California activists have long been calling attention to the declining support for public education.  While politicians place the blame on the economic downturn, it is clear that at issue is something much more profound: an effort to privatize education.

On Thursday, university and K-12 students, faculty and teachers, staff, parents, union activists and organizers gathered in locations around the United States for the Day of Action in Defense of Public Education.  The idea for these protests originated in California where activists have long been calling attention to the declining support for public education.  While politicians place the blame on the economic downturn, it is clear that at issue is something much more profound: an effort to privatize education.

Since the economic downturn of the early 1990s, business models have come to define approaches to especially public higher education.  This privatization trend is exemplified by constant increases in student fees and tuition as state funding commitments decline.  For instance, undergraduate student fees in the California State University (CSU) have increased 182% since 2002.  The CSU is the nation’s largest public higher education system, with approximately 450,000 students and 23,000 faculty on 23 campuses around the state.   More importantly, a large number of the students come from groups traditionally underrepresented among college students. 

As public education has adopted business models of operations, faculty and student roles have changed.  Students are increasingly seen as customers, and their satisfaction is measured in anonymous course evaluations.  These evaluations threaten to drive faculty performance, in some cases even determining retention.  Whereas in the past faculty could rely on tenure as protection, contingency now defines the lives of most higher education faculty in the United States.  According to an American Federation of Teachers (AFT) study in May 2009, 75% of all higher education faculty today work in contingent positions, leaving them vulnerable not only to economic forces but also to departmental and university politics.  

Furthermore, much of this contingent work force works in part-time positions, forcing them to teach in several schools to make ends meet; contingent positions also pay less and often do not provide any retirement or health benefits. This trend towards contingency is symptomatic of the disinvestment in education that also characterizes public funding.