In the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District John O’Connell High School is celebrating the premier of its new solar-powered “woodshop,” According to an article by Jill Tuckler in the San Francisco Chronicle. The barn sized space is equipped with power tools and according to David Goldin, the District Chief Facilities Officer, the space is big enough that students could wheel in a small airplane. The new building is impressive compared to the small classroom where carpentry classes were held before, a room that could fit roughly 15 students at a time. In addition to carpentry the school hopes to see robotics and aeronautics classes eventually taught there.

The introduction of the new space also ushers in a new curriculum where vocational and technical training are combined with college-prep, providing hands-on experience with the academics necessary to fulfill UC standards. Once frowned-upon, vocational training is now being seen as a viable means of giving student’s trade-skills necessary for career paths and the integration of academics with this training means students will be prepared for college as well.

CALIFORNIA- About 500 people are gathered at Telegraph and Bancroft Way in Berkeley, and 250 more at Laney College in Oakland, as the March 4th Day of Action kicks off at public schools and universities across California.

Twenty-year-old Cal student Eddie Rivero said he has friends who will have to drop out of school because they're undocumented immigrants who can't get financial aid and are paying part of their tuition with scholarships. He said they won't be able to cover costs as tuition rises.

Gladys Rodriguez is a 20-year-old Humanities student at Cal who said resources and supplies are limited in her department and a lot of classes have been cut.

At Berkeley, some members of the MeChA student group gathered in advance of the 12 o'clock rally have their faces painted, using skeleton designs to symbolize "the death of public education".

At Laney College in Oakland, a crowd of about 250 people is growing steadily in the main quad, where students trickling out of classes are watching a rap performance about the Day of Action. Dozens of signs are being waved in the crowd of mostly black and brown youth.

Oakland's 17th street has been closed down at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. A march to Frank Ogawa Plaza is planned from Laney College and Oakland's Fruitvale BART.

Youth Radio's Day of Action coverage is also available at Twitter.com/youthradio, or you can follow our Day of Action list.

WEB EXCLUSIVE

SACRAMENTO-- California colleges and universities have been hit hard by state budget cuts cuts. Fewer classes are being offered, pay cuts for staff and faculty have been handed down, and classes sizes are blooming. In response to all this, protesters against these drastic cuts have held numerous demonstrations across the state at various college campuses.

We spoke with California State Senator Loni Hancock, a member of the State Senate's Education Committee about the budget cuts. Senator Hancock discusses the root of the budget crisis and what steps are being undertaken in Sacramento to address the budget shortfall.

Students have joined forces with faculty and staff as part of a massive walkout at ten University of California campuses on Thursday. Student protesters say budget cuts have negatively impacted the quality of their education. Youth Radio spoke with 20-year-old Tu Tran who is going into his fourth year as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley. Tran is also the executive vice president of the Associated Students of the University of California.

What role have you played in organizing the walkout?

I haven’t played any direct role, but ASUC has helped a lot. For example, we help ... to provide mics for the rally, and to build a bridge between students, faculty, and administration members. We also have been spreading the word, sending emails to our undergraduate population ... in support of the walkout. It shows that we stand in solidarity with the people who support this.

What reasons have students shared with you in terms of why they’re walking out or helping plan this walkout?

We have a diverse campus so it’s hard to tell you what they all think. But it boils down to being upset. Not only as a vice president, but as a student at Cal, we’ve had enough with the budget cuts. It hasn’t been since the 1930s that such a drastic increase in tuition [has been proposed]—it’s been proposed that tuition would increase 32 percent.

How have UC budget cuts impacted you and your Cal education? Please give specific examples.

I’ve seen services drastically decrease. We used to have computer stations and now we don’t. We use to have set library hours and now we don’t. It’s getting harder to get into undergraduate classes. I was looking into saving this year and now it’s looking hard to do so. What I don’t understand is, if we are going to pay more to close the budget, we should still have the same services -- but in this case we are getting the short end of the stick.
 

Faculty and students of UC campuses are taking the system's budget cut crisis into their own hands and walking out on Thursday Sept 24th. It’s been announced that 10 UCs are taking part of this walkout--UC Berkeley being one of them. This year alone UC faculty experienced a cut of 4-10 percent in their salary, including 26 furlough days. Students are being hit by the budget squeeze as well. There has been an increase in tuition, less financial aid is available and school resources have been cut.

According to Dan Mogulos, Executive Director of Public Affairs at UC Berkeley: “last year in the fall 1500 classes were held on Thursday, there is no way of knowing how many classes we’ll be canceled for that day.” Mongulos says the number of faculty participating—as of right now—is 100 out of 2130 faculty members. Mongulos says this number is expected to change as the day gets closer.

According to Mongulos faculty members have the right to walkout, but before they do they need to ensure their students have material to work on. “If they—professors—walkout, they have to notify the students ahead of time and make sure the course material is done.”

More after the jump... Read more...

University of California leaders decided to move forward to cut 4-10 percent of employees’ salaries and to take 11 to 26 furlough days.