FIGHT THE FEES PLANS WALKOUT ON MAY 1

Continuing the activist endeavors since the news of state cuts broke in January, the Fight the Fees campaign is preparing to lead a student walkout on May 1 to protest the planned cuts to SF State and the California State University system.

The Fight the Fees campaign conducted a teach-in on April 23 to inform students about a walk-out planned for next Thursday.

“Faculty rarely leads on this campus, we follow you all. Faculty follows students,” said Larry Salomon, a lecturer in the College of Ethnic Studies who spoke at the teach-in.

About 100 students and several faculty attended the teach-in Wednesday. Guest speakers from City College of San Francisco and San Francisco high schools spoke about their experience with past cuts and showed strong support for the campaign.

The teach-in is part of a series of campus events addressing the state budget cuts that stem back to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposition in January to cut $312.9 million from the CSU.

The student walkout is planned to begin at noon next week, when supporters are expected to walk out of classrooms and rally at Malcolm X Plaza. The congregation is planned to ride Muni and gather at Dolores Park, where it will begin a march to the Civic Center.

Students began organizing the campaign in January, and began meeting in February to discuss the California budget crisis, the CSU budget cuts and the resulting effects on the SF State campus.

The Fight the Fees group rallied in early March and held a teach-in and an event in the quad that led to a loud but peaceful march into the Administration building as students chanted, “No cuts, no fees.”

The teach-in followed a noon rally on April 18 at Malcolm X Plaza, where organizers held an open mic event in protest of the potential cuts, which they said will add to the continual fee hikes, and called for a student walk-out to shut down the school.