On September 24, 2009, students at UC Berkeley protested after the University of California increased tuitions and issued budget cuts. This protest included several thousand students, professors, parents and striking staff on the campus grounds. After watching a Youtube video clip in class on Monday, our students were asked to write a story based on our interview with our partner.
After watching the video Kristy Johnston felt that the students had been treated unfairly. The video clip of the students showed ample proof of the anger and confusion that students felt towards the school. Johnston wanted to know why the cuts were happening, to know how much money was needed to run the university, and know why education was being cut in a country known to be one of the richest in the world. Kristy was also wondering what would happen to the workers who were employed at the university?
“The janitors that worked for over 20 years, what’s going to happen to them now that they are out of a job? There had to have been something wrong for them to fire them” exclaimed Johnston. Johnston said she agreed that students should pay for their own education but to raise the price of tution by too much would cut off the less fortunate people from attending post-secondary education. “ Education doesn’t just help one individual. Everyone in the society that surrounds the individual will benefit from that individuals education. For instance someone studying in school to be a lawyer will one day be able to help someone in his community in court. So when you raise tuition to high and destroy someone’s ability to attend school, your destroying his future job prospect” said Johnston. She also thought that the school was trying to gain something else other than the student’s money. “Maybe this was the school’s best way to try and become private. Either way the school makes itself look bad by also not opposing the cuts by the government.
Johnston also stated that if she was put in the same position as the Berkeley students she would probably have lashed back at them. “ I would go on strike as well. People want to know if they’re getting their money’s worth. All those students would be less aggressive if they knew where their money was going” said Johnston. Johnston said that she would contact the school somehow, send emails, and tell other students about it, which is how the students re-acted when they were put into the situation. Another student at Laurier named Rochelle Parcells, said she also agreed with Johnston. “I would want to know where my money is going. If you’re going to raise tuition, it has to be helping me somehow.”
At Wilfrid Laurier, students experienced a slight increase in tuition and were told that the money would be used to build the cafeteria and a bigger gym on the Brantford Campus. Many students had no problem with this and agreed to pay more. UC Berkeley should have followed this procedure. Looking deeper into the UC Berkeley event, one could see that there was more than one protest. According to the NY Times, on December 11 2010, 26 students at San Francisco University were arrested after barricading themselves inside a university building to protest tuition increases, and budget cuts happening in the public university system of the state of California. March 4 2010, brought about the newest protest which included the entire state of California. Students were called to take action once again against public education cuts and tuition increase. Over one hundred students were arrested for blocking an interstate highway in Oakland, California. At the University of Wisconsin 16 students were arrested for trying to force themselves into the university administration offices and attempting to throw ice cubes at the campus officers according to Huffington Post.
So in conclusion, the state of California still has not accepted the pleas of students in their state. It is sad because all these students have made a giant step in a good direction to a better life and a better society by furthering their education. They could be in jail or dealing drugs but instead they are studying. To interrupt them with extra tuition costs and hurt their professors with layoffs, gives students an extra reason to avoid post secondary education, or attempt to pay for it through illegal methods.
