UC Fee Hike Endangers Our Future, EJS Stands With Protesters
Photo by kendrak from Flickr used under Creative Commons license
The Equal Justice Society stands in solidarity with the thousands of student protesters opposing the 32 percent fee hike recently adopted by the University of California Board of Regents. (Follow the protest on Twitter @ucbprotest and #ucstrike)
This tuition hike will bring the total cost of a UC education to more than $10,000 per year, and will disproportionately impact the ability of low income students, undocumented students, and students of color to attend California’s public universities.
In the 13 years since the passage of California Proposition 209, enrollment of students of color at the University of California’s flagship campuses has already dwindled to levels not seen since the ’60s and 70s.
These increases will further decrease the number of students of color able to attend UCs, and will force many current students to work multiple jobs just to stay in school, or worse yet, to leave because they are no longer able to afford tuition and fees.
Moreover, by disproportionately excluding students of color and students from disadvantaged backgrounds, these hikes will prevent our state from developing the diversity of leaders that we need – which is central to the mission of the University of California.
Please stand with us in opposing the privatization of the UC system, and demanding that public education in California remain open to all students who desire to pursue higher education, not just those who can afford it.
The future of our state depends on it.
Links to other articles (and graphics):
Calif. Attorney General Says Prop. 209 Unconstitutional in Some Cases
UPDATE: Article by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Egelko.
California State Attorney General Jerry Brown today filed a brief (PDF) with the state Supreme Court today opining that article 1, section 31 of the California Constitution (Prop. 209) is unconstitutional as applied in certain circumstances.
The letter brief was filed in response to the Supreme Court’s request for an opinion regarding Coral Construction v. City and County of San Francisco, a case pending before the Court concerning whether San Francisco’s attempt to remedy longstanding exclusion of minority- and women-owned businesses in its public contracting violates article I, section 31.
The letter stated: “To the extent that the prohibitions against race- and gender-based discrimination in article I, section 31 of the California Constitution (hereafter referred to as section 31) are aligned with the prohibitions enforced under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, section 31 is constitutional.
“However, to the extent that section 31 is interpreted more broadly to bar race- or gender-conscious programs that would be permissible under the Fourteenth Amendment, it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the federal Constitution, pursuant to Washington v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1 (1982) 458 U.S. 457 (Seattle) and Hunter v. Erickson (1969) 393 U.S. 385 (Hunter). To that extent, section 31 would create an unequal political structure based on race and gender that is not narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling governmental interest.”
“It is unclear precisely what governmental interest section 31 was intended to serve,” the letter also stated. “If it is the interest in protecting all Californians from discrimination based on race or gender, that is concededly a compelling governmental interest. However, there appears to be no factual basis to support a governmental interest in denying preferences that are permissible under the Fourteenth Amendment.
“Ironically, by effectively disadvantaging racial minorities and women in the political process, without an evident compelling governmental reason for doing so, section 31 seems to accomplish the very evil it purported to eliminate, viz. racial and gender discrimination.”
The Equal Justice Society and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, on behalf of a coalition of more than 60 organizations and individuals advocating against the constitutionality of Prop. 209, applaud Attorney General Jerry Brown for his position on this issue.
We will continue to argue that the state Supreme Court should take this opportunity to strike down Prop. 209, an initiative responsible for much harm to communities of color, women and to California as a whole.
Download the Attorney General’s letter