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November 18-20—Several UC campuses erupted in various forms of struggle Wednesday through Friday as students, faculty, and staff protested against the stiff increase in student fees being proposed by the UC Regents. See UC-AFT president and UCLA lecturer Bob Samuels discuss the issues (go to minute 15) on the Friday morning, 11/20 edition of Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! photo by Richard Mellor
At the Regents meeting at UCLA, fourteen students were arrested (and two tasered) as hundreds (on Wednesday) and thousands (on Thursday) demanded a rollback of the 32% student fee increases imposed by the Regents. At UC Berkeley, Sproul Plaza was the scene of a five thousand strong rally at noon Wednesday, with big picket lines at campus entrances, followed by a march through downtown, up into the Berkeley City College building, and past Berkeley High. Students occupied buildings on the Berkeley, UCLA, Santa Cruz, and Davis campuses. More than fifty students were arrested at UC Davis. Nearly every campus saw teach-ins and cancelled classes. Picket lines by striking UPTE and CUE members were up at several campuses.
CFT members from K-12 and community college locals joined their UC colleagues at the campus rallies, as they had on September 24. At UCLA, United Teachers Los Angeles officer David Goldberg expressed the solidarity of his members with the action, and so did Zack Knorr on behalf of the Los Angeles Community College Faculty Guild.
Mike Rotkin reports that at UC Santa Cruz, hundreds of peaceful demonstrators closed the main entrances to campus from time to time on Wednesday and much of the day Thursday following a "snake march" through campus by 500 students and workers. A group of two hundred undergraduate and graduate students occupied Kerr Hall (which contains the Chancellor's offices) late Thursday afternoon and overnight; they relinquished the building on Sunday.
Michelle Squitieri reports from UC Berkeley Wednesday: " Picketing started at 5 am at construction sites and 7 am at the entrances to campus. By 9:30, there was a good, lively picket line at Bancroft and Telegraph, but the campus was otherwise quiet and empty. Lots of street parking just one block from campus! I was sent up to Boalt Law School to picket by the construction site there. Very little traffic in or out of the school. A few construction workers came by to pick up materials from the site but no work was done there. At 11 am and 2 pm, Physical Education lecturer Sue Li-Jue conducted her ballet classes at the picket line at Bancroft and Telegraph. This was a hit with the strikers! Sue and all her colleagues in the Physical Education Program have received full layoff notices for fall 2010. If those layoffs are implemented, that distinguished century-old program will be eliminated. Meanwhile, an article on a UCB website celebrates faculty research showing that physical education classes prevent obesity and health problems in children.
I returned to Bancroft and Telegraph at 11:30, and by then the size and volume of the picket line had tripled. The crowd grew in the next half hour, and by the time the noon rally started, Sproul Plaza was filled with students and workers and picket signs from Sather Gate to Bancroft. The rally was terrific—it started with a rousing speech by Ananya Roy, and there were speakers from all the unions and from various student groups and organizations. George Lakoff spoke about his initiative for majority rule on financial matters in the California legislature. (He wasn’t on the schedule so this was a last minute change.) AFSCME firebrand Kathryn Lybarger spoke passionately and brilliantly about why the Regents don’t really support higher taxes for wealthy corporations and individuals, and therefore don’t advocate effectively for funding the University in Sacramento.
There was a rousing sendoff for the students and workers getting on the bus to go to UCLA. Then we marched to downtown Berkeley, chanting most of the way. It was a big march—the street was filled for at least 2 blocks—though not quite as large as the march on Sept 24. We marched past Berkeley High, and chanted, “Berkeley High is hella tight; education is our right.” We marched into Berkeley Community College, chanting, “UC and BCC—education must be free.”"
On Friday about fifty Berkeley students occupied Wheeler Hall, and held it against campus police, and reinforcements from the Berkeley Police Department, for most of the day. They were calling for rollback of the fee increase and rehiring of thirty eight custodians, members of AFSCME Local 3299, who had been laid off. At times the crowd of student supporters outside swelled to a couple thousand facing off against the police. At the end of the day the students agreed to leave and most received trespassing citations, although three were arrested on felony burglary charges for moving university equipment.
Watch a short CNN video on the UCLA protest.
More coverage:
Videos, Photos and Articles on Nov. 17-20 Campus Protest Actions
[Thanks to The Organizer newspaper for part of this compilation of coverage]
Nov. 20 at UC Berkeley:
Video of protesters clashing with police at UCB
KTVU -- Very good TV coverage
The Daily Cal -- Good Article and Footage of Protest/Chanting in Rain
San Francisco Chronicle - Good article
The Daily Cal- Great Photo Slideshow
NYTimes
Indybay.org coverage
Nov 18-20 Protests Throughout the State:
UCLA Video Coverage (Check out poll: 79% of public are against fee hike!):
UCLA Indymedia Coverage
CSU Fresno Library Study In
UCSC Occupation of Kerr Hall
UC Davis Protests after 52 Arrested
UC Davis - Good Student TV coverage of Occupation
SF State Nov. 18 Action
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UC Berkeley students end occupation
Forty protesters who barricaded themselves inside Wheeler Hall for 11 hours Friday didn't win back the 38 custodial jobs they demanded, nor did they persuade the UC regents to rescind their decision to increase tuition by 32 percent next fall.
UC Regents Give Final Approval To Fee Hikes -- As angry students chanted outside, University of California regents Thursday approved a 32 percent fee increase that will raise the price of a UC education to more than $10,000 per year for the first time. LARRY GORDON and AMINA KHAN in the Los Angeles Times STU WOO in the Wall Street Journal NANETTE ASIMOV in the San Francisco Chronicle MICHAEL R. BLOOD AP MATT KRUPNICK in the Oakland Tribune TERESA ROCHESTER in the Ventura Star -- 11/20/09
video:
UCLA Students End A Day Of Protest Over Fee Hikes -- After a day of protests over student fee hikes that roiled the UCLA campus, a final group of students who had taken over Campbell Hall left the building peacefully this evening. AMINA KHAN in the Los Angeles Times ELEANOR YANG SU in the San Diego Union-Trib -- 11/20/09
Dozens Of Protesters Arrested At UC Davis -- The students were protesting the governing board of the University of California approving a $2,500 student fee increase Thursday after two days of tense campus protests across the state. HUDSON SANGREE in the Sacramento Bee -- 11/20/09
More than 50 protesters arrested at UC Davis
San Jose Mercury News
Each time a cadre of police officers clad in riot gear made entry into the building, and then exited with a passel of handcuffed students and teachers in ...
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