Chabot rallies against budget cuts

Students voiced their opinions against the budget cuts last Tuesday during a Speak Out organized by the Students for Social Justice (SSJ), with much anticipated student speakers.

Kip Waldo, an instructior of Sociology and current supervisor SJJ said, “Students like to think that things are cut and that’s the end.”

 He continued, “We are speaking out because questions need to be asked, and the students should be informed as to the reasons.” These cuts are a growing problem, for Waldo says, “the cuts don’t just affect Chabot.”

 He ended on the note that the cuts “are pushed on to the grade schools and high schools that [students] came from, as well as the Universities they want to transfer to.”

Kip Waldo is not the only one with these worries, for there is Rachel Gonzalez of the California Student and Teacher Association.

 She commented, “There is a serious problem, and it is closing the doors of education to all students, in that the number of classes, as well as lab hours have been cut severely.”

Gonzalez was planning a mock funeral for the “death of education,” but Waldo’s Speak Out was scheduled on the same day.

 The scheduling conflict was resolved when Gonzalez moved her event to this spring. The Speak Out was a rally of sorts, with many flyers and a slew of speakers that seemed to build the audience’s energy.

 The information was formatted for the consumption of the common person with plenty of pep and vigor thrown in. And of course, no event can be complete without music. The sounds were modern and emotional, as if aiming to hit a personal chord. The milling of the audience had a hum of hope and at times pure anxiety about what the speakers were saying.

 The tone of the speeches was all about budget cuts and the audacity of the corruption of those who make the financial decisions. A few shouts recalled the films and pictures of protests of the 1960s.

It is only fitting that the Speak Out was held in the Caesar Chavez courtyard. Chavez was a protester who spoke out and made a difference for the plight migrant workers. The students at Chabot are speaking out against the limitations on the education they pay for.

 Once awoken, the protest could be hard to put back to sleep. In the 1960s there was a rash of protests. Then social change was the target, now it is fiscal change. There is no burning of undergarments or sit-ins. Loud music has changed from psychedelic rock to alternative and rap.

 A generation or two removed from the “peace and love” generation, and the spirit protest seems to be alive and kicking. On campuses like the University of California at Berkeley and Berkeley City College there are tree-ins and event planning meetings.

 As Caesar Chavez said “Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves--and be free.” In essence, as it is said, “freedom is not free.” Protests and rallies are the price for the freedom of education. Chaves himself spoke at Chabot in t he 1970’s.