Banners posted throughout CSUF's campus advertise the statewide rally against budget cuts to be held on March 4. Photo by Christa Connelly/Daily Titan Photo Editor

Students and faculty from Cal State Fullerton and over 100 different schools, unions and organizations will meet at Los Angeles' Pershing Square March 4 to march to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office for a rally to protest budget cuts, which continue to affect California's public education system.

The march is sponsored by the Southern California Public Education Coalition and will include participants from all 23 Cal State University campuses.

The march is just one of many statewide “Mobilization for Education" planned events that will occur on the same day at or around all 23 CSU campuses, according to the California Faculty Association (CFA). Other planned events include sit-ins, rallies and demonstrations.

In addition to the events planned for California on March 4, groups from 17 other states will be holding demonstrations, including New York, Alabama and Michigan.

This is the first time that members representing all areas of public education will unite to demonstrate against the state-wide budget cuts. Participants will include students and educators from K-12 schools, community colleges, UCs and CSUs.

Photo by Christa Connelly/Daily Titan Photo Editor

Tatiana Pedroza, a senior sociology and women's studies major, said that students and faculty who are not traveling to Pershing Square, but still want to discuss the budget cuts and other issues affecting CSUF, will gather for an informal meeting on campus at the central quad. Pedroza has been involved in protesting the budget cuts in the past.

"I really believe in our education system and really feel like it has taken a big hit recently," Pedroza said.

According to the CFA, student fees at CSUs have tripled since 2002, and among all of the states, California is 47th in public spending per student. The governor proposed $300 million each for the UC and CSU systems in his most recent state budget proposal but CFA feels that is still not enough, considering that the CSU has lost $1 billion in funding over the past two years.

Alice Sunshine, CFA's communications director, said that over 800 students and faculty from across California met at University of California, Berkley last fall to determine a day for all segments of public education to actively protest what they feel has been an attack on the public education system.

"Students who are eligible are being turned away from college. At CSU, they have increased costs and limited the number of classes," Sunshine said.

Sunshine said that March 4 was chosen because public schools of all levels are in session that day and also because they wanted the protest to take place before the governor's budget revision, which occurs on May 15.

Chuck Marchese, the CFA representative who is helping organize CSUF’s involvement, said that while students and faculty can travel to Pershing Square on their own, they also have the option to reserve a seat on a bus that CFA has rented. The bus can hold 55 people. Marchese said that seats that are not reserved will be filled on a first-come first-serve basis. The bus will be leaving from in front of Langsdorf Hall at 2 p.m.