School Budget Cuts
In Other Words wants to hear how budget cuts are affecting your school. Leave us a comment or send us your pictures and videos.
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Planning for College Amidst a Crisis
By Jessica Lipsky
“If you’re a high school student at Mission right now, the possibility of going to college is going away. You’re not going to City College, you’re not going to a UC, anywhere,” Andy Lipson yells among a throng of protesters in front of San Francisco’s City College. The Mission High School teacher’s veins bulge in his skinny neck as he screams infuriating truths into a megaphone. “The little bit of hope [our students] had about advancing in this…country has been extinguished!”
The college-age crowd roars, waving signs with mildly clever phrases urging action to end budget cuts and fee increases. “Don’t let us down,” shouts a curly-haired co-ed, her voice several octaves higher than the low roar of her protesting peers.
But many students are being let down. The University of California Regents recently approved a 32 percent fee hike and the California State University system plans to slash enrollment by more than 40,000 students for the fall 2010 semester, the same semester that has seen applications increase by 32 percent from last year. The resulting crunch has high school seniors more anxious and competitive than ever, with many considering alternatives to the traditional four-year state school path.
For Evan McCann, a Berkeley High School senior whose top schools are UC Berkley and San Francisco State, the budget cuts represent a swift kick in the pants and the potential destruction of his collegiate plans. On the Thursday of the UC Regents’ decision, Evan walks into the pizza shop where he works with slumped shoulders and sorrowful black eyes. The restaurant only has a few customers and with nothing to do, Evan skulks about the restaurant, shuffling his feet between the pizza delivery and dishwashing stations.
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Financial Aid for Former Foster Youth
The California Watch, a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting, launched its website today. One of the first blog posts examines financial aid for youth who have been a part of California’s foster care system.
The post cites a recent study by the Institute for College Access & Success that shows many foster youth procure far less aid than they are eligible to receive. According to the story, many roadblocks exist to foster youth receiving the aid, such as age limits which disqualify many of the youth by the time they enter a four-year college.
Read the full story at California Watch.org.
You can also listen to The California Report’s three-part series on foster care at The California Report.org.
A Modest Proposal: Bachelor’s Degrees from Community Colleges
Last week, The California Report discussed Assemblyman Marty Block’s proposal to allow community colleges to award four-year bachelor’s degrees. Listen to the report below:
CSU Admission Tougher to Come By
This morning’s California Report examined the increasingly difficult task of transferring from a community college into the California State University system. In order to meet a $500 million dollar budget gap, CSUs are cutting their admissions by 40% over the next two years. Reporter Mina Kim talked to students caught in the middle.
UC Students Occupy Campus Building
The lead story in this morning’s California Report was again about students protesting the University of California regents’ vote to increase tuition. The story includes a report from the UC Berkeley campus, where students occupied a building overnight. One protester who was interviewed said that money is being spent on “construction” instead of “instruction.”
UC Regents Approve Tuition Hikes
Despite protests at University of California campuses across the state, the UC regents voted today to approve a tuition increase that brings the yearly cost of attending a UC to over $10,000. Rob Schmitz filed this report for KQED Radio News.
Forum: UC and CSU Protests
The cuts keep coming and so do the protests. Leaders of the California State University and the University of California systems both have meetings scheduled this week: fee increases and enrollment limits are on the table. Students and faculty plan to voice their dissatisfaction by staging rallies and walking out of classes. KQED’s Forum talked to San Jose Mercury News reporter Lisa Krieger about how community colleges and universities are faring in these financially tough times and how students are reacting.
Ali Reza Talks Art, Politics and Shepard Fairey
This article is republished from WireTap.
By Zoneil Maharaz
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Iranian-American street artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and DJ Ali Reza (a.k.a. ABCNT) creates work that is rooted heavily in politics. His enigmatic trademark design features the upper body of a man in a business suit wearing a bandit mask.
His designs — including a tribute print of slain Iranian protester Neda Agha-Soltan, a poster of Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Dracula and a graphic of Bill O’Reilly with a gun to the back of his head (guess who the masked assailant is) titled “Kill Bill” — have hit walls from L.A. to Iran and everywhere in between, either by Reza himself or those aligned with his mission.
We caught up with Reza to talk about art and politics.
Zoneil Maharaj: Shepard Fairey is the first artist that comes to peoples’ minds when I show folks your work. Fairey’s been criticized by other artists for his re-appropriation of political images; some have called it plagiarism. You posted the “Disobey Duh Fairey” video on your blog. What’s your opinion of Fairey and artists using fair use images in their work in general?
Ali Reza: [Our work is] in the same genre, if anything, but I feel like my work is more relevant politically and that’s been intentional. I do a lot of different stuff in various mediums so the comparison is maybe true regarding some of my work. I mean, street art is a global movement and Shepard Fairey definitely made his mark, got up all over the world and influenced a lot of people, but at this point his whole gimmick is transparent to a lot of people. Personally, he lost me a long time ago.
As far as plagiarism, just recently Obey Clothing ripped off our crew member Mullett’s (Restitution Press) bandit image , which, in a way, led to the “Disobey Duh Fairey” video. Phantom was already spearheading that project and I happened to catch him on the radio on KPFK just a couple days after we found out about the Res Press situation. I just knew I had to take that audio and narrate it visually to teach people who just don’t know any better. It’s a beautiful thing to represent truth. So, I mean, it is what it is, and people have a right to call him out.
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Cal Tackles World’s Record
Students at UC Berkeley created a California roll that was more than 100 yards long, setting a new world’s record in the process.
Visit the The California Report to hear the audio story and look through photos of the event below.
Huge Enrollment Cuts at CSU
KQED Radio News reported this week that the California State University system will cut almost 10% of its current enrollment– that’s about 40,000 students.
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