Thousands sign petition by Chico State student to either lower tuition or reopen campus
CHICO, Calif. — Following the announcement that roughly a quarter of classes at Chico State will be completely or partly in-person during the Fall 2021 semester, a student petition is demanding the university either lower tuition while continuing a primarily virtual format or reopen the campus to students who choose to return.
The petition, receiving more than 3,500 signatures by Wednesday evening, was created by Chico State sophomore Zoe Kunhart. After experiencing both in-person instruction pre-pandemic and virtual instruction in 2020, she believes this academic year's online education pales in comparison.
"I feel like there's been an injustice to the students of the University," says Kunhart. "We're not getting the same level of education and we're still paying the same price."
Kunhart's petition states that 16,000 students were forced to pay full tuition throughout the pandemic even as certain campus resources were unavailable. While the cost of tuition includes access to the Wildcat Recreation Center, library, and other on-campus services, they were inaccessible for an extended period of time, if not still closed.
Surrounding schools, like nearby Chico High School, have adopted in-person learning models of instruction that aim to keep students safe while still contributing to a 'normal' school experience. Kunhart and other students dare to ask university officials: if others can reopen safely, why can't Chico State?
"It's really hard for me to believe that a public high school where students don't pay tuition can figure out how to do in-person classes but our California State institution that we pay $14,000 a year for can't figure out how to do in-person classes," says Kunhart.
The University tells KRCR that they are aware of the petition.
In response and echoing President Gayle Hutchinson's recent letter to the campus community, Chico State says many of their classrooms are too small and unable to accommodate full cohorts of students with proper social distancing. This led to current plans of bringing back only 20-30% of classes onto campus in Fall 2021, which they say is in accordance with federal, state and local public health guidelines.
https://krcrtv.com/news/local/thousands-sign-petition-by-chico-state-student-to-either-lower-tuition-or-reopen-campus