No spring break for UC budget crisis
It's spring break at UCLA, so the campus was abandoned. But the few students I found were already familiar with the Commission's proposals from the day before, and had opinions. Since some of the possible changes struck me as shocking (asking students to finish in three years? differentiated tuition for different majors?) I was surprised that students weren't more upset by them. The three I talked to said three-year degrees seemed do-able and fair. With the protest a few weeks ago and tuition hikes looming, students clearly realized they need to be open to ideas.
I found a group of high school students by the Admissions building and interviewed a couple, but they were more difficult and easily distracted. While I talked to Luis, he kept cutting himself off to tell his friends to shut up, before I sent them away... which explains his choppy sound bite.
Professor Venegas told me that she doubts most of these changes will go into effect, and those that do will take quite a while, though the Commission said some "preliminary ideas" may be approved this summer.