The Los Angeles Times reports on a rather grim scene in Fullerton, California:
The busload of future college students from Whittier High School who took a field trip Wednesday to Cal State Fullerton got less — and more — than they were expecting.
They didn’t get a feel for student life on campus because there was hardly any.
But they did receive an unexpected lesson on the state’s budget crisis, thanks to a three-day faculty furlough and the cancellation of most classes — part of a broad plan of cuts and student fee increases to stem the university’s $36.7-million shortfall.
At least some students are making the most of it:
Nearby, another group of loosely knit students had set up tents in the grass next to Becker Amphitheatre and invited others through a Facebook page to “Furlough Fest . . . 3 days of fun, creativity, and communal resistance to corporatized education.”
Neither the cops nor the administration interfered with the unauthorized camp-out.
“I was surprised we weren’t hassled,” said Rodrigo Calderon, 25, a senior art major who was among dozens who spent the night. “I was looking forward to a hassle.”
What they got instead were bands and DJs performing until 3 a.m., games of hide-and-seek and dodge ball, and student-led workshops on poetry, how to run a record label, the coming insurrection and do-it-yourself adult toys.
Now if the could only monetize those activities somehow and donate the proceeds to their economically eviscerated university, they’d be all set.
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