I wrote yesterday of the tuition increases and the student protests which followed. http://www.dailykos.com/...
Another diary came online last night featuring some really excellent video taken from the protests at UC Berkeley.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Today I hope to discuss and to show what exactly happened over these last few days, and to promise you all that this isn't over.
The protests started on Wednesday, when the Regents of the Universtiy of California met at UCLA. They voted to raise tuition 32%, more than $500 for next term and $1000 for next year. In addition, beginning next year there will be a $900 registration fee. Staff and faculty at the UC have faced furloughs and pay cuts, yet the Chancellors and the top UC Administration officials are being paid more than the President Obama.
Protests reached a peak at UCLA immediately after the vote was announced on Thursday. Protestors gathered around the building where the Regents were meeting and tried to prevent them from leaving. Protestors were dispersed only after this:
http://www.youtube.com/...
Time is reporting that at the UCLA protests, "police used taser guns on several protesters, nearly 20." http://www.time.com/...
For more information on what took place at UCLA, go here: http://www.dailycal.org/...
Also on Thursday, protestors staged a sit-in at Mrak Hall of UCDavis. When they refused to leave after the building closed, 52 students were non-violently arrested. On Friday afternoon a group of protestors marched on Mrak Hall and found it locked and guarded. Approximately 150 students occupied Dutton Hall instead, but later dispersed.
Students at UC Santa Cruz continue to occupy two buildings - Kerr Hall and Kresge Town Hall - as of Saturday morning. Internet in those buildings has been cut. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/...
Berkeley students barricaded themselves inside Wheeler Hall, while hundreds of students outside lent their support. That situation was resolved late afternoon Friday with 41 arrests.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Additionally, students at Fresno State - part of the Cal State University system, not the UC - launched a takeover of their library last night to protest the budget cuts experienced by the Cal State system. http://abclocal.go.com/...
The numbers of arrests include 14 at UCLA, 52 at UC Davis, and 41 at UC Berkeley, meaning more than 100 UC students have so far been arrested for protesting these tuition hikes.
The protests are not over. This weekend there will be strategy sessions at Berkeley and Davis. The talk in Dutton Hall at Davis this afternoon was for a march on the Capitol in Sacramento from Davis, though it was quickly pointed out that our representatives are on recess. Whatever action we end up taking, it seems likely that protests will continue, not only next week, but indefinitely.