Yesterday there was an important event – Progressive Democrats of America and The Council of UC faculty associations (CUCFA of which the BFA is a member) hosted a public meeting to reclaim the California Master Plan for Higher Education in California. The meeting showcased the five-year campaign for a $66 FIX , which would reset state funding per student (in higher education) back to what it was in 2000 and, at the same time, make tuition free for all Californian students in all three segments of public higher education. $66 would be the cost of the proposal to the median taxpayer; it also includes funding for Prop 98 for K-12 education. There were some 150 people in attendance, including legislators from the California State Senate and Assembly, and staff from the Governor’s Office. Finally, the $66 FIX is getting the political traction in Sacramento it deserves.
Christopher Newfield from UC Santa Barbara and Wendy Brown from BFA were keynote speakers. Newfield gave an overview and Brown responded with an important warning. The popular idea of tuition-free higher education could be a disaster if it is not backed up by supplementary funds that will guarantee educational quality. She said “The $66 fix is premised on the recognition that unless free college is paired with the protection of quality, what we would win is access to educational fast food.” This helps to explain Chancellor Christ’s concern when she says that free college is a “dangerous idea” because it implies “that education does not cost anything.” She is right to be worried that, in the absence of supplemental state funding, “free” college could bankrupt the university. That’s precisely why we need the $66 fix — or something like it — to cover the increasing costs of quality higher education. And this is exactly the right political moment to campaign for such a reclamation of public investment in the university.
Michael Burawoy and Celeste Langan for the Board of the Berkeley Faculty Association.