Last Night's Meeting

Thank you to all who made the trip out to Origin 23 to share your ideas at our third meeting!

We began developing a plan for holding a teach-in at the TCC cafeteria sometime in January. Our plan includes inviting speakers representing all of the various groups who would be negatively effected by the proposed cuts. Examples of likely invitees would be: cafeteria workers, bookstore employees, union members, teachers, Running Start/Fresh Start/A.B.E. participants, students, ect. One of our members suggested sending an invite out to a member of the Washington State Legislature. It was agreed this would be an excellent idea so long as the legislator was unconditionally supportive of our platform and unwilling to vote for any budget plan containing cuts to higher education. All speakers invited to the teach-in will be encouraged to dedicate a portion of their time to discussing how the budget cuts will or have impacted their lives.

It was suggested that a visual element be added to the teach-in. This could be acheived by wearing the same color t-shirts as a sign of solidarity, posting signs, wearing buttons or creating an interesting Power Point display with budget cut highlights.

Our second topic of discussion was creating an outreach program with an end goal of establishing groups at schools in the surrounding area capable of holding their own meetings and shoring up support for our demonstration in Olympia. Our small "core" group simply cannot reach enough students for a demonstration unless we first develop relationships with a small number of dedicated individuals at various schools in the area. These individuals can then form groups such as ours, hand out leaflets, speak at Senate meetings, hold forums and appear at student functions to raise awareness and interest in the movement and ultimately in a demonstration. The crux of our problem is finding individuals willing to dedicate time to establishing groups such as our own; this requires some of us take trips to educate the student bodies at campuses in the area. Some suggested campus locations were: South Puget Sound Community College, UW Tacoma, Green River Community College, Pierce College and any of the local high schools.

If you would be willing to table, leaflet, hang up fliers, ect. please contact me so that we can begin further stages of planning.

Again, thank you for your time and effort!

Upcoming Meeting

When: Monday
December 29
6:30 p.m.

Where: Origin 23
3518 6th Ave. & Union
Next to Farrelli's Pizza

The proposed agend will cover adopting an official name, drafting a mission statement, buttons and other paraphernalia and methods to enlarge our base as the new quarter begins.

A short recap of the last meeting

Here is a recap of our last meeting:

1. We debated the all important name issue. Mike and I proposed "TCC United Against Budget Cuts" while Naomi suggested "TCC Against Budget Cuts". Naomi felt her name directly linked our group to the education issue as its acronym is "TCC ABC". Mike and I felt we needed our name to stress the unified effort necessary to defeat the cuts.

2.We also covered the Governor's recently released budget proposal and its implications for the movement.

3.The issue of a mission statement has been a topic of importance as well; Mike and I have taken your suggestions and turned out two mission statement rough drafts. At our next meeting we will create an official statement from those drafts.

4. Naomi informed us she had access to a button maker. We'll be discussing button ideas and funding at the next meeting as well.


I encourage everyone to attend our next meeting. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions please feel free to contact me.


Stop The Cuts,

Joseph Carter

Email: jcarter73124@yahoo.com
stopthecutswashington@yahoo.com
jc11241983@yahoo.com
Phone: 253-777-6117
AIM: bringthapaine

Weather Update

Many of you have undoubtedly peeked out your window within the last 48 hours and witnessed in awe (maybe horror) the incomprehensible volume of flaky precipitation blanketing our city streets. With this in mind I would ask all of you to email me with your concerns or questions regarding transportation. As of today the buses are still running and I'm sure a car or two has passed along my street. Situations change so I'm willing to provide you with information regarding bus routes or road conditions. To further cajole you from beneath your electric blankets and out of your respective abodes I'll be providing attendees with free coffee-as in drip coffee-not lattes or extra-hot, no-whip, fat-free, sugar-free peppermint breve latte with two cups instead of a sleeve. Feel free to email or call me at anytime.

stopthecutswashington@yahoo.com
253-777-6117

Gregiore Proposes Reduced Cuts

Heading into this campaign we've all assumed the cuts to higher education would be around 20% or $600 million. In her newly released Budget "Highlights" Christine Gregiore proposes a 13% reduction in cuts to four-year universities and 6% to community colleges or cuts totaling $300 million across the board. Upon hearing this many of you will take in a huge breath of relief and feel the sudden urge to relax. Unfortunately the battle has not yet been won and we must continue to fight until Washington State legislators refuse to pass any cuts to the budgets of higher education. If not we face a potential emaciation of our education system. In Christine Gregiore's own words, "Washington’s public colleges and universities are the economic engine that drives the state’s economy and will drive our recovery". Indeed Christine and as such we must fully protect and fund our economic engine, less we risk it stalling from a shortage of fuel.

