More: 'Missing Students' to join March in March

14,000 to march down Capitol Mall from Raley Field to the west steps of the State Capitol.
     Kuanda said that this year the community colleges are trying to get more participation from the UC and Cal State systems.
     Community college supporters won't be the only ones marching on March 15.
Five-foot tall fiberglass "Missing Students" will join the marchers. The "Missing Students" represent students unable to enroll in community colleges because of budget cuts and rising fees.
     Leslie Smith, dean of governmental relations at City College of San Francisco initiated the "Missing Students Project." While taking an airplane flight from New York to San Francisco, Smith read an article about public art and envisioned using it to heighten the public's and government's awareness of the serious consequences

the Theater Arts Department will paint it, Kuanda said.
     According to Smith, a three-stage plan referred to as the MVP (Most Valuable Players -- our students) Plan will be put into operation with the advent of the march on March 15. The M stands for the March 15 march. The V stands for vigil, The "Missisng Students will hold on capitol grounds when the legislators are revising the budget. 
     The P stands for presentation. While the legislators are hashing out the final budget, students will present them and the governor with small replicas of the "Missing Students" to place on their desks. So during the whole budget process, there will be visible reminders of whom the funding to community colleges will affect.
     In between the march and the vigil and the vigil and the presentation, the "Missing Students" will be placed in  sites around California.