Students red over potential budget cuts

Hundreds of students and faculty gathered on the southeast corner of Chapman Avenue and Lemon Street, adorned in black clothing and painted red hands, to protest the continued budget cuts that have affected California colleges since last fall.

Signs featuring the symbolic red fist, which read "Our Future. Our Choice", also marked the protest, which took place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Several Associated Students members, including treasurer Jesse Garcia and Tyler McLellan, led the crowd in chants in the hopes that the protest will impact future decisions on college budget matters.

"I'm here because I believe that state of California is making it unfair for us because we have to spend more," said Josh Comyns, a business major. "I hope it spreads out all the way to the top and bottom of this entire state and that they understand that we are here to make a statement."

Comyns was just one of the near hundred students holding signs, a scene that pleased AS President Peter Cornett.

"I'm very impressed with the turnout," Cornett said. "No one should say now that college students are apathetic after this showing."

According to both Cornett and Garcia, the red fist symbolized a change in the attitude of the students.

"In a sense it symbolizes us getting caught red-handed in our apathy," Garcia said, "and we're here today to show that we realize that and we're here to make a statement now."

The black clothing symbolized mourning over the state of the current budget and where it is going.

Student officials from Cypress College made it out to support the effort as there was no protest scheduled at the sister college, according to Tiffany Walton, co-president of Cypress College human services.

"I volunteered with our AS to come over and support [FC]," Walton said. "I hope that people start to realize how important education is and that if the next generation comes in and can't afford it…that's a scary thought about our future."

Walton added that Cypress' AS President Jose Gonzalez was also in attendance to support, but was not involved in the planning of the event.

Aside from students from both FC and Cypress, the protest brought out members of FC's faculty as well as Leonard Lahtinen from the North Orange County Community College District board of trustees.

"It's great to see students out here supporting a great cause because it's all about the students," Lahtinen said. "As a member of the board of trustees, I want to see our students demonstrating the needs that they have here and we're hurting financially and we have to get the message out. This is definitely going to help."

American History professor Josh Ashenmiller also believed that the protest would have a huge impact through the media and getting the message to the board.

"They're the ones that need to hear about it because they control the state allocations," Ashenmiller said.

Campus Safety also made itself present, although there wasn't much need for any authoritative intervention according to Steve Selby, director of Campus Safety.

Although students were loud while showing their dislike of the current economic situation involving school budgets, there were no signs of violence.

"I didn't expect to see so many people," Selby said, "but they're exercising their First Amendment rights and they're doing it in a peaceful way. It's a timely message about struggling with cuts and they have a point to make and they're doing it the right way."

The March 4 effort at FC was just one on a day where protests were scheduled to be scattered at campuses all across the nation, with a focus primarily in California.

But for Comyns and the rest of the protesters at our campus, they felt that this message needed to be expressed in order to try and make a difference.

"I'm behind this movement a lot because I know people who have been in bad neighborhoods and I know that they have a future too," Comyns said. "If we let this happen, what's the point? They're just going to be on the sidelines. Everyone on this earth deserves to have a future."