Hundreds of students and faculty members joined the staff of UCSC on a one-day strike to protest budget cuts, furloughs, and impending tuition hikes.
Hundreds of students and faculty members joined the staff of UCSC on a one-day strike to protest budget cuts, furloughs, and impending tuition hikes. “This is not a public institution anymore,” declared Ken Lyons, a research librarian on the campus, reflecting the overwhelming attitude to the changes underway in the UC system.
Two separate demonstrations were held on campus at noon and 3:30 pm. At 5:00 students from the second demonstration marched to the Graduate Student Commons and occupied the building in a scene reminiscent of the anti-war protests of the late 1960s. Police were called to the site, but the protesters were left unhindered to chant, dance, sing, and hang banners.
Support for the strike reached as far as Watsonville, where about 40 teachers held their own demonstration outside City Plaza in support of the university strikers. The mood of the demonstrators across California was expressed by Assemblyman Bill Monning (D-Carmel), who said: “We should be looking for more money for education not cutting it.” Read More at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
