Students unite in march

[MARCH continued]

“When I went [to Pierce], it went from $5 to $11 per unit, and now it’s forty-something dollars per unit?” Sherman said. “That’s ridiculous, community college isn’t supposed to be like a Cal state school where you can’t afford it.”

Other than lowering costs of education, protesters also want the new funding from Proposition 30 to be properly allocated, including SOS member Bernard Hanamichi, who went on the trip to keep legislators accountable.

“We want funding to go specifically to the classrooms,” Hanamichi said. “[Pierce has] the physical space for more classes, but there are lots of students who have to crash courses.”

Sherman also took issue with a proposed 90-unit cap on students who wish to attend community colleges in Calif.

“I have 138 units. If I were to come back to Pierce to try to help myself get a job, I wouldn’t be able to,” Sherman said.

Many protesters held a similar view. Chants of “90-unit cap? That’s a bunch of crap” were frequent throughout the march.

ONLINE REGISTRATION BEGINS APRIL 3

Take advantage of the large number of Summer Session classes offered beginning May 28. Whatever your academic goals, chances are you’ll find a class within the wide selection of listed courses many of which are now available online.

Representatives from all three systems of higher education helped organize the event, including the president of the University of California Students Association, Raquel Morales.

“Our point was to stand in solidarity with one another as the three systems and to get the point across that we need more funding,” Morales said. “The students were really fired up. Hopefully the legislators got the message.

The theme of the event was summed up by the president of the Associated Student Council at the City College of San Francisco, Shanell Williams, who spoke at the rally.

Summer Session 2013 is for you if you are a

❯ Qualified high school student

❯ Community college student ready for upper-division degree work

❯ Home-for-the-summer college student

❯ Business professional on a part-time degree track

❯ Community member who wants to take a university class

SESSION DATES

❯ SUMMER SESSION 1 : May 28 – August 20 (12 weeks)

❯ SUMMER SESSION 2: May 28 – July 9 (6 weeks)

❯ SUMMER SESSION 3: July 10 – August 20 (6 weeks)

The course list is available online at http://summer.csun.edu

“Higher education should be available to all, regardless of their economic means,” Williams said.

Afterwards, participants had a chance to speak with legislators, though the opportunities were not guaranteed without an appointment.

McKeever was pleased with the overall event and was happy to see the students’ passion, especially from the SOS members that had traveled over eight hours by bus to reach Sacramento.

“They are a group of students that really, truly inspire me,” McKeever said.