Long Beach Professors Vote on State-Wide Strike

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Today, hundreds of educators came out to say, “Enough is enough.” It's the first of twenty days of voting on whether or not all faculty in the CSU will go on a two day rolling strike. Brian Ferguson of the California Faculty Association says if the vote passes, the strike will affect 23 campuses:

“From Humboldt in the North to San Diego in the South,” said Ferguson. “It could be that school may not reopen for 400,000 students next fall.”

The rolling strike means that only one campus stops running at a time, prolonging the impact. It's a good thing, since these days, California professors have plenty to be angry about.

“Year after year, we've had hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cuts,” said Teri Yamada.

Yamada has been a professor at Calstate Long Beach for 25 years. And during that time, she says she's seen her students' education suffer. Thanks to budget cuts, her class of 15 is now a class of 70.

“It's really hard to have quality education and suddenly you have seventy students,” said Yamada.

“More meat on the seats is better,” explained Ferguson.

Ferguson says in this economy, educators are losing their jobs while some school administrators are giving themselves ten percent raises.

“You see administrators getting 100,000 dollar raises and meanwhile course sections are being cut,” said Ferguson.

And then there are the tuition hikes. Since 2002, public university tuition has increased by 318%. Professor Lillian Taiz at Cal State Los Angeles says some of her students can't afford college anymore.

“The administration is trying to use us and them like we’re ATM machines,” said Taiz.

The results of the vote won't be released for at least another three weeks. but Ferguson says despite professors threatening to stop doing their job, public support is firmly on their side.

“Their cousins, their nephews, themselves, their own kids are students in the CSU. we're really a university of the working class,” said Ferguson.

Professor Teri Yamada says her favorite part of her job is:

“Teaching students.”

And she says she's doing the unthinkable--not teaching--for them. After twenty five years she says she's finally ready for two days off.