Sleeping bags and boxes of food lined the halls of the administration building at Cal State Fullerton on Thursday. However, students weren't preparing for the outdoors. They were protesting budget cuts and tuition hikes to raise awareness for the issue.
"It's kind of uncomfortable at times. I mean it can get kind of cold in here. Not really being able to shower. But I mean for the most part, I think everybody has helped each other to make it as comfortable as possible and as relaxed as possible," said David Inga, a fourth year history major at CSU Fullerton.
Inga was also one of the dozens of students who started the protest after President Milton Gordon refused to sign the students' statement they called a "Declaration to Defend Public Education."
Last night, six Cal State campuses joined the sit-in to support the efforts of the CSU students.
"So, last night it was so crazy. I've never seen so many students on this level before," said Jaimee Dee, a Cal State Fullerton student who stayed overnight. "There were students sleeping all the way through the back corridor and around through the lobby area just sleeping bags and just trying to walk back form the bathroom you had to be careful not to step on everyone."
However, university officials said they aren't the ones in charge of the slashed budgets. Christopher Bugbee, a Cal State Fullerton spokesperson, says that students should be standing up to Sacramento instead.
"The issue does not lie on the campuses of California's public educational institutions. But in fact lies in Sacramento, with the inability of the state legislature to address this issue," Bugbee said.
Just last fall, tuition was raised 15 percent to reduce the budget gap. And students are worried that Cal State Universities will face another budget short fall. That is, if the legislature passes Governor Brown's proposed 500 million dollar CSU budget cut.
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