The Real Recovery | November 20, 2009 | 76 comments

Students Shut Down UCLA

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JonRaymond
Yesterday and today, thousands of students effectively shut down the UCLA campus in protest of the UC Regents approval of a massive 32% tuition hike. Thousands more launched strikes at UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz. Just a day before, CSU students, led by ANSWER and Students Fight Back organizers, confronted police and CSU officials at the Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach. http://currentb.ning.com

ANSWER sent out a message to come to the Southern California Regional Socialism Conference this Saturday to discuss the student struggle, hear eyewitness reports from student and faculty organizers and to discuss what's next for this dynamic and growing movement, on the Los Angeles City College Campus, in the Chemistry Building, from 10am-5pm. ANSWER asks people to be there to join the fight for education rights and for a better world, and support the student struggle for education.

CSU students demanded to attend the Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach on Tuesday, Nov. 17. They chanted loudly and pounded on the doors after being met with a line of police.

Students and faculty are in motion. At UCLA, banners against the hikes and for students' rights are hanging from nearly every building. Students are occupying buildings, demanding a rollback of the cuts and a cancellation of the hikes. Police have attacked the students at the behest of the school, but the students are unbowed. Right now, hundreds are linking arms to prevent the criminal Regents from leaving their meeting place.

ANSWER members are participating in the actions, as students, as organizers, and as faculty members.

UCLA professor Susan Curtiss told ANSWER from the front lines of the struggle, "I stand in complete solidarity with the students. Students are occupying the building where I teach. This is what needs to happen. We have to support the struggle for affordable education. Education is not a privilege, it is a right!"

In fact in other industrialized nations education is a right. Students go to college for free or for small fees. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/nov/20/uk.highereducation

France

The higher education system is mainly public, which means that the tuition fees are almost fully funded by the state and students have to pay only a small fee.

Sweden

Higher education is free for all, tuition fees are not allowed, and university funding is met by the goverment. There is a system of student grants which meet roughly a third of living costs and then loans for the remainder of costs. Both loans and grants are subject to an income test of the student but not of their parents.

Australia

Introduced in 1989, the higher education contribution scheme (HECS) is a system where students contribute to the costs of their education with interest free deferred payment arrangements.

You can repay in various ways, either upfront with a 25% discount, or paying part and deferring the rest, or deferring it all. You must start repaying when your income reaches the minimum threshold for compulsory repayment, which in 2001-02 was $23,242 (£8,576).

Youth allowance provides income support based on a student's personal and/or family circumstances.
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    Community,   News_Featured,   The Real Recovery,   The New Great Depression,   2 more
  2. tags:
    Education,  Civil Rights,  Protests,  Students,  2 more
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76 comments // Students Shut Down UCLA

  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • The Higher Education Fiscal Crisis Protects the Wealthy
      http://dailycensored.com/2009/11/22/the-higher-education-fiscal-crisis-protects-....

      Higher education has been cut in twenty-eight states in the 2009-10 school year and further, even more drastic cuts, are likely in the years ahead. California State University (CSU) system is planning to reduce enrollments by 40,000 students in the fall of 2010. The CSU Trustees have imposed steep tuition hikes and forced faculty and staff to take non-paid furlough days equal to 10% of salaries.

      According to the California Budget Project, tax cuts enacted in California, since 1993, cost the state $11.3 billion dollars annually. Had the state continued taxing corporations and the wealthy at rates equal to those fifteen years ago there would not be a budget crisis in California. Even though a budget deficit was evident last year, California income tax laws were changed in February of 2009 to provide corporations with even greater tax savings—equal to over $2 billion per year. California is similar to the rest of the country where the wealthy and corporate elites enjoy economic protection through increased costs to working people.

      The students who are protesting tuition increases know they are being ripped off. They know that we are bailing out the rich with hundreds of billions dollars for Wall Street and massive budget cuts for the rest of us. The corporate media doesn’t explain to over-taxed working families how they are paying more while the rich sock it away.

      The current economic crisis is a shock and awe process designed to undermine low-cost higher education, force labor concessions from working people and protect the wealthy. We need higher taxes on the corporations and the top 1%, combined with free public college education and tax breaks for working families. And, we must have a media that tells us the truth about inequality and wealth. A true economic stimulus increases spending from the bottom up not the top down.

