by the UC system as a $662 tax hike for college students according to www.wsj.com, has gotten their attention.
Apparently professors and students can’t understand the difference between a reduction in a state subsidy and an increase in taxes. Our state’s school system is one of the most heavily tax-payer funded systems in America. To put it another way, the tax-paying residents of California pay more for our public education than the residents of any other state.
When speaking about the university budget shortfalls, UC president Mark Yudof said, “You can protest. You can put up signs – at Berkeley they like to occupy the trees and run nude – but the answer is ‘I still don’t have the money,’” according to www.wsj.com.
This is a fair assessment by Yudof, who has tried to push the protest attention off himself and project it on the state legislature. But in reality, Sacramento doesn’t have the money either. Our state is facing a $20 billion budget shortfall. Unlike the federal government, which can keep printing more and more money as the value of the dollar continues to crumble, states must work with the budgets they have, or face cuts.
I do think there is something for UC and CSU students to learn from this; it might be what President Barack Obama