Letter to the Editor of the Los Angeles Times

Executive Director Michele Siqueiros wrote this letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times in response to a story about capacity issues in the Cal State University system.

To the editor,

Re: "Cal State enrollment will rise as space decreases," December 10

In a year of unsettling news about higher education in our state, Carla Rivera’s article about projected capacity issues in the Cal State University system should really disturb all of us. The turning away of 56,000 students by fall 2011 represents not only a broken promise to those students and their families, but a bleak prescription for our economic future and the quality of life in our state. Even more unsettling, the population of students who would be most affected – Latino and African American students – are precisely the students who stand to reap the most benefit from higher education. If California cannot keep its word to students who have done all that we've asked of them and who simply want a better life and future, then we surely lack the vision to continue to be a global economic force. Our days of inspiring the world with our innovative ideas, revolutionary creations, and forward thinking will indeed be a memory, and a bittersweet one at that.

Michele Siqueiros