Pictures From Action in Defense of Education Protest At UCB

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/special_packages/iraq/11447068.htm

BERKELEY, Calif. - College students marched and rallied at campuses across the state and held a mock funeral Wednesday on the steps of the state Capitol to protest cuts in higher education funding.

The event, organized by leaders in all three of California's public higher education systems, was timed to coincide with a legislative hearing on education finances.

"Years and years of successive budget cuts have made it harder and harder for Californians to achieve the educational opportunity that they deserve and that made California strong," said Jennifer Lilla, a student at UC San Francisco and president of UC's student association.

The protest drew students from the 10-campus University of California as well as the 23-campus California State University system and the community college system, which serves 2.5 million students.

UC student fees have increased about 60 percent over the past decade, to about $6,700 for a student with a full-time class load.

CSU, which has 400,000 students and is the nation's largest four-year public university system, also saw a 60 percent fee increase over the period, to about $3,100. Community colleges, once free, now charge $26 a unit.

The fee hikes are part of a six-year pact worked out last year between the CSU and UC systems and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Universities agreed to make cuts and raise fees in exchange for increases in funding starting this year.

In New York, meanwhile, another campus protest was held - this one demanding that Columbia and Yale universities recognize unions of graduate teaching and research assistants.

The academic assistants at both universities have been striking since Monday.

The National Labor Relations Board ruled last year that graduate students at private universities are students, not workers, and cannot form unions. To win union recognition, universities would have to voluntarily grant it, which they have refused to do.

I've got an idea.
Lets all get together and make a list of things we want but don't want to pay for. Let's declair all those things a 'right' and demand someone else provide them.