Student protests 2009 style
Back in the day, student protests were about civil rights and Viet Nam. Today, students at that traditional hotbed of political dissent and demonstration, University of California Berkeley, returned to the tactics of another time when they barricaded themselves inside Wheeler Hall calling for their demands to be met.
Was it health care? Afghanistan? Iraq? Jobs?
None of the above. Angry students all over California were protesting yesterday’s decision by the University of California Regents to increase tuition at all UC system universities by 32%.
In addition to demonstrating over the tuition raises, the students were calling for the re-instatement of 900 laid-off custodial workers in the statewide UC system.
It wasn’t just Berkeley. At the UC Davis main campus, 50 students were arrested in a protest yesterday that police claim turned into a riot. At UCLA, protestors staged a take over of Campbell Hall as the Regents were meeting on campus to vote for the increases.
University of California Regents say that they had no choice but to raise the tuition prices given cash-strapped California’s inability to meet the UC system’s funding needs. However, a tour of the UCLA campus, where new buildings are always under construction, makes one wonder if the UC system has put a bit too much emphasis on spending to modern campuses versus the education and tuition needs of its students.
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Rick,
I, too, am suspicious of the need for universities to keep increasing fees far in excess of the rise in cost of living. Perhaps it’s because I’m paying for several students …
It seems that the more necessary a college education becomes, the higher the premium to attend. The best suggestion I’ve heard: more advanced vocational training to go with more jobs that require advanced vocational training. A 4 year diploma is just a stamped ticket for the upper middle class – let’s return to creating well-paying jobs that don’t require one.
My condolences if you are at that point in life where you are paying the education bills! I’ve been there.
In response to another comment. See in context »there are a lot of problems with the UC system. For starters, it is supposed to be for kids in California? WHy? Because we Californians pay for it. Yet, when I go through UCLA, which I do often, most of the students I see are from other countries. I think its great that there is a good of cultures, but it has gotten to the point where a 4.0 GPA is the starting point for being accepted to UCLA. That means a lot of kids are being frozen out so that kids from other countries, who pay higher tuitions, are allowed in. Not cool.
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