      EXECUTIVE RESUME

      PRIVATIZE THE PROFIT
      SOCIALIZE THE COST

    • 2 years ago
  • JonRaymond
  • JonRaymond
    • 0
      JonRaymond  
    • WhiteNoise:

      WhiteNoise: Better yet would you post it again here: http://current.com/items/91532130_uc-tuition-hike-explained-corporatization.htm

      Here's the copy:

      Higher education has been cut in twenty-eight states in the 2009-10 school year and further, even more drastic cuts, are likely in the years ahead. California State University (CSU) system is planning to reduce enrollments by 40,000 students in the fall of 2010. The CSU Trustees have imposed steep tuition hikes and forced faculty and staff to take non-paid furlough days equal to 10% of salaries.

      According to the California Budget Project, tax cuts enacted in California, since 1993, cost the state $11.3 billion dollars annually. Had the state continued taxing corporations and the wealthy at rates equal to those fifteen years ago there would not be a budget crisis in California. Even though a budget deficit was evident last year, California income tax laws were changed in February of 2009 to provide corporations with even greater tax savings—equal to over $2 billion per year. California is similar to the rest of the country where the wealthy and corporate elites enjoy economic protection through increased costs to working people.

      The students who are protesting tuition increases know they are being ripped off. They know that we are bailing out the rich with hundreds of billions dollars for Wall Street and massive budget cuts for the rest of us. The corporate media doesn’t explain to over-taxed working families how they are paying more while the rich sock it away.

      The current economic crisis is a shock and awe process designed to undermine low-cost higher education, force labor concessions from working people and protect the wealthy. We need higher taxes on the corporations and the top 1%, combined with free public college education and tax breaks for working families. And, we must have a media that tells us the truth about inequality and wealth. A true economic stimulus increases spending from the bottom up not the top down.

    • 2 years ago
  • bluestranger
    • 0
      bluestranger  

    • Now we know what it takes to get today's college student organized and into the streets, money. Let's see if the professors will join in as they did in the 60s and 70s. Probably not since it would go against their monetary interest. I wonder where all of the protesters were that should have been protesting the invasion of Iraq and the use of torture?

    • 2 years ago
  • anglcazn
    • 0
      anglcazn  
    • bluestranger:

      Actually, the faculty has already stated that they support the students and are against the fee hikes.

      But, there are also many who cannot support them because it is stated in their contract that if they physically protest with the students, they will be fired on the spot.

      So, it's not really about the money when it concerns the faculty.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • @passjay

      In the 60's the steamroller of conformity found a few dumps on the road to obedience & we are all a little better for it...aren't we ?

      Education and the acquisition of knowledge is central to all the rest indeed...so yeah, I do get concerned whenever I see the process tainted with ;)

      Let's admit that between big media's 24/7 intellectual pablum & so-called higher education the bandwidth of narrative in the USA is kept to a very low common denominator ?

      PROOF OF CONCEPT

      Meanwhile...

      1 in 5 US citizens think the Sun revolves around the Earth !!! http://www.rustylime.com/show_article.php?id=562

      NOW JUST FOR FUN ;)

      18% of Americans Think Sun Revovles Around Earth !!!!
      http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/new-poll-gauges-ame......

      For the record, the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun was discarded in the 17th century.

      A culture that cannot distinguish between reality and illusion dies. And we are dying now. We will either wake from our state of induced childishness, one where trivia and gossip pass for news and information, one where our goal is not justice but an elusive and unattainable happiness, to confront the stark limitations before us, or we will continue our headlong retreat into fantasy. - Chris Hedges * Empire of Illusion / The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

      EXECUTIVE RESUME

      "Our whole culture is organized around wealthy people who keep poor people poor, uneducated, and powerless.

    • 2 years ago
  • passjay
    • 0
      passjay  

    • I'll be damned............now we're getting a little too 60s here aren't we............we gosh darn it ..........about time............hell no we won't go........................love the energy...keep it up children.........................

    • 2 years ago
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  

    • Students everywhere are finally realizing that they have huge political power when they come together and unite around a cause. If all the students in this country were to unite around a political candidate, they could literally put anyone they wanted into office, and really shake up the status quo using the huge expansion of executive power that Bush and Obama have and continue to enshrine in the Whitehouse and DC at large.

      This candidate, with the stroke of the executive pen, dismantle decades of plotting and scheming by the greedy and power mad who control Washington.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • WHICH SEEMS TO FIT NICELY WITH THIS ONE TOO ;)

      "The process [of mass-media deception] has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt.... To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies - all this is indispensably necessary.": George Orwell in the book 1984

      & REMEMBER...

