March 16, Sacramento—Seven thousand students, faculty, staff and other community supporters, many of them traveling hours in buses from schools around the state, marched and rallied in front of the state Capitol on March 16 to protest cuts in public higher education.   They came from UC campuses and from CSU campuses.  But the loudest roar by far rose from the crowd when a speaker asked, "How many of you are from community colleges?"

Dean Murakami, CFT vice president and faculty member in the Los Rios Community College District, told the gathering that the future of the state was in the hands of the legislature and governor, and they needed to find the progressive revenues necessary to fully fund education.  

Axel Borg, a librarian at UC Davis and president of the UC-AFT chapter on that campus, spoke about the importance of libraries in education, and in social literacy in general.  He asked for support for the UC librarians in their stalled contract negotiations.

Most of the show belonged to the community college students.  They provided the majority of speakers, and the noisy, enthusiastic energy that marked the march and rally.  

CFT locals played a major role in helping everyone get to Sacramento.  The State Center Federation of Teachers, in Fresno, sent four buses.  The San Jose and San Mateo locals likewise sent busloads of students and faculty, as did K-12 locals, such as the Jefferson Elementary and High School unions.  But the biggest chunk of the crowd came from San Francisco, where Local 2121 arranged for more than 40 buses to send a couple thousand people.

Local 2121 president Gus Goldstein pointed out in an interview that the spirit of the crowd was great, and everyone attending felt good.  But the true test of success for the rally would be in seeing everyone go back home and tell their legislators that in a time of economic recession and budget difficulties, the only solution was to increase revenues to the state, and that could only happen if we raise taxes on the rich and corporations.  She also noted that the two-thirds supermajority requirement of the legislature to pass a budget and taxes needed to be reformed.

See a five minute video on the march and rally with CFT leaders interviewed (CFT produced).  

See another longer video on the march and rally produced by Labor Video Project.