Cuts to higher education are not the only areas in which students, teachers and workers are being attacked: Christine has proposed allowing higher education institutions to raise tuition rates yet again! The national consumer price index has risen just about 100% since 1982 in contrast tuition to colleges and universities has grown to well over 400%. With authorization to raises tuitions even higher colleges and universities will be asking more from ordinary citizens in a time of economic crisis.

This cannot stand. The state of Washington has a responsibility to fully fund its higher education system. Protecting K-12 while forgetting higher education will in no way improve our state's current position, it will only set a precedent for further attacks on our colleges and univerisities. We must fight together, as a united front, to preserve our education system.

Stop The Cuts!

News Alert!

Stop The Cuts will now be meeting at the Starbucks located on the corner of S. Pine and 6th Ave, just down the road from The Muse. Our previous location has sadly been forced to close shop and as such we've picked the closest location appropriate for our needs. Please pass this information along to everyone you know so no one misses out!

Evergreen Committee for Full Funding in Cooper Point Journal!

An article written by our friends the Evergreen Committee for Full Funding made it into the Cooper Point Journal. Check out the link under "News Articles of Interest"!

Updates

Thank you to all who attended our first campaign organizing meeting! We are relatively small in numbers but through focused efforts we will grow our numbers and strengthen our ranks!

Remember to speak out! Here are a few simple suggestions to boost the strength of our campaign over the holiday break:

1. Attend the next Stop The Cuts meeting on December 22nd!
2. Actively engage and educate the people around you that will be affected, directly or indirectly, by the proposed cuts to Washington’s higher education system.
3. Call, write or email your local, state and national officials; tell them you oppose the cuts, demand a bailout for education!
4. Write to your local newspaper ask them to attend a campaign organizing meeting.
5. Update your Facebook, Myspace or Twitter status, or write a bulletin/blog with a message about our Stop the Cuts campaign (include the blog address if possible).


Updates from the our last meeting:

The campaign committed to organizing a cooperative demonstration on the Capitol. The demonstration will be taking place sometime in early March, with a specific date being decided at a future meeting once we have coordinated with other campaigns across the state.

Much of the organizing meeting was spent expressing concerns related to the proposed cuts. Many of us are extremely alarmed by the far-reaching negative effects under which Washington will suffer if higher education budget is slashed by 20%. We fear such drastic cuts will be a detriment to the "college-going culture" Washington State has worked so hard to promote. We also discussed that unlike some social movements massive cuts to our higher education system clearly affects all layers of society be they lower, middle and upper class. Everyone will feel the strain and anxiety associated with the loss of $600 million in funding for higher education.

Listed below is a sampling of projected outcomes associated with the proposed cuts:

· Increased tuition rates
· A severe decline in the number of seats allocated for Running Start
· Reduced student services
· An end to the “open-door” policies at many of the state’s community colleges
· More stringent admission standards to four-year institutions for Freshmen and transfer students.
· The elimination of the Continuing Education at Tacoma Community College after the Winter ’09 quarter.
· Reductions in the ratio of faculty to students
· A significant reduction in funding for Adult Basic Education, tutoring, workers’ retraining and other vital programs.


Upcoming Meetings:

Date: Monday, 22 December, 2008
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Muse Café on the corner of 6th Ave. & Prospect
Proposed agenda:
· Updates/Reports from the field
· Collect petitions
· Draft a mission statement
· Create a concrete strategy for increasing campaign growth and outreach potential
· Propose a plan for running a grassroots phone campaign
· Open discussion


Please keep your eyes and ears open for any news, information or people that could be helpful to the campaign!

Again, thank you to all who attended our very first organizing meeting!

Note: Updates will be posted more frequently in the coming weeks, I apologize for the delay!

Gregiore appeals to President-Elect Obama for more money

The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports Christine Gregiore, along with governors from across the country, met with President-Elect Obama on Monday and Tuesday to discuss federal financial assistance for states, such as Washignton, facing state budget deficits. The P.I. reports Gov. Gregiore stated, "her priorities for federal aid are investments in infrastructure to create jobs and help fending off cuts in Medicaid" and that "she would seek at least $600 million in infrastructure spending". What is not mentioned however are any appeals made by Gregiore for the Washington state higher education system; nor has higher education been reported as a "top priority". Gregiore has failed to make a case in favor of higher education while tax payers have recently been forced to shoulder the burden of funding an enormous $700 billion bailout for Wall Street banks.

It is up to us: the students, the teachers, the staff and the workers of Washington state higher education to organize against attacks on higher education! We must demand the state's higher education budget be fully protected! We must stand together to Stop The Cuts!