Tomorrow, November 17, the California Faculty Association, which represents 23,000 of our members within the California State University, will be taking part in a historic one-day strike on two campuses, CSU East Bay in Hayward and CSU Dominguez Hills in Carson.

The strike is about something very real: a modest faculty pay increase. The CSU faculty is angered by the chancellor’s rejection of a second neutral fact-finder’s recommendations that faculty be paid part of the salary increases negotiated in their contract. But it is about so much more. It is about faculty and students standing up for what is right and what is fair, and it is about challenging Chancellor Charles Reed’s priorities. Tuition at the California State University has risen 23 percent in the past year, and the CSU Board of Trustees voted yesterday on another 9 percent hike for the fall, a hike that will raise tuition $498 for full-time students to almost $6,000. Meanwhile, students are unable to get into classes, are forced to take five or more years to graduate, and are sinking into debt in order to obtain their degrees.

We cannot stand by and allow public higher education in California to be dismantled. We must stand with the CSU faculty. If you are near CSU East Bay or Dominguez Hills, I urge you to attend activities on those campuses. Follow the strike on Twitter and Facebook. Send in your messages of support to cfa@calfac.org or to CTA’s Facebook page. And, as always, write your legislators. Most of all, stand up for education!