A sophisticated bully can give a Cal State Long Beach freshman an atomic wedgie, stuff him in a locker and steal his or her lunch money; all while convincing the freshman it’s a favor. The Beach Legacy Referendum is precisely that masterful $5.3 million bully.
Imagine if the BLR were offered as an option. How many would voluntarily pony up knowing they still had to buy textbooks, pay rent and eat? I’m guessing not many. Yet, we current students are being asked to pass this pre-admission fine along to the future.
Responsible voters should realize state and national economic crises aren’t going away soon. It’s hitting CSULB students hard, with more than 11,000 receiving needs-based financial aid.
Sadly, many current juniors and seniors supporting this fee/tax/penalty will shirk responsibility and escape unscathed by voting yes. Payment won’t come due until after they’ve changed addresses.
California State University and CSULB funding is being cut drastically. Tuitions will rise by 10 percent each of the next few years beginning this fall. The city of Long Beach bleeds from 12 percent unemployment and we’re witnessing the new face of homelessness.
Building a new soccer stadium because we don’t have nightlights requires we block out many students who will already have a hard time paying their way. Initial victims of the BLR will be international and undocumented AB 540 students, who receive no institutional financial aid and are barred from legal employment.
Increasing fees for athletics is hardly the critical necessity the BLR team proclaims. Title IX compliance and field maintenance can be accomplished for a fraction of what they’re requesting.
Much of this shell game was built on insults; No. 1 was not asking Long Beach to chip in, considering the original BLR is feathered with benefits to the entire city.
Equally demeaning is that improved fields and balloon scholarships will invite a higher caliber athlete. This offends current athletes busting their humps to represent. It’s like saying, “If we had better facilities, you second-and third-rate youngsters wouldn’t be here.”
The definitive insult is the hackneyed “to enhance the value of your degree.” If this were remotely true, it’s still selfish to pass on hardship to others. This slap in the faces of 36,000 students alludes, “Your degree means squat without boasting a sports icon.” Stellar athletes like Evan Longoria are here today, big league contracts tomorrow. Claiming we can’t secure jobs without their 11 o’clock highlights is nonsense.
Where will engineers, teachers and scientists work if Misty May eludes our resumes? No offense to Jeff Weaver, but that bullshit is pure spin. It’ll be rare when a future employer waves us because we don’t have a championship rugby team.
If sales pitch was a bucket, this wouldn’t hold water. Corporations look for the meat in our degrees, which comes from classroom accomplishments, not by condemning new students to lights-out at the orphanage.
I’m proud CSULB is committed to advancing opportunities for those who follow in my footsteps. If the BLR passes, I will shamefully hang my head that we screwed up the line in our Alma Mater professing CSULB as a “Citadel of Truth and Right.”
If tomorrow’s students wish to play Ultimate Frisbee, they’ll be forced to play with paper plates, while urbane thugs admire some freshman’s undershorts flying from our flagpole. Our “legacy” should be responsibility, not frivolity.
Duke Rescola is a senior journalism major and the opinions editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.
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