UPDATE, APRIL 21, 1:25 P.M.: CSUF president Milton Gordon and student demonstrators have jointly approved a revised declaration. Gordon is signing it in front of the university's humanities building in a press conference happening now.
A revised declaration okayed by university president Milton Gordon was circled back to the students this afternoon. They plan to read it over and deliberate tonight, though one student organizer, Cameron Mahdad, didn't seem too enthused about the changes. “It seems like no one enjoyed the revisions,” he says, though won't say what those revisions are until he talks with his schoolmates.
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“It hurts to see friends and family punished for something they didn't
do,” Mahdad says of the massive statewide budget cuts that prompted the
declaration.
More than 100 students and a couple faculty members camped out in the building last night. “Actually, we had fun,” says Wendy Elliott-Scheinberg,
a history professor. “We played games, sang songs.” She called Gordon a
“wonderful man” and is very hopeful a resolution will be made.
Tonight, more students from as far away as Sacramento State are expected to join the sit-in.
ORIGINAL POST, APRIL 19, 6:19 P.M.: In an act of solidarity and
defiance, about 50 student activists at Cal State Fullerton brought
sleeping bags and pillows to the school's administration building Monday
night for a sit- sleep-in that's continuing tonight. The '60-style protest is in response to university president Milton Gordon's
refusal to sign something called a “Declaration to Defend Public
Education,” a statement from students and faculty that calls for
increased funding for higher education in the wake of massive statewide
budget cuts.
Guess the ramen protest wasn't enough.
On Monday, students met with Gordon, who expressed concerns about some of the
declaration's language regarding teachers and contracts, but later
issued a statement saying he agreed with many points of the document and
commended the students for their civic engagement. Still, some students
believe his signature would simply be symbolic gesture of support.
“It's just an act of good faith
from our administration, and he won't give that to us,” student
Carie Rael told ABC 7. “He won't show his support. He says he's supportive. He
states all these statistics on how he's supportive, but we don't see
that.”
So the groggy-eyed CSUF students will continue to camp out at Langsdorf
Hall tonight, and will be joined by other young protesters from Cal State Dominguez
Hills, Los Angeles, Pomona and Long Beach. They plan to stay there until Gordon
reconsiders his decision and agrees to work with them on a resolution.
The latest tweets from campus newspaper Daily Titan.
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