Students at Evergreen and San Jose City College planned a walkout on Thursday, March 8. They have gained widespread support from faculty and students and opposition by the San Jose City/Evergreen Community College District Board of Trustees.

“This is our education we are fighting for with this walkout, and we have the right to stand up and say ‘we support our faculty,'” said Evergreen Students for Justice member Adiya Hines.

De Anza Students for Justice member Adam Welch said the basic issue that students walked out over is the low pay of faculty members. He says that because of the rising cost of living in Silicon Valley, many instructors move away and the District cannot attract qualified or talented new faculty to replace them.

“We staged a walkout of 200 students who are pissed and concerned about their teachers and education,” said Evergreen Students for Justice member Carlos Pedilla.

Students feel that the faculty’s working conditions affect their education

“When faculty cannot afford to live in this area or feel forced to teach an overload of classes to meet the cost of living, the students suffer,” said Pedilla.

“This hurts the quality of our education as students and that’s why students organized this walkout,” he said.

At the Tuesday, Feb. 13 District Board meeting, many faculty spoke out to the SJECCD Board of Trustees. Students who attended the meeting spoke on why they supported the faculty. Maristella Lopez, President of Evergreen Associated Students, presented over 900 signatures on a petition supporting the faculty raise.

According to Students for Justice member Adiya Hines,”the students felt that the Board of Trustees ignored our issues of how students education is being hurt by low pay for faculty.”

Out of 12 Bay Area community college districts, SJECCD faculty pay is near the bottom. Steven Mentor, an Evergreen English instructor, said, “If you look at the increase in the cost of housing versus our salary, it’s ridiculous.”

According to Welch, the SJECCD Board of Trustees convened a special meeting to discuss the student walkout on Tuesday, March 6.

During the meeting, members of the Board called the residence of a faculty adviser of the Evergreen Students for Justice chapter and questioned him about his involvement in the student walkout. The adviser said that he had no involvement and that the students had come up with the idea and organized the walkout themselves.

“At board meetings [the Board] is apathetic and cruel. In front of the press, at the walkout, they pretended to listen,” Pedilla says.

According to Welch, in a recent letter to the faculty and community, Chancellor Geraldine Evans implied that faculty had convinced the students to organize the walkout on their behalf.

“Chancellor Evans and the Board of Trustees [tried] to prevent the students from voicing their opinions by pressuring the faculty not to work with us,” said SJ City Students for Justice member Phuong Ly.

On Wednesday, March 7, Pedilla met with the Evergreen campus police to discuss the walkout. According to Pedilla the campus police allowed the students to march to the District office where Chancellor Evans agreed to meet with them.

At the District office student organizers presented a letter stating their support for the faculty and calling on the Board of Trustees to meet the demands of the faculty, who have been in contract negotiations since fall of 2000.

According to Pedilla, the walkout turned out to be a successful event and signifies the start of a student movement at Evergreen Valley College that will continue to fight for education and equality.

“The students showed the San Jose City and Evergreen district that we will not be silenced nor ignored. The event left me feeling great about the students [who] participated and showed the district we are not apathetic,” he said.