93 classes cut from City College; protesters at Civic Center rally against higher-ed cuts

By Lance Kramer
The Guardsman

Special note: This article was produced in a joint effort between CCSF’s “The  Guardsman” and SFSU’s “Xpress” newspaper. The two college news outlets  are merging coverage for the “March in March” protests, March 1 in San  Francisco and March 5 in Sacramento.

Over 300 protesters assembled in front of San Francisco’s City Hall and the California State Building  on March  1 to protest cuts to higher education, and many will continue marching  99 miles to Sacramento for a larger protest on Monday.

The  assembly known as March in March kicked off at 3 p.m. at the State  Building at 455 Golden Gate Avenue then proceeded to Civic Center. The  event was organized by groups such as Occupy CCSF, Associated Students  of City College, the Northern California Occupy Education Coalition and  the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 2121.

“We  want the wealthiest of California to stand up and pay higher taxes to  help the ninety-nine percent,“ said Alisa Messer, president of the AFT  at City College.

Students  across the state have been advocating for various tax initiatives on  the California ballot such as the Millionares Tax, the Oil Severance Tax  and Governor Brown’s tax plan.

"We  shouldn't be taxed like Donald Trump; tax the rich to fund our  education," said Veronica Garcia, a rally supporter and member of the  City College student group Students Making a Change.

San Francisco supervisor John Avalos also joined in with some encouraging words.

“I  think that we can actually make history this year and win a ballot  measure to pay for education,” he said - possibly referring to City  College’s upcoming parcel tax, which will be on the ballot this  November.

Because  of budget cut-backs, 93City College classes were cut this semester,  and more will be cut this summer. In response, protesters and occupiers  are headed to Sacramento to ask for lower class fees, less student  loans, more full-time faculty and counselors, affordable textbooks and  more class availability.

The  March in March will make their voices and concerns heard at the State  capitol on Monday, March 5, where thousands are expected to gather in  unified protest. The march will begin at 10 a.m. at Southside Park at  2115 Sixth St. in Sacramento and will meet the rest of the protesters at  the steps of the capitol building.

Additional reporting was provided by Brian Balisi of the Xpress of San Francisco State University. March 5 this post was amended to list 93 classes cut from City College, reflecting the newest information from sources at CCSF.

Additional coverage: Tweets and live photo updates from the March 1 protest at Civic Center can be seen at http://www.goldengatexpress.org/2012/03/01/live-day-of-action-rally/ .

Video coverage can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/theguardsmanonline .