On March 4, thousands of California citizens will act as representatives for California's educational institutions, from preschool through Ph.D. programs. These self-deputized representatives will stage the largest statewide protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2010-2011 budget.

It should not be an option to sit idle while faculty and staff lose their careers, while students lose their places in classrooms and the school year becomes shorter.

The younger generation has been characterized too many times as apathetic to everything outside of their social sphere.

We are granted the fundamental right to voice our opinions, to fight against injustices committed against us and to hold our government accountable for their actions. We must take advantage of those right.

In order to do so, the California Faculty Association has organized tomorrow's event, where students have the opportunity to take action.

Although it is a single day, and although we are unable to sit directly across from state legislators - who are supposedly our representatives - we are still sending a tidal wave of people to their doorstep, and we will not be ignored.

But whereas the message won't be ignored, it has the opportunity to be acknowledged and then forgotten because it is missing something: a solution.

It's grand that the governor has proposed an education friendly budget, but this budget does not solve California's problems; it might only quiet the unrest for a little while.

The best protests pose solutions. A protest without a solution is like a bull with no horns. The bull might be able to trample someone, but it's the sharp horns that frighten a person to move.

Students must inform themselves, and it appears we finally have. Rather than targeting our Cal State Fullerton administration, who have little if any say in how finances from the state are distributed, we are finally holding the legislature responsible. Our anger has a direction now, and this protest, rather than being assembled with no solution, has validity.

"Yes, I think students feel it, college students especially. I have a daughter in eighth grade, she gets it. She knows that when a favorite teacher isn't coming back it's because of budget cuts, and you college students get it with finances going up. Yes (public universities) were cheap, but that was part of the design," said Shelly Arsenal, associate professor at CSUF and delegate for CFA. "We were supposed to be the best educated work force in the country and the world. California had that for awhile, and we use to be top in the nation, and now we are at the bottom. Our university systems use to be the envy of the world, and now they are in a precarious position."

Clichés can be thrown at this generation, but if one of them does not incite some reaction within the CSUF community, what will?

How do we expect to be taken seriously, how do we expect to receive the quality of education we deserve without demanding it when our government fails to uphold proper standards? Refuse to continue being apathetic.

If this generation doesn't care, no one else will. The young are the ones who will inherit this future.
Take part in this historic event.

"It is a historic event because all segments of education are coming together, because all parts of public education have been hurt," said David Bradfield, associate vice president of CFA.

No matter how high the seats of California's legislature are, the voices of March 4's protesters will be heard.

Hopefully, many of this generation's voices will be included in that cry.