California State University Leaders Modeling The “People’s University” After The “For-Profit Education Sector”
By Lillian TaizCalifornia Faculty Association
Without a public mandate and without open discussion within democratic processes, the administration of the California State University is transforming California’s great public university—“The People’s University”—into the image of a For-Profit higher education enterprise.
This is the overall assessment of “For-Profit Higher Education and the California State University: A Cautionary Tale,” a white paper the California Faculty Association released Tuesday at a meeting of the CSU’s Board of Trustees.
For years, the faculty on campuses up and down this state have tried, in vain, to get CSU administrators and its Trustees to rethink the path they are on. Some of them, having decided that the era of public funding for higher education is over, have set a course for our state university system that threatens to nail the coffin shut on public higher education.
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People, Not Super PACs, Should Decide Our Elections
By Luis LopezDemocratic candidate for Assembly in the 51st District
Maybe it's our winter sunshine while snow falls elsewhere-or how we embrace innovation and welcome eccentrics rejected in other places. Some Californians presume our state a haven from the nastiest aspects of American life. But we are not.
Now the fallout from a dangerous U.S. Supreme Court ruling is hitting our political landscape. Stopping the corrupting effects of the 2010 Citizens United decision is a serious and important challenge. The ruling has already prompted the rollback of some hard-won checks on special interests' domination of elections in California. It further tilts the playing field against the election of community-based leaders and in favor of candidates bankrolled by special interests and beholden to their big-money marketing blitzes.
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Two Years Later: What the Affordable Care Act Has Done for California's Children
By Mike Odeh, Children Now, and Michele Stillwell-Parvensky, Children’s Defense Fund-CaliforniaAs the Affordable Care Act (ACA) turns two this week, we should say happy birthday by celebrating the big wins the law has already delivered for California's children and families and the bright future ahead for children's health care.
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Who Pays The Bill For Wall Street's Mess?
By Robert BorosageOn Wednesday, House Republicans rolled out their budget plan in the Washington version of a Hollywood movie opening. There was a star turn for Budget Chair Paul Ryan at a conservative think tank. Gaseous rhetoric -- "liberties endangered, time to choose" -- fouled the air. There were dueling videos, and furious salvos of partisan messaging. And a backup document -- the "Path to Prosperity" -- festooned with tables for wonks to wallow in.
On Thursday, with fewer trumpets and less fanfare, the Congressional Progressive Caucus releases its budget plan -- A Budget for All.
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