      "It does not matter if the war is not real, or when it is, victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. A hierarchal society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. The war is waged by the ruling group against its subjects, and its object is not victory, but to keep the very structure of society in tact." - George Orwell, from 1984

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • HERE'S AN INTERESTING RAT RACE/MAZE DIAGRAM !

      AH THE JOY OF A HIGHER EDUCATION ;)

      ...Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience. In other words, I feel that the nightmare of Nineteen Eighty-Four is destined to modulate into the nightmare of a world having more resemblance to that which I imagined in Brave New World". - From a letter to George Orwell, dated 21 October 1949. From Letters of Aldous Huxley, ed. Grover Smith; Harper & Row, 1969.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • BACK TO WHERE WE NEVER LEFT...
      "The tyrant, who in order to hold his power, suppresses every superiority, does away with good men, forbids education and light, controls every movement of the citizens and, keeping them under a perpetual servitude, wants them to grow accustomed to baseness and cowardice, has his spies everywhere to listen to what is said in the meetings, and spreads dissension and calumny among the citizens and impoverishes them, is obliged to make war in order to keep his subjects occupied and impose on them permanent need of a chief." - Aristotle

      EXECUTIVE RESUME

      It is much easier to abuse a nation of village idiots than a well educated & informed citizenry

      Who are the brain police ? - Frank Zappa

    • 2 years ago
  • BKsaysAction
  • CPr0ffitt
    • 0
      CPr0ffitt  

    • I am a student at UC Irvine and I would like all of you who read this story to vote it up. This increase on our tuition is criminal. Our state legislature spends more money on jails, then it does on the schooling of the future of this great state and nation!

      I pray that the Current community will join me and my fellow students in support of our cause! God bless.

    • 2 years ago
  • thewallisgirl
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • GO STUDENTS GO !
      ...but (reality check) this is still very small fries...
      Remember the 4 dead in OHIO !

      Dead Serious and Political
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcq_8qEZ7JI

      Vietnam; Kent State Massacre May 4, 1970
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv4u5dIRouM&feature=fvw

      STUDENTS ARE MOSTLY ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL IN AMERICA

      As an alternative to overt repression, the industrialists sought to develop a cultural ethos more simpatico with corporate prosperity. In their new world picture, machines became the model for society, and people were the cogs within it—increasingly disconnected from their own sense of technical expertise or whatever unique contributions they might make to the process of production. They were replaceable. The function of the industrial corporation was to extract value from people’s work, for the economic benefit of the nation. This meant disconnecting people from the wealth they might be creating through their labors, and substituting a less costly sense of satisfaction or, at the very least, compliance.
      So leading industrialists funded public schools—at once gifts to the working class and powerful tools for growing a more docile labor force.

      They hired education reformers, like Stanford’s Ellwood P. Cubberley, to design a public school system based on a Prussian method that sought to produce what he called “mediocre intellects . . . and ensure docile citizens.” Cubberley modeled our public schools after “factories, in which the raw product [the children] are to be shaped and fashioned . . . according to the specifications laid down.”

      Still, a public school system alone didn’t guarantee a compliant population—not when intellectuals, artists, philosophers, and labor-union organizers still seemed to emerge from its ranks and so easily foment dissidence wherever they went. Henry Ford, in particular, identified this ability to breed discontent with the Jews—not the real Jews people might know as neighbors, but the more abstract Jews and Jewish ideology thought to be running and ruining the world.

      The anti- Semitic diatribes Ford published formed the foundation for the anti- Semitism incorporated by Hitler into his book Mein Kampf. Hitler even quoted Ford, with attribution. And though Ford might have been more vocal about the need to eliminate Jews than most of his fellows, he was hardly alone in his support of Nazi- style fascism. American corporations from General Electric to the Brown Brothers Harriman bank either funded the Nazis directly, or set up money-laundering schemes on their behalf. Though well financed, this effort to order the world by force would fail.

      EXECUTIVE RESUME

      "Kid's heads are filled with so many nonfacts that when they get out of school they're totally unprepared to do anything. They can't read, they can't write, they can't think. Talk about child abuse. The school system as a whole qualifies. Go to the library and educate yourself if you've got any guts... " - Frank Zappa

      "People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after that innocence is dead turns himself into a monster." - James Baldwin

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • WhiteNoise:

      As UC Regents Approve Major Tuition Hike, Students, Faculty Decry Erosion of Public Education in CA and Nationwide
      http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/20/students

      AMY GOODMAN: Bob Samuels, just explain the situation right now. Why are these student hikes? What’s the justification for the 32 percent increase in student fees?

