With the Department of Education in turmoil, who will distribute Pell grants and other assistance?
Fate of 1,400 undergraduate student workers hinges on university response.
Faculty, students, labor groups and the American Civil Liberties Union say the harder line on demonstrations may be discriminatory.
Rejecting years of unequal treatment, 20,000 low-paid California State University student assistants and workers vote to organize.
A pay system that does not guarantee raise agreements is a key reason.
Despite a 10% raise, professors, lecturers, coaches, counselors and others will return to contract negotiations within months.
California Faculty Association members seeking a pay raise walked out at four of the 23 campuses this week.
It’s been no secret that public higher education in California is badly broken, following four decades of disinvestment and tuition hikes.
A January study found that 11 percent of students on the California State University’s 23-campuses reported being homeless during the past year. At Humboldt State nearly a fifth said they’d been homeless at one point during 2017.
Co-published by International Business Times
Since 2004, California’s public university students have collectively racked up student debt in excess of $12 billion. There was a time when tuition-free college was the norm in California.
Last month a seven-member panel met in the state Capitol to discuss the calamitous funding situation of the California State University system. BY SETH SANDRONSKY
This afternoon both sides currently engaged in contract talks announced a tentative accord that will postpone a threatened strike by the 26,000-member California Faculty Association.
Members of the 26,000-strong California Faculty Association (CFA) are threatening to carry out their first system-wide, simultaneous strike in the event contract talks with the California State University administration (CSU) reach a stalemate.
Faculty and students from the 23 campuses of the California State University (CSU) system will demonstrate today over a contract fight that they say is critical to the future of higher education in the Golden State. The actions will be highlighted by a march through downtown Long Beach, ending at the state chancellor’s office, where the CSU Board of Trustees is to meet.
The long-running conflict intensified last week, as the California Faculty Association (CFA) announced that 94 percent of its members who voted agreed to authorize a strike. Faculty have been frustrated by what they say is under-investment in teaching: stagnant wages and the CSU’s move towards cheaper part-time teachers rather than tenure-line faculty, while at the same time hiring and giving raises to non-academic supervisors and top management. Student fees increased multiple times over that period. The result, say CFA members, is that students face a tougher path to graduation,
» Read more about: Why California's State University Faculty Might Hit the Bricks »
On Tuesday a coalition of faculty, legislators, staff and students (pictured above) marched to Governor Jerry Brown’s office in support of greatly increased funding for the California State University system. Governor Brown’s budget for the 2014-2015 fiscal year includes $142.2 million for the beleaguered CSU system, a five percent increase in its budget. Kevin Wehr, a sociology professor at CSU Sacramento and one of the marchers, said that “the governor’s proposal is welcome but it’s not nearly enough. [The cuts to the CSU budget] were massive, deep and really hurt the ability to deliver a quality public education.”
During the recession, many state programs were hit hard by budget cuts. However, the economic downturn took a particularly devastating toll on the state university system. More than a billion dollars was slashed from its budget as California dealt with the recession. Only a small fraction has since been restored.
The CSU system faces numerous problems.