Los Angeles, CA – Student protests continued across California, Nov. 20, in the wake of the heavily-protested decision of the University of California (UC) regents to raise undergraduate tuition by a staggering 32%.

Nov. 19, as the regents held their final day of meetings, thousands of students across the UC system protested the tuition hike, the furloughs of university workers and other effects of the budget cuts.

After the fee hike passed, outraged demonstrators (numbering between 1000-2000) formed a blockade of the meeting venue at UCLA to prevent the regents from leaving. They succeeded in detaining the regents for several hours before being forcibly dispersed by police.

On the other side of UCLA’s campus, students participated in a takeover of Campbell Hall which lasted until about 8:00 p.m. Nov.19. Demonstrators left voluntarily.

At UC-Davis, roughly 200 student protesters took over the campus administration building the morning of Nov. 19 and remained there until late in the evening. 52 were arrested by campus police.

At UC-Santa Cruz, where a number of building takeovers have happened in the last two months, students occupied two buildings – Kerr and Kresge Hall. Students stayed inside the buildings overnight and remained in control of both at the time of this writing [Nov. 20]. On the night of Nov. 20, they presented the campus administration with an extensive list of demands, which can be found here: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/19/18629337.php

Today, Nov. 20, although the regents meeting is over, many protests have continued. At UC-Berkeley, several dozen students took over Wheeler Hall early this morning, and continue to hold the space despite the efforts of UC and Berkeley police in riot gear. When police tried to disperse the occupation, hundreds of students and workers gathered outside the building to defend it, clashing with the cops. At the time of this writing, the SWAT team has been called in and is attempting to take the doors off their hinges.

Berkeley protesters have also presented a list of demands. They are:

1. Rehire all 38 AFSCME custodial workers who were laid off.
2. Provide amnesty to all protesters/occupiers.
3. Retain the current small-business occupants of the Berkeley food court instead of replacing them with chains.
4. Preserve the Rochdale cooperative housing for students.

For a time it looked as though the administration was going to negotiate, but now it seems like they’ve chosen to use force.

Finally, there is a new occupation at UC-Davis as of today, at Dutton Hall. That's a total of six building takeovers across the UC system in the last 24 hours, four of which are still going on.

The UC regents might have successfully raised tuition, but in doing so it looks like they’ve awakened a ‘sleeping giant’ across the state. Again and again, students and workers across the UC campuses are saying that they won’t tolerate any more. If the UC administrators don’t change their current policies, they could be facing a system-wide revolt sooner than they think.

Charla Schlueter, of UCLA Students for a Democratic Society, said, “Students across California are turning to more militant tactics like civil disobedience and building occupation, because it’s clear the regents and the administrators aren’t interested in giving them the time of day. We’re going to see more resistance like this across the UC system and beyond it, until the rulers of the UC abandon their plan of privatization and stop the attacks on working-class and oppressed nationality students.”

#California #CA #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #UCLA #UCRegents

Los Angeles, CA – Students from all over the state of California gathered at the University of California regents meeting on UCLA campus Nov.19. They were there to protest proposed fee hikes.

Students and workers (represented by AFSCME, UPTE and other unions) held a huge protest outside of Covell Commons, the meeting venue. The already militant mood became one of outrage when word spread that the 32% fee increase had been approved. Amongst the protesters were members of Students for a Democratic Society.

Afterwards, protesters formed a human chain around the building and staged sit ins at the various entrances, with the goal of preventing the regents from leaving. For over two hours they succeeded, as a wall of bodies prevented any vehicles from driving off. Eventually the police used force to disperse the crowd, and at least one student was attacked with pepper spray as demonstrators chanted, “Shame on you!”

Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, protesters occupied Campbell Hall and barricaded the entrances shut. Banners in front of the main entrance have renamed the building ‘Carter-Huggins,’ after Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, two Black Panther Party leaders who were murdered there in 1969.

In the morning, a large march went by the building to support the occupiers. In the afternoon, after demonstrators were dispersed at Covell, many came back to Campbell Hall to join the occupation. As of the time this is being written, protesters are still inside and have just been given an order to disperse by the UC police.

