By Victoria Mejicanos, Sept. 3, 2024
As a student journalist, I’ve gotten used to the sight of disgruntled students, faculty and staff of the California State University system. I’ve seen people chant, make demands at state buildings and even express disappointment or confusion across social media platforms like TikTok.
From the tuition hikes to understaffing and even the cutting of academic programs and services, many of the issues facing the CSU system have impacted Cal Poly Pomona, and every time I investigate and ask questions to the people involved, one of the main culprits to these issues I hear is the CSU budget.
What frustrates me about covering these issues is protesting is often the only time I have seen people so politically engaged, and by then the problems affecting them have already passed through state legislature and cannot be changed.
It isn’t till someone becomes president people like to pay attention to their political track record or what they have done for their communities. It is also the only time most people vote.
That’s a problem because the president doesn’t introduce bills or vote on legislation. Oftentimes, they actually have the least amount of power, despite representing the most people. Local and state elections are where people should vote if they want to impact their day-to-day lives.
“One of the most famous sayings about politics is ‘all politics is local politics,’” said Mario Guerrero, a professor and chair in the political science department. “And it’s important and it’s true, and I think it’s unfortunate for people to not pay attention at the local level.”
Those protesting and picketing are not wrong to be upset at the board of trustees or the chancellor, but if students are upset with how the CSU conducts itself or spends its money, a worthy person to be upset with is Gov. Gavin Newsom. He chose these people, and they’re working with a budget he set.
Even so, local politicians had to work with Newsom and could have decided to make him change the budget.
The budget must go through assembly members. The assembly member who currently represents Pomona is Freddie Rodriguez, who shared in an X post that “the budget wasn’t what any of us wanted, but it’s responsible and protects our most vulnerable.”
Due to term limits, Rodriguez will be leaving an open seat and running for the mayor of Pomona, according to The San Bernadino Sun, a local newspaper covering San Bernadino County.
It’s easy to blame people at the top, but what many fail to realize is that we also get to choose the people at the local level, and they work their way up to the blame that a higher position typically gets.
Before Newsom was the governor, he was the mayor of San Francisco, and before he was the mayor of San Francisco, he was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1997 to 2004 and sat on the city’s Parking and Traffic Commission from 1996 to 1997, according to Ballotpedia.
Before Kamala Harris was a presidential nominee, she too served on a local level in politics, serving as the district attorney for San Francisco.
If people were to do research on local politicians, perhaps we could stop problems before they start.
A major reason why issues are so complex and burdensome is because, frankly, people refuse to pay attention to local politicians or how they vote because the issues they support or don’t support don’t affect us enough until they become governors or presidential nominees.
The first and most important time for a person to take political action is at the ballot box. Register to vote on registertovote.ca.gov by Oct. 21.
Feature image courtesy of Element5Digital
