Massive budget protest at Humboldt State University

Education is a source of economic prosperity and cutting this part of the budget is like shooting yourself in the foot while trying to escape a burning building. Not to mention endless dollars dumped on the fire via bailouts for criminal banks or the prison and military industrial complexes. If one takes an objective view of the state budget then the crisis is not so much a shortage of funds but a misallocation of state revenues. One group of young ladies had a sign that said "Cut from Prisons not from HSU!"

The crowd cheered Christopher Grumbine? when he stated "I'm a disabled veteran and I served in Iraq." With the blood money he receives from the U.S government for taking part in an illegal war Grumbine said it is hard even on him to survive. "I have difficulty now being able to feed myself, being able to afford my books, being able to afford my tuition and even being able to afford a place to live here," he explained, "and I am sure you deal with the same issues." The group yelled in agreement. The gatherers shouted in disapproval as he said "They are trying to make students and education sacrifice so that they can reap the rewards." Grumbine mentioned across the country in Maine, Wisconsin and Ohio where the public sector is being privatized.

Grumbine then accused CSU Chancellor Charles Reed of making steps to privatize the state university and making students "pawns in an economic system." He's been appeasing the financial system and the business world." Grumbine cited a speech by Reed discussing the transition students must make into the workforce. Reed is "working closely with business to find out what their needs are," as the remainder of his statement is drowned out by a chorus of boos. He continued to note that poor state of public education and the narrow curriculum offered. Higher education is a rare opportunity to expand on our interest not become a "string of vocational schools."

Chancellor Reed, it is important to note, a 24 year member of the Council of Foreign Relations, a nefarious globalist think tank that takes pride in being a nonpartisan foreign policy base. The current president Richard Haass says CFR "has promoted understanding of foreign policy and America's role in the world since its founding in 1921." CFR insider and Professor Carroll Quigley wrote that the group is the American branch of the British round table groups chronicled in his epic 1348-page "Tragedy and Hope." These groups are the legacy of Cecil Rhodes who "left his fortune to form a secret society, which was to devote itself to the preservation and expansion of the British Empire." The group believes "national boundaries should be obliterated and one-world rule established." One of these members in charge of a state public higher education system is certainly in a position to further CFR's objectives.

"Richmond's a sell-out, get the hell out," read one protesters sign, referring to HSU President Rollin Richmond. Richmond was unmentioned by those who spoke on the microphone but has been under constant scrutiny from faculty, students and other HSU employees. His pay has been steadily increased while administering unimaginative across the board cuts to academics and canceling entire programs like German and Nursing. Richmond is good friends with Chancellor Reed who has rewarded Richmond in numerous reviews despite widespread disdain towards him on campus. Richmond has been censured in 2007 by the HSU Associated Students, the student government. The Academic Senate has consistently voiced no confidence in Richmond but fallen short of any concrete action repeatedly.

Back to the protest, one student who spoke roused boos from the crowd when he spoke of 2,500 faculty fired from the CSU in the last two years and over ten thousand classes have been cut. "Their not gonna stop," he said going on to discuss a 242% rise in tuition from 2002 to 2011. The energetic speaker said it all makes sense when you realize the system is all about profits. "They wanna train us to go out and be consumers," he continued, "we don't want that, we want an education." He called on those gathered to come out everyday if they have to and not to forget the momentum they have next fall semester, especially if tuition is raised over summer. "Don't forget this" he concluded "this is the student revolution and it starts today!"

Hopefully these words do not ring hollow in the future, amounting to a type of venting tea-pot effect, only when the pressure mounts the people make noise but little action results. It is rumored that the legislature jokes about how the people can't vote on how the budget is spent. This smug attitude towards citizens clearly undermines any genuine efforts to call legislators and write letters. There was a table set up for a letter writing campaign but it is unlikely to undermine the decisions already made behind closed doors to continue gutting the public.

Quigley said the following of the political system as a means of control, not democracy, "the two parties should be almost identical so that the American people can 'throw the rascals out' at any election without leading to any profound or extreme shifts in policy." This certainly seems true of the recent change and hope themed election of Barack Obama who has furthered policies of the despised Bush administration. A recent report by Judicial Watch on the ten most corrupt politicians includes Obama.

If there is any hope to salvage a legitimate education at HSU, this reporter believes that it starts with detaching from the CSU system and no longer being beholden to distant masters and federal funds which control campus policies, class sizes and tuition prices. Having a campus with gardening integrated with groundskeeping would provide food for campus community. HSU could provide services for local governments as students learn by doing. Scholarships can be used to staff offices on campus and displace overpaid administrative bureaucrats. Some solution needs to be presented and enacted since the state will not allocate necessary funding.

Debt is slavery and the rat race to get a paper certificate for running on higher class hamster wheels requires becoming a slave for student loan companies like the scandalous Sallie Mae. One speaker said a Masters degree once cost $200 in 1979, the cost is now many thousand times more. Adjusted for inflation in today's dollars the cost would be $592.72. Today education is a motivation to further more of the elite agenda, not only is the curriculum largely written by the elite but the debt component is crucial "to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole ... the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences (Tragedy and Hope page 324). One speaker noted the ominous Federal Reserve as being a part of the banking slavery construct.

The rally culminated in a march through campus class and administrative building while participants chanted and rhythmically beat on the walls and handrails. In lieu of my previous activities on campus and despite clear violations of campus policies inhibiting free speech University Police targeted me and I was arrested despite operating as press at the event. More on my arrest in a separate story here on the website, unstackingthedeck.com. If people can rise up above the false left-right paradigm by the politricksters then we have a fighting chance at escaping the yoke of the elite slave drivers.

Here is the video of the protest.

Unstacking the Deck - HSU Budget Protest [April 13, 2011]