It was the biggest protest against the UC fee hikes, gaining national and international attention. For a while, CNN even featured the story of UCSC’s protesters’ occupation of Kerr Hall on the front page of its website. Then came Sunday morning, and the press was banned from campus for 45 minutes. According to eyewitnesses, including several faculty members, the police arrived in full riot gear and forced the students out of the building. Some were injured. Anthropology professor Mark Anderson was taken away on a stretcher.
But then the university ratcheted up the tension, claiming that the students left a mess behind after occupying the building for three days. Not only did school officials find it difficult “to understand why people protest in a manner that requires us to spend money on non-essential activities” (i.e., why students would protest if it would cost the school even more money), they also released a statement saying that “Students who participated in this incident face possible criminal and/or student judicial sanctions.”
It remains to be seen what steps they will take, with school officials telling reporters that they spent most of Sunday assessing the damage. But with the angry mood on campus escalating, the weekend’s protest could be just the beginning of a long and bitter struggle. And it could impact the university’s admissions. In the words of one protester: “If they keep up with these shenanigans, there will be an enormous drop in enrollment. There are plenty of other great schools to attend.” Read more at CNN, KSBW and the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
