Santa Monica College Students, Faculty Rally in Sacramento for Community College Funding

More than 160 students, faculty and administrators from  joined their peers from community colleges throughout California for Monday's “March in March” in Sacramento. Thousands of students, faculty and staff representing an estimated 91 schools participated in the rally for community college funding, which is being scaled back at SMC and other schools.

The Associated Students—SMC's student government—put up the estimated $6,000 to fund the students' participation in the rally.

Budget cuts are a chief concern among those involved with education in virtually any capacity throughout California. Students, faculty and administrators at SMC are no exception. In  with Santa Monica Patch, President Dr. Chui Tsang said the school is facing an $11 million deficit in 2011-12. The school plans to freeze all salaries and reduce course offerings, among other measures.

In Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budge, funding for community colleges would be cut by 5 percent, and the cost of classes would go up from $26 per unit to $36 per unit. The Associated Students say a worst-case scenario would see the figure rise to $66 per unit. The group also says SMC's winter session might be eliminated and the summer session could be reduced by one-third.

Earlier this year, SMC administrators told the students that the school is facing particularly severe budget cuts.

"Nobody seemed to be doing anything about it, which really upset me a lot," said Tobias Deml, a second-year student and Associated Students member who organized the SMC students' participation in the "March in March."

While it is uncertain what influence the rally might have on Sacramento legislators, Deml said he has seen college-related protests affect change in his home country of Austria. However, last year, he went to a similar action in downtown Los Angeles, and was disappointed to discover no more than 5,000 people in attendance.

"Hearing about [the protest] this year, being in the position I'm in [with the Associated Students], gives me a chance to make a mark in something I care about," Deml said.

He said one of his teachers said in class, "'If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.' With all actions, you never know what the outcome is going to be, but you have to hope."

SMC Dean of Student Life Deyna Hearn, who provides administrative leadership to the Associated Students but did not attend the protest, was unsure about the impact the "March in March" may have.

"Some folks seem to think that by the time they do their marches, it'll be too late, but some folks think not," she said. Hearn said a similar march in Sacramento in 2004 was better coordinated.

She added, "I'm looking forward to hearing from students when they return, about their whole experience. "I hope it's not just an exercise, but something that will bring about some type of result."

Legislators will soon vote on whether to put Brown's proposal to extend temporary tax increases on the ballot. But even if the extension were to pass, drastic cuts would still likely be made to education in California.

A follow-up event to the "March in March" called "Hands Across California" will take place Apr. 17, a month before the 25th anniversary of "Hands Across America." More than 1.5 million people representing nearly all of the state's 112 community colleges are expected to take part in the effort, creating a 1,500-mile human chain throughout California.