SACRAMENTO — About 100 UC Berkeley and UC Davis students, joined by the chair of the campus Academic Senate and a senior campus administrator, bused to Sacramento on Wednesday to lobby legislators and hold a press conference to speak out against the state’s disinvestment in public higher education.
Unlike the Occupy Cal protests, which have generally targeted the UC Board of Regents and the UC Berkeley administration, students who trekked to Sacramento sought to highlight the role of the state government in UC budget cuts and tuition hikes.
“On Sproul Plaza, we’re preaching to the choir,” said UC Berkeley senior Sophia Wang. “By coming to the capitol, you influence the people in power.”
UC Berkeley senior Elizabeth Dean agreed, adding that while she supported Occupy Cal, she felt focusing on the decision-makers in Sacramento could make more of a difference than protesting on campus.
According to ASUC CalSERVE Senator Andy Albright, the ASUC had chartered two buses to take students to the UC Regents meeting that was going to take place Wednesday. When the meeting was canceled, the ASUC decided to reroute the buses to Sacramento.
The delegation of students spent about two hours making calls and delivering materials to legislators’ offices. They also heard from Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, who expressed her support for higher education and emphasized the need for new revenue.
But the highlight of the day was the press conference held on steps of the capitol building. A small crowd of reporters looked on as student and faculty leaders, flanked by about 100 UC Berkeley and UC Davis students, took turns standing behind a lectern and speaking out against cuts to public education.
“We are here because we are students in the UC system,” said ASUC External Affairs Vice President Joey Freeman. “We believe in public education, we believe in affordable education, we believe in accessible education and we’re fed up with the fact that that mission is under attack in this state.”
Differences between the missions of the students in Sacramento and Occupy Cal protesters were emphasized at the press conference.
In a nod to the Occupy Cal protesters, Student Regent Alfredo Mireles Jr. acknowledged that “the regents deserve to be protested.”
But, gesturing toward the capitol, he added that “It’s the people in this building who need to hear from us more.”
Students united in a call for new revenue for the state and in their opposition to further budget cuts to the UC. Freeman called for progressive tax measures and the reform of Proposition 13, which restricts the amount of revenue California can collect through property taxes. He also demanded that legislators pass a budget with no new cuts to higher education next year.
“We need progressive revenue-raising measures to alleviate the exorbitant financial burden on students for their public higher education,” said ASUC Student Action Senator Safeena Mecklai.
UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer delivered an emotional plea for the survival of California’s system of public higher education.
“I’m speaking from the heart,” Breslauer said. “It has been a beautiful thing to observe for 40 years how this community college system and CSU system and UC system created together the glory of this state. It takes 100 years to build that. It takes 10 years to destroy it. Please. Whatever it takes. Please, don’t let it be destroyed.”