      BOB SAMUELS: Well, President Yudof, the president of the University of California system, says that because of state cut to the UC budget from 20 percent of the state contribution, which is—the state only contributes about—contributes only about 15 percent of the total budget, but because of that cut, they say they have to raise student fees. And our argument has been that this is actually a record year of revenue for the UC system, and the problem is they just don’t want to spend the money on instruction. So what they’re doing instead—

      AMY GOODMAN: How could it be a record year?

      BOB SAMUELS: They brought in a lot of money from the federal stimulus money. They had a record year in their research grants. They had a record year in medical profits. Most of their money is brought in by selling parking, housing and medical services throughout California. So they had a record year in that revenue. They had a record year in grants. And so, actually, last year they ended up getting more money than before from the state, because they got the federal stimulus money.

      AMY GOODMAN: And so, what is the justification then? Explain further where that money goes.

      BOB SAMUELS: Well, you know, the university says that it’s poor, that it can’t spend money from its other areas on students, on instructions, and so it has to basically—what it’s doing now is laying off hundreds of faculty members, especially the non-tenured lecturers, and it’s increasing class size.

      And money is being funneled into the compensation of the star faculty and the star administrators, because in the UC system there’s over 3,000 people who make over $200,000. And many of them make $400,000, $500,000. A lot of them are mostly administrators and staff, and so the university has—basically has fewer and fewer faculty, more and more students and more and more administrators.

      And so, what’s going to happen is it takes students longer to graduate. They can’t get the classes they need. And I teach required writing classes at UCLA, and they just laid off our entire department. And we have required classes, so we don’t know what they’re going to do. And the dean of our division told us the university simply does not have money for undergraduate education.

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • WhiteNoise:

      AMY GOODMAN: Bob Samuels, the implications of what’s happening here in California for the rest of the country?

      BOB SAMUELS: Well, basically, what we’re seeing, especially at the major prestigious universities, is more and more—only upper middle class, upper class students can go to them. And they’re privatizing these institutions. And the institutions—what happened about 1980 was that states started to cut their funding of higher education, and so universities looked for other ways of making money, and so they concentrated on raising funds and doing research, and especially research funded by corporations and the federal government. And so, basically now at a lot of universities, instruction only represents about ten percent of the budget, and so it’s a minor aspect of the universities.

      And most people don’t know that, that universities, in some ways, are just kind of fronts for investment banks and investments, because at the University of California, the regents, who are the main financial overseers of the university, are appointed by the governor for twelve-year terms. And most of the regents now are Republicans, who not only have voted against taxes and have not only tried to defund higher education—and they’re the ones in charge in many ways—but they’re also business people chosen by Republican governors. And those—and they are real estate people, they’re investment bankers. The new head of the—the chair of the UC Regents is the former head of Wachovia, and he actually—they sold subprime student loans, right? And they profit from the student loans. And also, they pushed the UC into investing heavily into mortgage-backed securities and into real estate right when those were tanking.

      And so, I really think that the Board of Regents basically is forcing the UC or motivating the UC to make a lot of incredibly bad investments, and when the investments turn bad, then they try to take it out on the students, on the faculty and the workers.

      AMY GOODMAN: I want to just end with this USA Today latest study of compensation, revealing that at least twenty-five college head football coaches make $2 million or more this season, slightly more than double the number two years ago.

      BOB SAMUELS: The UC Berkeley faculty last week voted a resolution to stop subsidizing the athletic department. Apparently UC Berkeley has been paying, subsidizing out of student fees, $3 million to $4 million a year. What most people don’t know is most athletic departments lose money, and the big departments lose a lot of money. And student fees often go to paying for athletic departments. And also, we found out that student fees go as collateral to—for construction bonds.

    • 2 years ago
  • Maeveeo
    • 0
      Maeveeo  

    • To learn alot means you must pay alot , then lets see if all that money pays off , Oh
      you can't fine ah job ? we don't care , all we care about is how much you owe us from all that we taught you ( who cares if you get ah job ) ! ...thats what they think !

    • 2 years ago
  • RaceBannon
    • 0
      RaceBannon  

    • I like rebellion, strikes whatever but I to be honest, it wont happen in america. This isn't just a California problem its an american one.

