Holding candles in paper cups, Sacramento State students, faculty and staff stood around large, black, wooden tombstones mourning the death of higher education Tuesday afternoon.

The candlelight vigil, held in the Library Quad, was a continuation of the last week’s “Day of Class Action” walkout and sit-in at Sacramento Hall. Students organized the vigil to bring awareness to student issues and to encourage more students to join the movement.

“The mourning of higher education and the celebration of the rebirth of the student movement is to engage students and have a discussion of how they have been affected by fee increases,” said student organizer Yeimi Lopez, senior communication studies major.

She said she wants to expose students to advocacy and grassroots organization. Both are ways students can make a difference.

The Sac State Coalition said the original vision of the California State University system was to have accessible and affordable higher education.

“As times were getting harder, it fell under the influence of greedy administrators,” said a Sac State Coalition flyer.

Organizers emphasize that the quality of education is an issue that concerns everyone.

Although it was not part of the plan for the day, students, faculty and staff marched to Sacramento Hall prior to the vigil. As the marchers left the Library Quad cheering and chanting, Lopez said she saw Sac State police calling on their cell phones.

Upon arrival to Sacramento Hall, the crowd of about 150 was greeted with a row of Sac State police officers on bikes facing the activists at the front of the building.

Signs posted on Sacramento Hall doors read: “Building Closed by Order of Sac State Administration.”

Nora Walker, junior history major, said there were still people inside the building.

“They are well aware we are a peaceful and nonviolent group and there has never been an instance that would make them think otherwise,” Walker said.

Sac State police locked Sacramento Hall during the march due to safety concerns as stated in the student conduct policy. In the expression section of the policy, students are not supposed to impede the flow of traffic, must get advanced reservations to use a space and must not use ramps, entrances and breezeways.

“The crowd felt we needed administration to know the way they reacted to students wasn’t right,” Lopez said. “You can tell they definitely don’t want to work with students.”

In response to the recent student protests, Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez sent out an update message Monday stating, “If cuts are limited to $500 million, the plan is to weather that budget without additional increases in student tuition fees or drastic cuts in enrollment.”

Kim Nava, Sac State spokeswoman, said administration is listening to the students’ voices.

“I heard them all three days. We listened, we posted their demands on the Sac State homepage and we put the message out there to Sac State in an email,” Nava said. “They have been heard, there is no disagreement that the budget cuts are devastating.”

After the march, the activists returned to the Library Quad to gather signatures to present to Gonzalez.

Flowers were left at the bases of three large tombstones, which had statements that read, “Quality Education Killed by Greed.” Space underneath the inscriptions allowed students, faculty and staff to write their reasons for the cause of “the death of higher education.”

In one RIP statement, someone wrote, “I might not be able to continue my education because tuition is so high. Don’t kill my dreams!”

Another statement said, “I’m a single father. If tuition goes up, I can’t build my future, let alone for my twins.”

Nancy Villegas, junior graphic design major, said she is debating whether to come back to Sac State next year because of the educational costs. It cost her $20,000 to live on campus this year.

Villegas said students walking by the vigil are able to relate to the activists because they are frustrated in the same way.

“The whole participation helps you unite with other students so you don’t feel alone and you are taking a stand,” Villegas said.

The Sacramento State Coalition said the next plan of action is to get students to voice their concerns about higher education through lobbying their representatives.

On April 27, students will lobby at the Capitol. Student organizers said they want to be visible in the state legislature by showing their support for Assembly Bill 1326 and Senate Bill 8.

AB 1326 would impose an oil and gas severance fee to producers extracting oil or gas from California land or water. The funds from this fee would be allocated to the California Higher Education Fund, directly funding higher education classroom instruction.

SB 8 would require auxiliary organizations at community colleges, the CSU and the University of California systems to become more transparent by requiring them to comply with the California Public Records Act. The Public Records Act gives public access to information in possession of public agencies.

Lobbying for these bills is an effort to look at the bigger implications of the CSU budget cuts. The CSU system now faces $500 million in budget cuts.

“Our actions have highlighted that student apathy is a big lie; students just don’t know how to get involved,” Lopez said.