Rally Against Registration Fee Increases Fizzles

Student leaders at Ventura College held a rally Tuesday in an effort to stir up frustration over rising registration fees, but the event was sparsely attended.

The students passed out pamphlets, urged students to sign petitions and letters to state representatives, and issued a call to legislative arms from a microphone mounted on a campus quadrangle.

“What we are being adamant about is that we will not accept any more fee hikes,” said Kenn Woodward, the school’s representative to the California Students’ Assn. of Community Colleges. “The students that were here were very into it.”

Rally leaders said few students showed up because student government was notified only three days ago that a protest was planned and had little time to organize. A small but steady stream of students trickled by from 9 a.m. to noon, and about 40 students had assembled by the end of the rally.

At Oxnard College, student government officers said they were unaware that a protest had been planned. Moorpark College student government officers could not be reached for comment.

Fees at community colleges statewide increased from $6 per unit in fall, 1992, to $10 per unit in spring, 1993, before rising to $13 per unit last fall. Gov. Pete Wilson in January proposed raising the fees again to $20 per unit. A full semester load is about 15 units.

Woodward said campus leaders are already organizing another protest for April 13 that they hope will be more effective.

Ventura College students Brian Henry, 21, and Mike Hanger, 23, did attend Tuesday’s protest, but they were not impressed.

“I liked what they were saying, but I didn’t like the way they were saying it,” Henry said. “They were yelling at us to get off our butts and do something, but we’re just the little guys, and those big guys (in Sacramento) don’t care about us.”