Feature Archives

On November 19th the University of California Board of Regents approved a 32% fee increase in undergraduate fees, pushing fees to over $10,000 a year. "The UC administration say it is the state that is to blame," notes gazuedro group. "They tell us to bring our fight to Sacramento to demand a bail-out for public education. To that we say, THAT’S YOUR FUCKING JOB! In fact, we don’t want a bail-out as it does nothing to fundamentally change the unjust structure of the UC system at large."

The Student of Color Collective will host a forum of education and dialogue on Friday, December 4th from 3-5pm at UCSC's Stevenson Event Center where people can collectively address how individuals and communities are directly impacted by budget cuts.

Saturday, November 21, 2009 - Students at CSU-Fresno took over the university library, keeping it open for 24 hours from Friday - Saturday morning. About 100 students and supporters occupied the second floor of the Madden Library, demanding that more university resources go towards keeping the library open for more hours. Ali Espinoza, one of the student leaders who helped organize the takeover, said the university keeps their bowling ally and pool hall open more hours than the library.

In anticipation of fee hikes, students planned a series of occupations and strikes across the state for November 18th through 20th. On Thursday, November 19th, the University of California Regents approved a 32% increase in undergraduate fees, pushing fees to over $10,000 a year for the first time. Protests, sit-ins and occupations took place at UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, CSU Fresno, San Francisco State and San Francisco City College. Students occupied Campbell Hall at UCLA, Kresge Town Hall and Kerr Hall at UC Santa Cruz, Mrak Hall at UC Davis, Wheeler Hall at UCB, and the library at CSU Fresno.

On Wednesday, November 18th, hundreds of UC Santa Cruz students occupied the Kresge Town Hall following large rallies against a 32% tuition hike. The rallies obstructed the two entrances to the UCSC campus for several hours. On Thursday, UCSC's Kerr Hall, which contains the offices of the administration, vice-chancellors, and chancellors, was also occupied by students as part of the Days of Action Against the Tuition Hikes. Both occupations ended on Sunday morning after UC Police and Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Officers dispersed the people outside of Kerr Hall and those occupying the building.

On November 18th, hundreds of students rallied at the two entrances to the UC Santa Cruz campus, shutting them down for several hours. The demonstration was in conjunction with statewide actions against a 32% increase in undergraduate student fees, effective fall 2010, which was approved the same day at UCLA by the Committee on Finance of the UC Board of Regents.

On November 14th, students in the EA Hall Middle School MEChA Club held a free community arts event at the Brown Berets Bike Shack warehouse in Watsonville. The event was initially supposed to be held at the city owned Youth Center, however City Staff were opposed to a fee waiver for this event due to the "political nature" of the bands lined up to perform. This has created a stir with some conservative people in the community who are afraid of anything that promotes Mexican or Xicana/o identity.