SMC Contingent Joins Historic Community College Rally in Sacramento
Photos of SMC Bus Trip and Sacramento Rally

More than 150 Santa Monica College students and employees joined what education experts called the largest crowd ever to rally for community colleges in Sacramento Monday (March 17) to protest budget cuts and proposed higher fees.
A crowd estimated at between 8,000 and 10,000 students, faculty, staff and supporters from throughout the state converged on the steps of the Capitol in an unprecedented show of community colleges’ visibility and solidarity.

“This is the biggest, the best, the most positive rally they’ve ever seen here in Sacramento,” said an elated Pat Brown, SMC dean of student life. “It was respectful but delivered a powerful punch.”

Most of the SMC contingent rode to the state’s capital on three buses chartered by the Associated Students, leaving campus late Sunday night and arriving in time for the one-mile march to the Capitol from West Sacramento on Monday morning. Others drove or flew to Sacramento to show their solidarity. Employees took vacation time to participate in the march.

After the rally, members of the SMC contingent fanned out throughout the Capitol to meet with legislators. In addition, college representatives delivered to Gov. Gray Davis and lawmakers more than 1,000 handwritten letters from students that spoke about the painful impacts of the budget cuts on their lives.

SMC students are now organizing for a similar protest March 28 in downtown Los Angeles, which will start at Pershing Square and include a march to Davis’ L.A. office.

Photos of SMC Bus Trip and Sacramento Rally