Photo courtesy of Mary Marki.
Over 100 Long Beach City College (LBCC) faculty members, students, and community supporters marched along 2nd Street in Belmont Shore last weekend to “address the troubling times in education,” according to a press release from one of the organizers, Patrick McKean.
The protest, largely organized by World History Professor and newly elected chair of the Long Beach City College Faculty Union Organizing Committee Mary Marki, sought to reach out to the community specifically in support of Prop. 30, Governor Jerry Brown’s tax initiative.
“As an educator I am tired of the slashed budgets, elimination of student programs, the growing classroom sizes, and the general demise of the availability, affordability and access to quality education,” Marki told the Post. “I am earnestly afraid of what the future holds for not only my students, but also for my children. My feelings are echoed by other faculty members who simply could not live with themselves if we did not take some action in these desperate times. So we marched.”
The group’s lack of equivocation was apparent, holding signs and banners that encouraged voters to shoot down Prop. 32—the “paycheck protection” initiative—while strongly supporting Prop. 30. If Prop. 30 fails, according to school officials, LBCC could be forced to turn away some 1,300 students.