Sacramento State is just one of 23 campuses in the CSU system facing a total of $386 million from its collective budget. If the proposed budget cuts were to go through, Sac State would have roughly $17 million cut from the campus.

The Budget Fight Back meeting gave administrators, faculty and student representatives the chance to blast proposed financial cuts across the CSU system. The meeting did manage to attract seemingly every local news outlet, but the overall impact was minimal at best.

Let’s be honest with ourselves. The CSU campuses cannot expect a reality in which nothing is cut from the system. But it should be considered a victory if it is able to reduce the proposed cuts in half, or even by a third. However, this is a negotiation and the hard line is necessary at first.

Our work is cut out for us. We must stay united, focused and diligent. The Sac State community is in control of its destiny. We can either fight as hard as we can to obliterate the cuts and be grateful for any benefits that come from it, or we can blame each other when the cuts aren’t completely abandoned and fall back into the same pattern of irrational thinking that has plagued this campus for years.

The moment of truth will come when the budget is finalized and the amount the CSU gets butchered is revealed. Will we feel sorry for ourselves and blame the administration, or face reality and stay unified and make the best of the situation we are given?

The Alliance for the CSU offered a list of 10 ways we can fight the budget cuts both online and at the meeting. The list offers common sense solutions to a real world problem. It’s hard to believe that even the Alliance for the CSU is taking this seriously when the group encourages people to “wear buttons” to raise awareness to the plight, as a handout at the Budget Fight Back meeting encouraged. Number eight on the list was to write a letter to the editor of your college paper. The Hornet has yet to receive such a letter from anyone who spoke at the meeting or attended it. It’s troubling that this has received such little attention despite the large turnout of its participants.

The upcoming months will not be easy. Ideally, the CSU coalition is going to stare down the state and will force the legislature to blink and cut the budget in other areas. In reality, the vast majority of the cuts will go through because the state is essentially broke and sacrifices are being made by virtually everyone across the board. Let’s try to remember the one lesson that came out of the Budget Fight Back meeting: We are in this together.

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