Chanting “No Funding, No Future,” about 20 students protested proposed budget cuts Friday on the campus of Central Oregon Community College.

In a far cry from the divisive demonstrations of the 1960s, COCC President Bob Barber addressed the students and he was applauded for it.

Starting at the Pence building, the mostly theater arts and journalism students, walked through campus, chanting slogans and banging cans while carrying placards, banners and a dismembered mannequin, before ending up at the Boyle Education Center.

At the Boyle building, which houses COCC’s administration, a handful of students gave speeches defending their programs, theater arts and journalism, which face the chopping block, and the teachers, including Lilli Ann Linford-Foreman and Jan Volz, who stand to lose their jobs.

On an unseasonably warm November day, the students seemed to be enjoying the event before becoming serious about what it meant.

Seth, a theater arts major, said, “This is a crucial first step to show the administration that we care.”

He and others acknowledged the fact that students like them throughout the state need to vote to help change things. They also need to write their legislators.

Ian, another theater arts student, said that making cuts to education isn’t fair.

“Education should always be there,” he said.

After a few students spoke, some above the diesel din of an Eberhard delivery truck parked nearby, Barber faced the students.

“I want to congratulate you for being here,” Barber said. “This is the first student rally I’ve witnessed in the 13 years I’ve been here.”

He encouraged the students to do more by getting the word out that budget cuts do affect students. He said it’s a six- to nine-month process, and he urged them to come back again in the spring when budget cuts become final.

Budget uncertainties loom – as do layoffs

COCC needs to trim about $3 million from its $22 million budget, if the temporary income tax measure does not pass in January and the state and retirement system deficits don’t grow larger.

Last week, COCC announced that 47 layoff notices have been issued, including seven to assistant professors and others to administrative and classified staff.

Barber said the school might need to raise tuition next year by $5 per credit hour. Currently, it is $48 per credit, and it was $43 per credit just a year ago. Historically, the college raises tuition an average of $1 per credit hour annually, said Ron Paradis, director of college relations.

Barber pointed out that the school could keep on raising tuition, but then COCC would “end up as a private school, and you couldn’t afford it.”

After he left to attend another meeting, Linford-Foreman spoke. She’s an associate professor of drama and dance.

With a halting voice, she thanked the students for their show of support.

“It makes me cry,” she said. “I love what I do. I thank you all.”

Shortly thereafter, the demonstration broke up. The students and teachers returned to their unsettled futures as the clock struck high noon.

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