#LosAngelesCA #Labor #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #AFSCME #UCLA #UCRegents

Los Angeles, CA – Shortly after midnight on Nov. 19, dozens of students barricaded themselves inside UCLA's Campbell Hall in protest of a planned 32% fee hike that will be enacted later today. Banners in front of the main entrance have renamed the building “Carter-Huggins,” after Bunchy Carter and John Huggins, two Black Panther leaders who were murdered there in 1969.

The following is from a statement the occupiers posted around the building:

“We know the crisis is systemic – and that it reaches beyond the Regents, beyond the criminal budget cuts in Sacramento, beyond the economic crisis, to the very foundations of our society. But we also know that the enormity of the problem is just as often an excuse for doing nothing.”

“We choose to fight back, to resist, where we find ourselves, the place where we live and work, our university.”

“We therefore ask that those who share in our struggle lend us not only their sympathy but their active support. For those students who work two or three jobs while going to school, to those parents for whom the violation of the UC charter means the prospect of affordable education remains out of reach, to laid off teachers, lecturers, to students turned away, to workers who've seen the value of their diplomas evaporate in an economy that 'grows' without producing jobs – to all these people and more besides, we say that our struggle is your struggle, that an alternative is possible if you have the courage to seize it.”

The occupiers have set up a website: http://uclaresists.blogspot.com/

The university administration has issued a brief statement saying that all classes and functions in Campbell Hall have been canceled for the day and encouraged students to avoid the building. So far, there has been no sign of police activity around the building.

Meanwhile, across campus hundreds have gathered to protest the final day of the UC regents meeting, and there is a mood of palpable anger after yesterday's vote by the finance committee to approve the fee hikes.

More updates will be posted as soon as possible.

#LosAngelesCA #UCLA #UCRegents

Berkeley, CA – While the University of California's Board of Regents were at UCLA voting to increase the cost of education by a whopping 32%, students, labor and faculty from across the state were fighting back.

At UC Berkeley, staff unions called a strike to protest the regents' plan of layoffs and cutbacks as well as the proposed fee hikes. A noon rally and march of thousands featured a militant message of unity and resistance to the regents' attack on lower income and oppressed nationality students. The strike and other actions are to continue throughout the day on Nov. 19 and 20.

#BerkeleyCA #UCBerkeley #UCRegents #TuitionHike

Los Angeles, CA – As of Nov. 18, dozens of tents are cropping up on UCLA’s quad as over 100 students begin a tent city, part of an all-night protest against the budget cuts, layoffs and tuition hikes in the University of California (UC) system. The students are waiting for buses filled with trade unionists and students from across the UC system to arrive in the early morning hours, in time for massive protests on Nov. 19 and 20.

While they wait for the others to arrive, the students at UCLA attend workshops to discuss the broader struggle for public education, from privatization of K-12 education to the struggle for adequate resources for community colleges. Slam poets and improv rappers connect the UC budget crisis with the illegal wars that the U.S. is waging in foreign countries and the economic crisis that has caused millions to lose their jobs and homes across the country. This is Crisis Fest: a political gathering and protest event to kick off the protests set for the coming days.

The tent city and Crisis Fest convention follow a day of mass protest Nov. 18 where hundreds of students pushed past the barricades to where the UC regents were meeting. The protesters were met by repression, as police declared the assembly ‘unlawful’ and violently pushed the students back. The police used Tasers on several students and arrested 14 others. Those who were arrested staged a civil disobedience action inside the committee meeting where the tuition hike was agreed upon, singing We Shall Overcome until they were removed.

Despite the mass protests, the UC regents voted to increase tuition 32% for the spring semester. This increase is just the beginning, as another tuition increase is planned before the fall semester next year.

But it is clear that they will not be able to do it without a fight from the community. Students, faculty and staff of the University of California system are coming together to stand in solidarity and fight back against the budget cuts.

“These students deserve to have the same public education I enjoyed,” said Lauren Anderson, who is a recent graduate from UCLA’s masters program. “If they had wanted the price tag of a privatized university they would have gone to USC [University of Southern California, a private university]. I am in complete solidarity with them.”

On Nov. 19 the protest starts back up bright and early. “The regents have to know that we aren’t going anywhere,” says Janet Ramer, a UCLA staff member. “We are not going to just stand by while they cut our pay.”

#LosAngelesCA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Labor #UCLA #UCRegents #CrisisFest