MASSIVE TURNOUT FOR MARCH 4 DAY OF PROTEST FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

It was a huge, sometimes rowdy, turn-out at schools and universities across the nation yesterday March 4 for the Day of Action for Public Education. Participation in actions involving CFA at CSU campuses plus regional actions is estimated at some 35,000 people.

Nationally, the radio news show Democracy Now! estimates hundreds of thousands participated. Check out extensive coverage on its web site as well as at CNN, and other news sites.

Many news clips and posts can be viewed on these and other locations on the web...

• California Faculty Association on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaFacultyAssociation

• Facebook group “Save My Education – March 4, 2010 Rally”

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=312538848919&ref=mf

• CFA web site March 4th page

http://www.calfac.org/march4.html

• STATEMENT ON MARCH 4th FROM CFA PRESIDENT LILLIAN TAIZ

Cal State U. faculty say massive protests over cuts to schools & universities reveal an urgent need for the nation to recommit to funding public education

The March 4th actions in support of public education around California and in 32 other states have fired the imagination of Americans who believe in our public school system.

Here in California, as leaders make decisions about how we will fund education, tens of thousands of ordinary people took to the streets to say loudly and clearly that the time has come for our state to reinvest in public schools and colleges.

The March 4th protests were historic. They were the largest statewide actions for education in memory. Moreover, for the first time in our state, all segments of public education from pre-school through Ph.D are working together to secure our educational system’s future.

For too long, too many of us have taken our public education system for granted. The March 4th Day of Action shows not only that we care very deeply about the future of our schools and colleges, but that tens of thousands of us are willing to do something about it.

The call for actions up and down California on March 4 ignited a national movement. It fired enthusiasm among our colleagues, students and their supporters in Connecticut, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana, Texas and elsewhere who have also organized to fight for their public education systems.

Tens of thousands of Americans are deeply concerned that unless we invest in public education, the next generation of students will be shut out of an affordable, accessible and high quality public education.

Now we must build upon the success of March 4th. We have started a movement that can lead this state into the kind of future we all believe in—one that not only invests in public education but achieves social justice. The people have spoken; the time has come for our state and federal leaders to respond and fully fund our public schools, colleges and universities.