Education

LOS ANGELES (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― Financially hobbled University of California moved Wednesday to boost student fees by $2,500 over two years as students staged raucous demonstrations across the state against the higher costs.

Fourteen protesters were arrested at a meeting held at UCLA where a Board of Regents committee endorsed a plan that will boost undergraduate fees, the equivalent of tuition, by 32 percent in two stages by 2010. The full board is expected to approve the fee increases Thursday.

At UC Berkeley, more than 1,000 demonstrators condemned the fee boost and high salaries for university administrators. Protesters carried mock gravestones to represent programs that have suffered under state budget cuts and waved signs reading "Save our university."

After a series of deep cuts, and with state government facing a nearly $21 billion budget gap over the next year and a half, Board of Regents members said there was no option to higher fees in light of withering government dollars. University of California President Mark Yudof has said the 10-campus system needs a $913 million increase in state funding next year, in addition to higher student fees.

More than two-thirds of the request would restore previous cuts. He did not rule out even higher student fees if Sacramento can't find the money.

"When you have no choice, you have no choice," Yudof told reporters after the committee vote. "I'm sorry."

Board members pointed out that lower-income families would be shielded from the jump, and financial aid would help others defray the higher cost.

For undergraduate students, the proposal would increase mandatory fees by more than $2,500, or 32 percent by the 2010-11 school year, with some increases taking effect in spring of 2010.

The Los Angeles meeting was repeatedly interrupted by outbursts from students and union members, who accused the board of turning its back on the next generation.

"We are bailing out the banks, we are bailing out Wall Street. Where is the bailout for public education?" asked UCLA graduate student Sonja Diaz.

Armed officers arrested 14 protesters after they refused to leave the meeting room. As officers approached them, the protesters locked arms and sang the civil rights anthem, "We Shall Overcome." Others shouted "Shame on you."
Some cursed.

UCLA police spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein said a crowd as large as 500 outside the building tossed sticks, food and rags soaked in vinegar at police. A group that rushed the doors was turned back by police. Several police and two students suffered minor injuries.

Several thousand students, staff and workers at UC Berkeley kicked off a three-day labor strike and student walkout to protest the fee increases.

About 200 workers began picketing at five school construction sites and five campus entrances, as well as at UC Berkeley's Richmond Field Station, before sunrise, said Tanya Smith, president of the Berkeley chapter of the University Professional and Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America Local 9119. The union represents about 800 UC Berkeley researchers and technical employees. Several other unions also participated on the protests.

Around 1 p.m., she estimated 3,000 people had converged on Sproul Plaza for a rally decrying the increased fees.

Marika Goodrich, a UC Berkeley student, said "we're shutting down the university because they're shutting us out. Today we refuse to be silent."

During the rally, protesters chanted, "Whose university? Our university?"
Kathryn Lybarger, a gardener at UC Berkeley who's a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 as well as the Solidarity Alliance, said, "It is you regents who are set to wreck the university and the rest of us will save it."

Lybarger said, "Education is a right and it should be free."

English professor Bob Hass, a former U.S. poet laureate, called for higher taxes so that more money can be spent on education. Hass said California spent more money per student on education than all but one or two states before Proposition 13, which limits property tax increases, was passed in 1978. California now ranks nearly last on spending per student, he said.

Hass decried what he described as "a growing income gap in our society" and called for "disciplined, well-organized labor organizations." He recalled that the University of California was founded as a land grant university aimed at educating everyone who was interested.

"There should be education not only by the rich and for the rich but there should be education for everybody," Hass said.

When the rally ended around 1:30 p.m., several hundred protesters marched west on Bancroft Avenue, starting from the intersection of Bancroft and Telegraph avenues. The march was boisterous but peaceful as it began, with participants changing, "Education is a right! One struggle, one fight!"

An organizer said the march could last up to several hours and is expected to end back at Sproul Plaza.

The unions have committed to two days of picketing, according to UPTE-CWA local president Smith. However, some staff and students are planning a third day.

Union members are also frustrated by ongoing contract negotiations with the university, she said.

"The priorities of the UC administration have to be changed," she said.

Leslie Sepuka, spokeswoman for the UC Office of the President, said that president Mark Yudof and regents dislike inflicting higher fees on students. However, university leadership is asking students, faculty and workers share equally in the pain of absorbing a $1.2 billion budget shortfall over a two-year period while preserving the system's academic standards.

"As far as the student unrest, free speech is what the university is about," she said. "They should be offended—it's a horrible situation."

The slate of fee increases approved Wednesday will generate an estimated $505 million. Of this, $175 million will be set aside for financial aid, according to UC.

Initial news of the proposed fee hikes prompted a Sept. 25 walkout and rally that attracted an estimated 5,000 participants. Smith said Wednesday's events are similar, "except it's a little more organized."

UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said Wednesday's activities did not cause any major disruptions.

"The vast majority of classes are under way as scheduled," he said. "Otherwise things have gone really peacefully."

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