Feature Archives

Students occupied the business building at San Francisco State University before dawn Wednesday, December 9th to protest higher tuition, massive layoffs, hundreds of classes cut and millions for administration salary. Hundreds of students linked arms at various points throughout the day in solidarity against the complete dismantling of the education system in California. Students drew connections between layoffs and cuts in other public sectors, billions spent on war and millions of people without health care. Just before 4am the next day, almost twenty-four hours into the occupation, riot police rushed the building, breaking a window to gain access, and arrested those inside.

On Monday, November 30th, Teachers For Class War spoke with Sandra Nichols, a school board trustee for almost ten years in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Sandra talked about why she ran for the elected office, and the political battles waged over the course of her time on the board over issues like bilingual education, transparency, budget priorities, military recruitment, and more.

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.