Students Protests Class Cuts At Southwestern

Southwestern Faculty and Students also Fault College for Repsonse

Oct 31, 2009 Jon Pike

Southwestern College, near San Diego, has cut classes in response to the state's fiscal crisis. Protesters also say the college has been heavy-handed in its response.

Nobody is denying the effect that California’s fiscal crisis is having on the state’s huge public higher education system. The state operates two large university systems, and a large community college system. What some people are having problems with is how the issue is being dealt with. Southwestern College, which is located in the San Diego area, has cut 400 classes from next semester’s schedule. Students and faculty have protested the move. Now people are saying that the college’s response to the protests has been heavy-handed.

How Southwestern College has Dealt with the Protest

It’s just not students who have protested the budget-cutting move. Some faculty have also raised their voices in protest. Four faculty members who attended the protest, including a past and current president of the faculty union, have reportedly been barred from campus and from using campus e-mail. The faculty members say that when they received letters about their suspensions, the letters included a reference to a somewhat obscure California law, which prohibits individuals from "willfully disrupting the orderly operation of the campus." The faculty say they can think of no other reason they have been suspended, other than participating in the protests.

Bloggers have been weighing in on the protests, including criticizing the campus restricting protests to a fifty- yard-by-fifty yard, “Free Speech Zone” that is nestled between campus buildings.

The Administration Responds to the Charges

The college’s president, Raj Chopra has been on vacation while this incident has been going on. So far, the reported response from the administration has been rather short. One statement that was released by the college says the college “will not comment at this time about the substance of the investigation or any particular employee.” That was the initial response by the college, in a more recent statement, the college has said, “The College shares our students' concerns about reductions in State funding for the College. The College respects, values and is committed to freedom of expression.” In addition, the statement says: “The College will continue to advocate for the needs of our students by securing the necessary resources that will allow them to achieve their educational goals in these challenging times.”

Meanwhile, president Chopra is facing an official backlash from faculty and staff at the college. Both faculty and non-teaching staff at the college have issued votes of no confidence in Chopra.

The copyright of the article Students Protests Class Cuts At Southwestern in Activism is owned by Jon Pike. Permission to republish Students Protests Class Cuts At Southwestern in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Southwestern College

What do you think about this article?

---

NOTE: Because you are not a Suite101 member, your comment will be moderated before it is viewable.

post your comment

What is 4+2?