Submission: Undergraduates must advocate for state support of UC

In the 2012 general election, young people voted in numbers that exceeded the historic turnout in 2008.

In California, this vote helped deliver a resounding victory for Proposition 30, allowing our state to avoid $6 billion in additional cuts to higher education.

In fact, students across the state provided critical support for the Proposition 30 campaign – spreading the word on campus, over the phones, in the press and through social networks.

Given these results, it is clear that students have an important role to play in addressing the ongoing financial challenges facing California’s colleges and universities.

Now is not the time for celebration, but for redoubling our efforts on two related fronts: increasing state support for higher education, and strengthening transparency and accountability of university administrators to ensure those resources are spent wisely.

In state government, we have a new opportunity to overcome the structural hurdles that have undermined prior efforts to protect affordability and quality at the University of California. Specifically, the Democratic Party has won a two-thirds majority in the state legislature and proposals are on the table that could get California and its universities back on a path to financial sustainability. These include closing tax loopholes and reforming Proposition 13, a property tax limit established in 1978 that drained school budgets in California. But not if we sit on the sidelines.

Students have a critical role leading the way to long-term reform at the UC – from advocating for sustainable financial support from Sacramento to speaking out against reckless financial decisions on campus.

We need to remember how much is at stake – not just for today’s students, but also for future generations and California as a whole.

The UC provides great research and economic value to California, educates the population to be both more civic-minded as well as more employable, and remains a leading reason why people come to California from other states or countries. More directly, the UC is the third-largest employer in the state of California.

It is clear that both the workers and the students at the UC have a vested interest in a future for institutions that work for them, not a handful of elite interests. Now that the legislature is back in session and our budget outlook is improving, it is important for us to look ahead and prioritize our investments for California’s future.

We are asking you to stand with us and take ownership of the university to make sure the administration does not squander the new opportunity we won in 2012.

The UC Board of Regents has a meeting in March and students are already preparing lobby visits and protests to advocate for student-friendly policies.

These are noble efforts; however, we must remember that although the Regents do have significant influence, it is our representatives in Sacramento who ultimately are responsible for the state’s direction. We must refocus our efforts and demand our lawmakers pass a budget that will robustly support the UC, California State University and community college systems. Higher education must remain the top priority in California and we have to take action and capitalize on the supermajority in the state legislature.

Join the Bruin Democrats for lobby training during the first week of spring quarter and regular Sacramento trips as we talk to legislators to demand they fund our university.

Friedman is the president of Bruin Democrats and a fourth-year physics student. The submission was written by Friedman and the Bruin Democrats’ education committee.