Faculty Walkout

Welcome Back UC Davis,

The first day of school has never been as exciting as it was this year. It seems that every UC campus has adapted a new and costly tradition: increase tuition at the beginning of every year. But this year faculty, staff, and students gathered at the East Quad to protest not only tuition increases, but university forced furloughs, resource cuts, and ultimately the university’s' leadership. Over 1200 faculty from a variety of UC's signed a petition urging students and faculty to get together on the first day of school and literally walk out of their class rooms to protest against all the recent sacrifices that have been made because of budget cuts.

AggieTV had the opportunity to speak with the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Fred Wood where he said "tuition increases are the last thing that the university wants to do." He continued by explaining that he hopes that the government officials in Sacramento understand the frustration that the faculty and students are feeling this year. The recent budget cut has brought about suggestions from all sectors in California that range from simply reducing work force and salaries to partially privatizing the UC system in general.

But there are some faculty and students that feel that protesting wont do much. In fact a professor mentioned that tuition has been increasing for a decade now and that protesting with the slogan "it's for the student's" is simply false pretense. It wasn't until the faculty and staff received furlough days and resources had their budget cut or eliminated completely that prompted this urgency to protest.

Nonetheless, whether it's faculty, staff, or students what we all have in common is the fact that we all have been forced to make extreme sacrifices; whether it is paying more for school or getting paid less at work.

The fact remains that something needs to change.

I want to hear everyone’s side and story of how the walk out or the recent budget cuts have affect YOU personally. Present your case, with civility, debate the possibilities and suggestions for university reform that are out there.

So leave a comment and let me know and all of the UC Davis campus how you truly feel about the recent budget cuts!

Always trying to bring you good news,

Ignacio Torres

Reporter and News Producer