Cal State students rally against governor’s
cuts
Hundreds of students and faculty gathered outside Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s L.A. offices Monday to protest looming
budget cuts that could force the California State University
campuses to raise fees and slash enrollment.
The protesters hoisted signs reading “˜”˜Don’t
terminate our future” and chanted “˜”˜No
more cuts” in opposition to Schwarzenegger’s
proposal to trim $240 million, or 9 percent, from CSU’s
funding.
The cuts would affect about 10 percent of incoming freshmen,
about 4,200 students, who would be redirected to community
colleges. The cuts would also mean student fee increases of 10
percent for undergraduate students and 40 percent for graduate
students, on top of 40 percent increases last year.
Schwarzenegger spokesman H.D. Palmer said the budget situation
“˜”˜required savings to be achieved across every aspect
of state government, including higher education.”
John Travis, president of the California Faculty Association,
said the cuts would cripple the 23-campus public university system,
the nation’s largest, following last year’s budget
reductions of nearly $300 million.
“˜”˜No more cuts is our message, and we’re
sticking to it,” Travis told the students and faculty,
most from campuses around Southern California.
Virginia Sheridan, a mathematics lecturer at California State
University, Bakersfield, said her department would lay off about 10
part-time lecturers and eliminate nearly a dozen classes as a
result of the cutbacks.
Reports from Bruin wire services.
Claremont professor charged
A Claremont McKenna psychology professor who claimed her car was
vandalized with racist and anti-Semitic slurs was charged Monday
with filing a false police report and insurance fraud.
Professor Kerri Dunn’s claim of being the victim of a hate
crime shocked Claremont and associated colleges 30 miles east of
Los Angeles, leading to rallies against intolerance last month.
Police and the FBI began investigating, but within days police
reported there were witness accounts of Dunn vandalizing the car
herself.
Dunn, 39, will be arraigned May 19 on one count of filing a
false police report, a misdemeanor, and two felony counts of
insurance fraud.
Dunn, a visiting professor, claimed she discovered the vandalism
on her car on March 9 while preparing a lecture on campus for a
forum on racism.
The next day, she allegedly called her insurance company about
the vandalism and theft of items from the car, prosecutors
said.
Compiled from Bruin wire services.