      We're not united, we're divided and as one person put it under the cult of Rand. The liberals are not even liberal they're centrist conservatives who shop at whole foods, the conservatives are damn near fascist and any progressive idea is seen as unimaginable. We argue about being fans of new organizations that appeal to our bias, we worry about gay marriage, being green, but ignore the fact that we can't solve those problems unless we change the establishment or the system. We live in a country that was engineered poorly for the oil and auto industries, we have a shitty electrical grid, we allow drug companies to market their medicine to people, we allow ourselves to pay for our health, our higher education which is only seen as a way to get a job (I'm sure socrates was only into philosophy for the money) not a way to enhance the minds of the citizens. We elect lawyers and business men for civic duty because we lack any critical thinking. We perpetuate an unfair system to fulfill the dream that we'll hit the life lottery and become a ceo with the yacht and big mansion.
      Its getting worse as education is declining, social programs are disappearing and soon all the proletariats in the U.S. will be too dumb and desperate to do anything.

      I always look to history for new ideas:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RZoxdjaTrE&feature=player_embedded

    • 2 years ago
  • treewolf39
  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  

    • Good try . They want your money , every last cent . Oh , and that degree ? It will be obsolete . In the new dark age , too much of the wrong kind of an education , could be a liability . For instance they want cops to follow the orders of the wealthy without question . I got an education in the late 80's . For free . Thanks to Reagan , these kids were robbed of that . Their financial future will be in the hands of the of the moneylenders . And that is a dismal future indeed .

    • 2 years ago
  • kitteneater
  • tomas_el_madrileno
  • grassroutes
  • JonRaymond
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  

    • The article is definitely biased, I can tell you (as I also attend UCSC and my friend attends UCLA) that the "occupations" have not only have been utterly ineffective but they've alienated most of the student populace.

      But what can you expect from college leftists? Fucking things over for the left since the 1960's.

      That being said, everyone is extremely pissed off about the fee hikes. They're completely absurd, totally unnecessary and, in my opinion, are part of a right-wing conspiracy that started with Reagan to destroy public education.

      Only one regent voted against the fee hikes, others who opposed them didn't even show up to vote against them. What's more, BEFORE the Fiscal Crisis they had been doing this for DECADES.

      This is not a decision they made with reservations, they're licking their chops at the notion that they can gouge students. The budget itself demonstrates that they don't even NEED this money. They're not even going to use it to restore services.

      It's the oldest neo-con trick in the book.

      Set the Fiscal Standard in a crisis and then NEVER allow it to go back to pre-crisis levels. Especially with the right-wing Prop 13 in place, it is impossible to fund anything in this state.

      And that sign in the picture is actually incorrect...

      We're number one in prison expenditure and fucking 50th in school spending now, her stats are from 2007.

      And this is in "liberal California," that should give you some idea of what the right-wing agenda for this country is.

      We've built over a dozen prisons in the past several decades in California.

      We've built ONE new university, that opened only a few years ago, doesn't receive the funding or staff that it needs and they're also now considering shutting it down.

      It's a real simple formula folks. Instead of having educated, productive citizens who can make something of themselves, the right wants peasants who will be shipped off to for-profit jails.

    • 2 years ago
  • JonRaymond
    • 0
      JonRaymond  
    • Saladin:

      Right on. Great points. I don't see how the article is biased though. It's just a report of what is happening. But all your points make a lot of sense. I think the root of the problem is Schwarzenegger.

    • 2 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • Saladin:

      It's not really Schwarzenegger. he's proved himself to be more or less responsive to whatever the public demands.

      It's this old conservative order in California, the baby boomer holdovers from the Nixon and Reagan governor eras who troll out on the non-coastal regions of the state.

      So-called desert conservatives are their base of support.

    • 2 years ago
  • artemis6
  • kivol
    • 0
      kivol  
    • Saladin:

      What makes you think that the left wing movement has alienated many students? I am curious to know. what do you think the left wing movement should have done instead? I agree with most of your points about what the mission of the right wing is. They are destroying many founding principles of our country and not caring about real American traditions. they are hypocrites, unless they are blind like i think they are. no fault of their own.

    • 2 years ago
  • BKsaysAction
    • 0
      BKsaysAction  
    • Saladin:

      I've come to the conclusion that the "liberal" california I heard people bash all my life is long gone. I've lived here now for about three years and it just seems to get more conservative. Only in the major cities have I seen anything close to what people call liberal and even that seems to be going away.

