These past few weeks, we have heard the California Faculty Association unleash its primal cry over its salaries — and for good reason. The California State University (CSU) Board of Trustees deceived them when their raises were not honored due to budget cuts. Chancellor Reed, or as I like to call him, “Alfred Hitchcock with more brow,” is a pushover to CSU administrative pressures and has soured many faculty members to the point of strike.

Meanwhile, students face a 9 percent tuition increase for the upcoming year, in addition to the proposed “Student Success Fee” that may be introduced by the Cal Poly administration. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Education reports that approximately “8 percent of students who entered repayment of their loans defaulted on them.” Isn’t the purpose of higher education to increase opportunity? Obviously not.

Amidst these pressures, students are likely to buy into faculty propaganda. However, the CSU’s problem (and, consequently, Cal Poly’s problem) extends far beyond administrative greed. Here are the underlying reasons Poly students must pay the piper now for their education: Read more.

Wall Street may seem like the symbol of “big money” and greed to most Americans, but some of the greatest flow of money happens at our nation’s capital. As a result, it should be no surprise that our federal lawmakers make some of their most profitable investments in Washington.

I’m not referring to illicit campaign bribes or anything of the like. I’m talking about the legal maneuvers our trusted lawmakers pull while writing laws.

The Occupy Wall Street Movement has clearly painted an image of the 1 percent as evil, greedy business moguls that have centralized their wealth through corporate greed and corruption. These “bad guys” are the so-called 1 percent (those worth $370,000 or more) who “deprive” the 99 percent of all opportunity.

So plays the broken record on our streets and on our TV screens. Read more.

Prior to its fall on Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall stood as a clear symbol of separation between the free and the oppressed. From its construction in 1961, the Berlin Wall endured for nearly three decades with the primary purpose of halting those who tried to flee East Germany. 

The breach in the wall was announced by top official Günter Schabowski at a televised press conference, and not a moment passed before East German citizens jubilantly “scrambled” over the wall in overwhelming numbers. As eyewitness Uwe Kross recalls: “That night, you couldn’t stop people. They lifted the barrier and everyone poured through.”

Soon after, crowds began to hack it away to destruction, joyfully reclaiming their freedoms and announcing the end of Communist oppression. It was obvious to everyone: Communism was dead.

In honor of this historic event, then-President George W. Bush designated Nov. 9 as World Freedom Day in 2001.

While we may not have a barrier as clear as the Berlin Wall to remind us of the oppression that pervades our current day and age, the signs are just as clear. Read more.

We often think of the university campus as an open forum where students can voice their opinions under full protection of the First Amendment. So it seems.

With so many different clubs and organizations on campus representing a diverse range of viewpoints, students rarely question Cal Poly’s free speech codes and recent history. Unfortunately, as many conservative organizations across the nation have come to realize, university administrations quite often feel that their campus lies outside the boundaries of the Bill of Rights.

Luckily, the non-partisan Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has fiercely combated this educational trend in its fight to defend and sustain individual rights on college campuses. FIRE has no time for ineptitude or administrative games.

Here are just a few examples: Read more.

The economy has tanked without clear signs of recovery, and we’re all sick and tired of it. Here at Cal Poly, only 65 percent of those who graduated in the 2009-10 year received full time jobs right out of college, according to a Career Services report. In addition, approximately 17 percent endeavored to get their masters degree, more likely than not as a way to delay the job hunt. Desperation seems to call just about every graduate these days.The frustrating combination of a flat job market and frighteningly high student debt is enough to fire up anyone. Unfortunately, this fire shifted in the wrong direction.

Correction: it moved without any direction. Read more.

It was a landmark day for illegal immigrant advocates all over the state of California when Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Dream Act — a bill that grants undocumented college students access to public education aid. As Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa lauded, “Today, California invests in the dreams of talented undocumented students and in the economic future of our state.” Oh, what a glorious day!

Hold up.

Didn’t California just cut hundreds of millions of dollars from education this past year?
Read more