Click here to watch an audio slideshow fom CFA’s “Vent at the Tent” event.

Vent at the Tent, going on Monday through Thursday this week in the Library Quad, is an opportunity to get voices heard about the recent California State University budget cuts, furloughs and student fee increases.

Provided by the California Faculty Association and Coalition of Students for Quality Education, the event encourages students, faculty and staff to write down their complaints in response to the way the budget cuts at Sacramento State have impacted them. People who prefer to vent verbally have the chance to be videotaped.

“We’re calling it venting. We’re not trying to be totally negative but a lot of people have had some really difficult experiences this semester,” said CFA Sac State chapter vice president Lois Boulgarides, lecturer/adviser in the kinesiology and health sciences department.

Vent at the Tent is not just an event to get out student frustrations, but it is also an effort to get the campus community involved in the process of making things better for the campus. The CFA hopes the student responses it receives will bring overlooked concerns to the surface.

The input gathered at the tent will be evaluated and presented to the Sac State administration and CSU Board of Trustees.

“My hope is that our administration will be open to receiving information from our students and our faculty,” Boulgarides said. “My hope is, if we can present the administration with some real, concrete evidence that people are suffering because of some of the decisions that are being made, that efforts will be made to reexamine how decisions are made and reapportion some of the resources on campus.”

The CFA will also take the information collected at the tent to the California State Legislature and the governor.

“I think that this will be a really powerful tool when we take it to the Legislature,” Boulgarides said. “We can take all of the papers that people give us, all of the comments that they’ve written, all the stories that they tell and we can take them to the people who are responsible for funding higher education and we can set them on their desk and say, this is what’s happening to our students.”

Because legislators are not directly involved in the lives of students, they are often unaware of the problems students face every day, said Kevin Wehr, CFA Sac State chapter president and sociology professor.

“They’re away in their little offices down there in the Capitol, they never come to campus, they don’t know what it’s like, they don’t see the overcrowded classrooms, they don’t hear the students complaining because they have to be here for an extra year because they can’t get the classes they need to graduate,” Wehr said.

Freshman psychology major Tyisha Wilder, who works as an intern for CFA, agrees that student participation in the event is necessary.

“I think students should get involved and speak out, get their voices heard,” Wilder said. “Students are the ones that should be here. They should look at the CSU, like, you should be happy we’re here, not we should be happy to be here.”

The event, however, is not only for students. Faculty and staff are also encouraged to participate, Wehr said.

“I didn’t take this job in order to work for free. I could go out into the private sector and probably double or triple my salary, but I’m here because I believe in public higher education,” Wehr said.

Janet Hecsh, associate professor of teacher education, who agreed to be videotaped venting at the tent on Monday, is also sticking to Sac State even in hardships.

“We have a choice in where we teach and we choose to teach here, even in hard times,” Hecsh said. “I am not complaining about petty things. We want our cuts reinstated. We want the people of California, ultimately, to value education as a public good.”

Vent at the Tent is not meant to be a negative experience only, Boulgarides and Wehr said. Students will also be encouraged to share their hopes and dreams for the future of the CSU.

“We’re trying not just look backward and be frustrated,” Boulgarides said. “We’re trying to look forward and have a vision that we can have to present to the state of California, so that we become leaders instead of just reacting to the situation.”

Inna Gritsak can be reached at [email protected]