    • 2 years ago
  • rebelution07
    • 0
      rebelution07  

    • Education is not a privilege, it is a right!"
      I totally support the students, my school's tuition was raised 8%. We need education reform and more funding.

    • 2 years ago
  • anglcazn
    • 0
      anglcazn  

    • :/ I'm highly discontented with the idea of occupation. Protesting and peaceful sit-ins are fine... if they're done correctly and in the right direction. Legislating and petitioning is the best option in my opinion.

      I attend University of California, Santa Cruz and I can say that there is a lack of coordination and communication. I can't say what is going on in other campuses. I can only say what is going on in mine.

      Occupation is not the right way to do it. It's completely counterproductive to the cause because it harms students in the process. The group of students recently took one building on my campus named Kerr Hall. My friend works at the building as part of the work-study program. But, because they occupy the building, she cannot go back to work, meaning she can't earn money to help pay for her attendance. And she is just one out of the 150 students working in that building.
      Also, what happens after an occupation? Who are they trying to persuade? Certainly, not the UC Regents because they're businessmen. They're not afraid of this. In fact, this just makes the situation better for them to raise more fees because all they have to claim is, "We need to raise more fees because of the cost of cleaning up after protesters." A simple statement such as that can turn everyone, students and California residents, against the protesters and occupiers very quickly. People do not understand the consequences after an occupation because they don't want to acknowledge it. They just want to feel like they're doing something when in reality, they're not.

      There is a more productive, less harmful option and that is legislating and petitioning. Sadly, people who are protesting and occupying are silencing other voices who show discontent with the idea of protest and occupy. Hence, why I like to say that sometimes, they're representing themselves instead of the general student body.

    • 2 years ago
  • bethopea
  • JonRaymond
    • 0
      JonRaymond  
    • anglcazn:

      The problem with that is that petitions and calling legislators goes absolutely nowhere. We see this with the health care reform movement. They are ignored until they actually sit in Lieberman's office and are arrested, with a much higher media profile.

      Perhaps occupation of buildings is going too far. But some kind of high profile protest makes sense. Maybe they should occupy the administrators' buildings or president's office. certainly there can be some way to have high profile protests without disrupting students lives too much.

      On the other hand a 32% tuition hike would wipe out any money these students make in their college jobs anyway.

    • 2 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • anglcazn:

      The problem is that the occupations and protests don't go anywhere, no concrete action is achieved by them nor by any violent or peaceful action.

      We're lobbying directly to the people who are rising our fees, they -do not care-.

      There either needs to be a state-wide revolt (which I don't want) or there needs to be a massive public outcry to support education followed by a budget measure restoring funding and eliminating Prop 13.

      There is (hopefully) going to be a constitutional convention in California soon that will re-write our terribly broken system.

      Protests only work if we receive massive media attention, which we won't get. And that only works if people agree with us and do something about it, which they probably won't. The cult of Ayn Rand is in fashion these days.

      What works is direct lobbying to the government or new elections. Protests and occupations only get ridiculed by a hostile corporate media.

      If you want to help, tell any Californians you know about how bad this is.

    • 2 years ago
  • JonRaymond
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • anglcazn:

      But that's not because people don't protest.

      It's because 1: it's a state issue and 2: because everyone besides PBS has a vested interest in not talking about this.

    • 2 years ago
  • JonRaymond
    • 0
      JonRaymond  
    • anglcazn:

      Yes but at least with protests there is some secondary media coverage like right here. Do you think anyone would look at an article about some students calling their representatives up?

      Civil disobedience is not only a right of assembly guaranteed by the Constitution, it is necessary to hold government accountable. France has the best health care in the world. All other industrialized nations have better health care than the U.S. and they mostly all have free college education for their citizens. How do you think this happens? It happens by people taking to the streets as they do even now in these countries to protest for even better healthcare and better education.

    • 2 years ago
  • wierdobeardo
    • 0
      wierdobeardo  
    • anglcazn:

      "it won't be in the mainstream media"? I heard about it on TV and read about it in the local newspaper. I live in Florida. Give these kids some credit, they have national attention.

    • 2 years ago
  • bethopea
    • 0
      bethopea  
    • Image

    • i distinctly remember Obama stating he will be "decreasing student tuition fees" for his years to come.
      There was supposed to be a 4000$ tax credit to help students!
      http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/17/1149517.aspx
      Understanding the campaign tactics are used for winning - just makes him lose credibility.
      Of course, the USC's may very well be doing this to make up for Obamas tax credit...? They are to blame, not him necessarily.

