Cal State LA Students Protest Fee Increase

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Cal State Los Angeles students walked out of class and blocked the University Bookstore to protest the student success fee. It would make students pay an additional $80 per quarter to pay newly-hired Academic Advisors. Students say the fees are a move towards privatized education.

“In 1950, Governor Pat Brown released a master plan that said students should not pay tuition," one student said. "We want President Rosser to come out to publicly sign a declaration that public education is a human right.”

But students aren’t the only ones feeling the squeeze.

“We within our psychology department were forced to put our marriage and family therapy program on suspension," said Dr. Bridgette Matthies, who has been teaching psychology at Cal State LA for the last eight years. "We were told it was too expensive, even though it was the most popular program on hold. It was effectively slashed by our college.”

Dr. Matthies cancelled her class this morning so students could protest.

“They have to have a voice," she said. "They have to talk about it. The student fees have risen every year."

Dr. Matthies says it seems redundant to bring in outside advisors when academic departments already advise students. And she says the budget cuts have forced some students to graduate later.

“I have a lot of students trying to add my classes. In years past we’d be allowed to add them, but this year we were told to stay at the cutoffs for our classes," she said. "Even if there’s a space in the class we’re not allowed to add them. I just don’t understand that. Students come to me—I’m an advisor within my department, and they’ll need that one class to graduate, they’re no longer offering it over the summer, so they have to come back in the fall, which makes it heartbreaking for us.”

University officials said they support the students’ right to protest, and that they’ve done all they can to help students.

“It all boils down to sacramento and the budget cuts we’ve received over the years," said Paul Browning, director of media relations. "Those kinds of cuts are hard to bounce back from. It all stems from that.”

Support for the CSU is at its lowest in 15 years. But its budget relies on voters approving Governor Jerry Brown’s tax initiative, which would bring in about 7-billion-dollars a year. But if it’s not approved, several cuts would go into effect, which means the CSU would take a $200 million hit.