Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

The first goal was to educate students about school budget cuts, Sandbothe said.

The second goal was to put pressure on legislators to stop the budget cuts, she said.

According to documents from the California Department of Finance, the governor has proposed a $311 million general fund budget decrease for 2004-05.

The proposal stipulates a 10 percent decrease in freshmen enrollment, a 7.5 percent reduction in academic and institutional support, a 10 percent fee increase for undergraduate students, a 40 percent increase for graduate students and a 20 percent fee increase for non-residents.

Also included is the elimination of outreach programs for the CSU system.

Students at the rally were encouraged to write letters to their local legislators. Names and addresses of legislators were provided to students, as well as tips on how to write a letter.

"We have hundreds of letters from Cal State Hayward students alone," Sandbothe said.

Not everyone who attended the rally did so to support the elimination of budget cuts.

Members of the Hayward College Republicans came to support Schwarzenegger and his proposed budget.

"Most people here don't realize the deficit is from Davis," said Bryant Estep, president of the Hayward College Republicans. "It's not Arnold Schwarzenegger taking advantage of the poor."

Estep said the governor is making cuts where he has to.

Other students held different opinions.

"I cannot afford to lose EOP," said Sherita Cobb, an English major and Educational Opportunity Program student at Cal State Hayward. Cobb was giving one of the five speeches at the rally.

The Education Opportunity Program is one of the outreach programs that would lose funding under the proposed budget.

According to Academic Services at San Jose State University, the program is designed to help disadvantaged low-income students, who have been historically underrepresented in higher education.

Cobb believes that taking away the Educational Opportunity Program is an attack on affirmative action and students of color.

CSU students who attended the rally also had opinions about the budget cuts.

"It's kind of silly to make budget cuts for educational purposes," said Hwasung Lee, a kinesiology major at Cal State Hayward.

"Learning is the only way to improve our condition," Lee said about California's budget deficit.

"I came out because I pay tuition out of my pocket every quarter," said Amber Harris, a political science major at Cal State Hayward.

Harris said she works a minimum wage job to pay for school and cannot afford higher tuition.

According to David Abella, vice president of external affairs for the Associated Students at San Francisco State, more events like Wednesday's have been scheduled.

On March 15, students from San Francisco State will take a bus to Sacramento for a community college rally, Abella said.

Abella encouraged other CSUs to participate.

"It doesn't affect just one campus," said Alex Kay, a communications major at Cal State Hayward, about the budget cuts. "It's all the CSU."

Rachel Greathouse, A.S. controller at San Jose State University, said SJSU's student government was unable to attend Wednesday's rally because of an A.S. meeting that afternoon.

Greathouse said that SJSU did help work on some aspects of the rally and noted that SJSU shared some of the same interests as Cal State Hayward and San Francisco State toward the budget cuts.