    • 2 years ago
  • mgerlach22
    • 0
      mgerlach22  

    • So when a bunch of liberal college students protest, it's "hooray for those kids"...but a bunch of conservative people protest, it's "what a bunch of teabaggin idiots." TThe commentors on this site are friggin hilarious.

    • 2 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • mgerlach22:

      Except that Teabaggers are demonstrably incorrect and often savagely stupid.

      There are plenty of people at these UC protests, I know I go to one. But at least they're responding to real issues, not yelling out "get your government hands off my medicare."

    • 2 years ago
  • mgerlach22
    • 0
      mgerlach22  
    • mgerlach22:

      So the standard for liberals is "if you disagree with what they're protesting, they're wrong...but if you agree with their cause, then more power to them." Talk about narrow minded.

    • 2 years ago
  • mgerlach22
    • 0
      mgerlach22  
    • mgerlach22:

      bc_f...

      I'm guessing you never read the health care proposals that conservatives were protesting. Therefore, you don't know the facts either. So who are you to judge their cause for protest. Talk about listening to propoganda.

      Narrow minds have united on this site. Good stuff.

    • 2 years ago
  • wellhunggimp
  • Ajil
    • 0
      Ajil  
    • wellhunggimp:

      its obviously not true? So are you assuming that America is somehow the best in being industrialized? or most advanced in any sort of way? cuz its not.

      Kuwait, industrialized, free healthcare, free education, and has one of the top currencies in the world. Of course it is rich with oil. But you said that free education was not true, im just pointing out that it is.

    • 2 years ago
  • JonRaymond
  • bethopea
  • bc_f
    • bc_f [removed]  
    • This comment was removed as a violation of community guidelines.
  • red25
  • samthesixth
  • ismaelo44
    • 0
      ismaelo44  

    • Stand Up and Be Heard!!!

      i totally support the students!

      Even in Mexico college is almost free, i know some friends that attend UABC in Tijuana and they pay like 150 dlls a semester and they're not even mexican citizens. It's ridiculous. What's wrong with us?

    • 2 years ago
  • CalgarC
    • 0
      CalgarC  

    • YaY people standing up and fighting.

      I am willing to stand up and fight for my rights and what i believe in too . I am not going to pick up a gun and start shooting, I'm not stupid. But i will throw PIES

    • 2 years ago
  • aswift1
  • afitzgerald
  • alyssak
    • 0
      alyssak  
    • afitzgerald:

      Is this what we've come to? I go to UC Berkeley, and I just watched my classmates who are protesting the cuts get beaten by police officers. The fee hikes really make you rethink the value of a university education, especially in today's job market. I could go to a trade school and get a job more easily, and I wouldn't have to pay tens of thousands of dollars. As the rate California is going, we are replacing an educated working class with a labor force.

    • 2 years ago
  • Saladin
  • RaceBannon
    • 0
      RaceBannon  

    • this is awesome, all students across this country should form a student union our out of solidarity and shutdown their schools as well. Any school increasing its fees will set the precedent for all others to do the same and must be squashed before it even crosses their minds.
      I remember student unions in france and I loved seeing them organize.

    • 2 years ago
  • lifestudentno83
    • 0
      lifestudentno83  

    • These young adults are fighting for their right to be educated without fear of a financial backlash once they finish school. A 32% tuition hike would mean many students would be unable to attend in the upcoming years.

      They are right to protest it. In this time of economic instability, raising the rates of students in school is ridiculously unfair.

      I still believe that we shouldn't even pay for college, let alone pay our way into debt for the next 5 years because of college. College should be free, like in other developed and industrialized nations. This would stop price gouging that educational institutions attempt altogether.

    • 2 years ago
  • mgerlach22
    • 0
      mgerlach22  
    • lifestudentno83:

      You mean free, as in free like health care and government housing and medicaid, right? Nothing is free. Someone always has to pay for it. That's the mindset that is killing this country financially right now.

