California College Students, Educators March on Capitol Building (Video)

by Ben Deci

SACRAMENTO-

Higher education students and staff marched on the Capitol Building Thursday to express their frustrations with Governor Jerry Brown and UC President Janet Napolitano.

Brown is threatening to cut $120 million in funding to the University of California system if there are tuition increases and more out-of-state students admitted, but Napolitano promises to do both of those things unless the state can come up with a $219 million bump to those schools.

“If you look at the segments of the budget, the one that’s gone up the most is the prisons,” UC Davis physics professor Joe Kiskis said. “The one that’s gone down the most, gown down 30 percent [since 2001] is the University of California.”

As the UC and CSUS systems are deciding how to serve students, who gets in and who’s left out next fall, Brown and Napolitano have formed a committee of two – a closed door negotiation to hammer out a deal for next year.

Pavan Upadhyayula is a student who gave testimony for the committee or two to consider.

“What I’m concerned of is not the one year, it’s what the next 10 or 15 years are going to be. Because this is my generation. It’s now our generations time to come in and lead. But we’re left picking up the scraps form before,” Upadhyayula said. “I don’t think it’s fair for students to be the ones balancing the Governor’s check book.”

[Source]: Fox40.com