Students at the University of California, Berkeley, have been occupying a major university building all day to protest a fee increase at all UC campuses. From the Wall Street Journal:
The takeover by as many as 50 students and their sympathizers took place before dawn Friday, a day after the UC Board of Regents approved a 32% increase in student fees to cope with California’s long-running fiscal crisis.
Campus police made three arrests in the occupied Wheeler Hall classroom building after discovering furniture and other items propped up against doors at about 5:30 a.m. Friday, a school spokeswoman said. There were unofficial reports of at least one person arrested outside for allegedly crossing a police line marked by yellow tape.
By Friday afternoon, the standoff continued, as an estimated 500 other students and supporters assembled around the building, despite a driving rain. They banged drums, chanted and cheered as some of the occupants of the building used megaphones from a second-floor window to shout encouragement.
Pretty crazy stuff—but it must sound pretty familiar, I imagine, to some of the professors who’ve been at Wesleyan for 20+ years. Read the full article here.
EDIT: Apparently dozens of students have now been arrested in the protest. Updated story on MSNBC.
it’s not just berkeley, it’s happening at all the other campuses as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzEEi40tunE&feature=popular
this makes glad i chose not to attend a uc, and thankful that i was financially able to make that decision. that said, most of my friends attend these schools, and i stand in solidarity with them. something needs to change and a compromise will need to be reached, but the uc system (and police) could not be handling this any worse
it’s not just berkeley, it’s happening at all the other campuses as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzEEi40tunE&feature=popular
this makes glad i chose not to attend a uc, and thankful that i was financially able to make that decision. that said, most of my friends attend these schools, and i stand in solidarity with them. something needs to change and a compromise will need to be reached, but the uc system (and police) could not be handling this any worse
These are PUBLIC universities that are increasingly approaching private school levels of tuition (when one includes costs of room and board, etc). This is a state where $7,500 is spent per student and $47,000 is spent per prisoner. The UC’s cost almost three times as much as they did a decade ago. The student fees don’t HAVE to be raised, and will only hurt the UC’s ability to pressure the state for more funding in the future. Check democracynow.org or http://changinguniversities.blogspot.com/ for more info.
–in solidarity with the our fellow students
These are PUBLIC universities that are increasingly approaching private school levels of tuition (when one includes costs of room and board, etc). This is a state where $7,500 is spent per student and $47,000 is spent per prisoner. The UC’s cost almost three times as much as they did a decade ago. The student fees don’t HAVE to be raised, and will only hurt the UC’s ability to pressure the state for more funding in the future. Check democracynow.org or http://changinguniversities.blogspot.com/ for more info.
–in solidarity with the our fellow students