'Day of Action' walkouts today
Protest rallies against state budget cuts to education begin
Ryan Villarreal
Issue date: 3/4/10 Last update: 3/4/10 at 5:57 AM PST
Section: News
Actions to protest state budget cuts to education have been planned for today (March 4) with a walkout and rally at Laney College, and plans to join rallies in Oakland and San Francisco later in the day.
According to a state budget analysis prepared by the 'NoEdCuts Coalition,' a public education advocacy group based at Berkeley City College, over $840 million has been cut from community college funding in California over the past two years. Other sectors of public education (UCs, CSUs, K-12) have been facing similar cuts.
Back in October 2009, over 600 people gathered at UC Berkeley for a conference to discuss options for organizing against the cuts. The assembly agreed to have a "Day of Action" on March 4, leaving individuals to decide over the next few months how they would protest on that day.
The actions at Laney were decided upon by the 'No-Cuts Peralta Coalition,' an ad hoc group of students, faculty, staff and concerned citizens who originally organized to protest budget proposals at Peralta board meetings during the 2009 fall semester.
At 11 a.m. they are calling for all Laney students to leave their classrooms and gather in the Laney quad to participate in a rally until 1 p.m. Afterward, they will lead a march through downtown Oakland to join another rally in front of City Hall that is scheduled to take place from noon to 4 p.m.
"We wanted to give people a lot of options for the day," said ASLC senator Brian Nelson, a No-Cuts Peralta Coalition member. "If some people only have time to come out to the (Laney) quad for an hour or two, or if they just want to go to the rally in Oakland or San Francisco--that's fine. We want to make it easy for as many people as possible to get involved in some way."
Protest marches from Berkeley and Fruitvale are expected to convene at the Oakland rally.
"We knew there was going to be a rally in San Francisco, but we wanted to organize something in the East Bay," said Peter Brown, who teaches metal-shop at Laney and is also a No-Cuts Peralta Coalition member. "We chose Oakland because of its central location and its strong working class roots."
When the Oakland rally concludes, further calls will be made to join the rally in San Francisco at the Civic Center, which is scheduled to take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The San Francisco rally was organized by the NoEdCuts Coalition. "We chose to hold a rally in San Francisco to get as many people as possible at one time and place, to send as big a message as possible," said BCC instructor Joan Berezin, a member of the NoEdCuts Coalition.
There has been some disagreement among the groups organizing for the actions in Oakland and San Francisco.
"We thought it would be difficult to keep people active for an entire day, so we decided to just hold a single event that most people would be able to come to," added Berezin, referring to other actions planned after the San Francisco rally had already been announced.
"We didn't think just one rally in San Francisco would be enough," said Nelson.
Regardless of differing opinions on tactics, everyone seems to agree that today is only the beginning.
"We don't expect for things to change after just this one day," added Nelson.
"This is only a first step," said Berezin. "We hope this day will get more people involved as we continue to fight for public education."
Similar actions are expected across the state.
More coverage of March 4 'Day of Action' at www.laneytower.com.
Thursday, March 4 SCHEDULE
11AM: Walk out of classes
NOON: Rally on the Main Quad at Laney College
1PM: March to Oakland City Hall
5PM: Rally at the Civic Center in San Francisco
According to a state budget analysis prepared by the 'NoEdCuts Coalition,' a public education advocacy group based at Berkeley City College, over $840 million has been cut from community college funding in California over the past two years. Other sectors of public education (UCs, CSUs, K-12) have been facing similar cuts.
Back in October 2009, over 600 people gathered at UC Berkeley for a conference to discuss options for organizing against the cuts. The assembly agreed to have a "Day of Action" on March 4, leaving individuals to decide over the next few months how they would protest on that day.
The actions at Laney were decided upon by the 'No-Cuts Peralta Coalition,' an ad hoc group of students, faculty, staff and concerned citizens who originally organized to protest budget proposals at Peralta board meetings during the 2009 fall semester.
At 11 a.m. they are calling for all Laney students to leave their classrooms and gather in the Laney quad to participate in a rally until 1 p.m. Afterward, they will lead a march through downtown Oakland to join another rally in front of City Hall that is scheduled to take place from noon to 4 p.m.
"We wanted to give people a lot of options for the day," said ASLC senator Brian Nelson, a No-Cuts Peralta Coalition member. "If some people only have time to come out to the (Laney) quad for an hour or two, or if they just want to go to the rally in Oakland or San Francisco--that's fine. We want to make it easy for as many people as possible to get involved in some way."
Protest marches from Berkeley and Fruitvale are expected to convene at the Oakland rally.
"We knew there was going to be a rally in San Francisco, but we wanted to organize something in the East Bay," said Peter Brown, who teaches metal-shop at Laney and is also a No-Cuts Peralta Coalition member. "We chose Oakland because of its central location and its strong working class roots."
When the Oakland rally concludes, further calls will be made to join the rally in San Francisco at the Civic Center, which is scheduled to take place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The San Francisco rally was organized by the NoEdCuts Coalition. "We chose to hold a rally in San Francisco to get as many people as possible at one time and place, to send as big a message as possible," said BCC instructor Joan Berezin, a member of the NoEdCuts Coalition.
There has been some disagreement among the groups organizing for the actions in Oakland and San Francisco.
"We thought it would be difficult to keep people active for an entire day, so we decided to just hold a single event that most people would be able to come to," added Berezin, referring to other actions planned after the San Francisco rally had already been announced.
"We didn't think just one rally in San Francisco would be enough," said Nelson.
Regardless of differing opinions on tactics, everyone seems to agree that today is only the beginning.
"We don't expect for things to change after just this one day," added Nelson.
"This is only a first step," said Berezin. "We hope this day will get more people involved as we continue to fight for public education."
Similar actions are expected across the state.
More coverage of March 4 'Day of Action' at www.laneytower.com.
Thursday, March 4 SCHEDULE
11AM: Walk out of classes
NOON: Rally on the Main Quad at Laney College
1PM: March to Oakland City Hall
5PM: Rally at the Civic Center in San Francisco
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