    • 2 years ago
  • Miglue
    • 0
      Miglue  
    • lifestudentno83:

      mgerlach22 u have no idea wat ur talking about we are not in our current situation because of a "free" mindset. think about the mindset that has become common practice, to charge the absalute max for any good or service. it is not enough to make a profit they must max that profit with no regaurd of the cost to those that have to pay for it. if they cant pay then they simply dont deserve it. but thats ok with u ah?and dont try and make an argument that poor little rich people have to pick up the bill for all those poor people that want everything for free. for ever rich people have been in control through capitalism and the poor get poorer the rich get richer. the best way for the poor to better themselves is through education but by god make em pay the max for that too.

    • 2 years ago
  • mgerlach22
    • 0
      mgerlach22  
    • lifestudentno83:

      Miglue..

      We live a free market, capitalist society. The market dictates what prices will be...until the government gets involved. People will charge what the market will allow. If their price is too high, and no one buys it, they lower their price or go out of business. As long as people are consuming something, the price will remain or increase depending on demand.

      I'm sorry you're upset you live a country full of opportunity and have the chance to make any amount of money you want. Unfortunately, people like you would rather sit back, complain about those who have earned what they have, and try to find a way to get it from them through higher taxes and more social programs.

    • 2 years ago
  • hammywill
    • 0
      hammywill  
    • lifestudentno83:

      Mgerlach,

      You can not make whatever money you want in this country. You stand a better chance, statistically speaking, of winning the Lotto than gaining upward economic mobility through education and work.

      Upward mobility is more prominent in countries where education is provided to the populace. This, too is verified by statistical data.

      Lastly, when the population at large is more educated, then the standard of living is raised for everyone. In other words for an investment of (for sake of ease I will use an easy number and admittedly made up percentage increase.) of $5 you will get a return of $20.

      Free market capitalism is about "me getting mine." This is a sure way to species extinction.

    • 2 years ago
  • bethopea
  • lifestudentno83
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • lifestudentno83:

      It's a testament to the success of right-wing propaganda that one cannot talk of reform of Capitalism without being called a socialist.

      Left-wingers are capitalists, we are all capitalists. Capitalism does NOT mean Laissez-faire libertarianism, which is a fundamentalist cult who ignores all the history of this country to achieve political goals that no one actually wants.

      Roads are not socialist. Streetlights are not socialist. Irrigation and aqueducts are not socialist. Firefighters are not socialist. Medical care is not socialist. Education is not socialist. Laws against child slavery are not socialist. Regulation of criminal banking operations is not socialist.

      The government is not socialist. It's been called that over time to try and equate those policies with the USSR, because real conservatives hate public good.

      All of these things are the mortar that keeps the solid brick foundation of capitalism together. Without it you just stack bricks on bricks, which is a hell of a lot faster but nowhere near as solid, and it inevitably falls over and has to be rebuilt again.

      That's not a metaphor that's inaccurate either. The era of laissez-faire capitalism, the 1870's-1900's and then again the 1920's-1929, were eras of HUGE boom and bust cycles in which 90% of the populace was in utter poverty, worked in murderous conditions and which overall actually wasn't a productive use of industrial capitalism, who had no one to sell their cheap goods to.

    • 2 years ago
  • kivol
  • mgerlach22
    • 0
      mgerlach22  
    • lifestudentno83:

      hammywill...

      You're right, free market capitalism is about me getting mine. How hard are you willing to work to get what you really want? If you choose to put in medium effort and only take medium risk, then you should expect medium return. Some people choose to chase more, some people choose less. At the end of the day, the only thing holding you back is yourself. Quit crying about wealthy people who have earned everything they have. I bet the Warren Buffets and the Bill Gates of this world had zero when they first started. They took some risks, and made the free market system work to their advantage. Once they have earned it, it's theirs.

      "You can not make whatever money you want in this country." Please explain to me why you can't...

    • 2 years ago
  • mgerlach22
    • 0
      mgerlach22  
    • lifestudentno83:

      lifestudent....

      I'd like to know how free education is free. Who pays the professors, who pays for the facilities? It's not free. The money for these things has to come from somewhere.

      Besides, if you like the idea of free education so much, you have the freedom to leave this great country and go get a "free " education somewhere else. I'm guessing you like your other freedoms in the states too much for you to actually leave. Instead you and those like you would rather take it from those who have earned it (through more taxes) and fund these "free" programs.

    • 2 years ago
  • JonRaymond
  • Ajil
    • 0
      Ajil  
    • JonRaymond:

      i cant wait for the students to come armed with tasers and shoot down every one of the cops. they clearly out number them, so for them to be afraid of the cops just baffles me.

    • 2 years ago
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