Long Beach : Campus Teach-In Is Held to Protest Budget Cuts

Students, faculty members and administrators at Cal State Long Beach held a four-hour teach-in Wednesday to protest projected cuts in the university’s budget. An expected 1991-92 state deficit of $13 billion is likely to result in a $14-million cut on the Long Beach campus, which has prompted university officials to announce the probable layoff of at least 5% of the university’s personnel, reductions in class offerings and possible limits on enrollment.

“The budget scenario is grim,” said Toni Beron, a university spokeswoman. “This is to inform people of the severity of the budget crisis; we all believe that it’s very important for the public to understand what’s happening here.”

Organized with the cooperation of the administration by the chairman of the campus Academic Senate and president of the faculty union, the teach-in was attended by several hundred students who spent much of the day sitting on a hill at the lower end of campus listening to an array of speeches.

Among the speakers were university President Curtis L. McCray, CSU trustees Jim Gray and John Kashiwabara and various faculty members, students and administrators.

“We hope that people will gain an understanding of the situation and hopefully motivation to contact their legislators to let them know how they feel about the cuts,” Beron said.