CSUN Students Call for 2-Day Boycott Over Funding Cuts : Education: Instead of classes, speeches and outdoor seminars on politics and the state budget are scheduled. A voter registration drive is also planned.

Students at Cal State Northridge are urging a boycott of classes today and Thursday to protest the 8.8% funding cut to higher education made this year by the Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson.

The two-day campus “shutdown” has been endorsed by CSUN’s Associated Students Senate and is being duplicated on at least two other Cal State University campuses.

Instead of going to classes, students are being asked to attend speeches and outdoor seminars on politics and the state budget that will be staged all day on the lawn in front of the campus library, organizers said.

Students also plan to register voters.

Faculty members are being asked to either cancel classes to allow students to attend the events or to hold classes outdoors.

“It is all voluntary,” said CSUN’s Associated Students President Sal Damji. “But I hope our elected representatives will take notice of how upset students and faculty are about what is happening in education.”

State budget cuts have made the task of getting into required courses at CSUN even more difficult than usual, and prompted the cancellation of 843 classes from the nearly 5,800 planned for the fall semester.

The state budget cuts have also increased enrollment levels in many courses and are expected to delay graduation for thousands of students.

In addition, several hundred part-time instructors have been laid off as a result of the cuts.

Students say they are especially angry because the cuts were made as the cost of attending Cal State campuses was increased this year by 40%.

Last year, the Legislature increased fees 20%.

Annual fees to attend a Cal State university now total about $1,300.

“I’m hoping that people get the message that students are a political force in California,” said Fabio Escobar, a CSUN Student Senate representative and one of the event’s organizers. “This year’s budget is already done, but we can influence the way money is spent on individual campuses.”

Students at San Diego State and San Francisco State universities are planning similar events, Escobar said.

Organizers of the shutdowns at those campuses met CSUN students this summer in Sacramento while protesting funding cuts, he said.

The CSUN Faculty Senate also voted to support the idea, but called it an “emergency education session.”

Faculty members say the state cuts threaten to devalue a Cal State University diploma and promise an increased workload for the same pay.

“The Faculty Senate endorses the concept of providing a forum for students to discuss the issues,” said Louise Lewis, president of the teachers group. “We don’t want it to be just a time to skip classes.”

In a statement released Monday, new CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson said she endorses the event.

“This will be a good time for students and faculty to dialogue about the issues involved in maintaining quality education,” she said in the statement.