Student protestors shut down the campus at the University of California, Santa Cruz on Thursday, resulting in injury to students and damage to vehicles when students rallied against UC-wide tuition raises as part of a national day of action to fight against the financial practices of universities.

During Thursday’s National Day of Action for Public Education students at universities across the nation, including Syracuse University, protested tuition hikes in solidarity with the UC students.

The UCSC campus was effectively shut down by students protesting the 32 percent tuition raise at UC schools that was announced in October. By 6 a.m., the main and west entrances were closed by protesters, according to the university’s Web site. Students demanded the UC system reverse its tuition hike and that the state of California reform some of its financial policies that affect the UC system.

Erin Ellison, a graduate psychology student at UCSC who served as the media contact for the Strike Committee of the UCSC Student Organizing Committee, said the protest was a success because it was well attended, with hundreds of students forming picket lines in the morning and thousands of people rallying at noon.

‘Classes were canceled and workers were relieved of their duties. Business as usual was prevented, sending the message that we won’t put up with it,’ Ellison said. ‘There were many protesters for whom this was their first direct action or demonstration of any kind. This was a major victory.’

A vehicle windshield was reported smashed at 7 a.m. Thursday in the vicinity of the strike, according to a safety update on the UCSC Web site. The update also said a teacher felt intimidated by protesters taking pictures of his vehicle when trying to enter campus. No arrests were reported.

One female student was hit by a non-protester’s car, and another student’s foot was run over by the same car during the strike at around 7:40 a.m., according to a news release on the UCSC Student Organizing Committee Web site.

‘The protesters were incredibly disciplined. Union, labor history tells of violent interactions with scabs who attempt to cross picket lines. This was not the case,’ Ellison said. Scabs are people affiliated with the protesting group, but they cross the picket line and go to work regardless.

The UCSC Student Organizing Committee’s Strike Committee has two separate sets of demands for the state and the UC system, according to its Web site.

Within the UC system, the committee wants to stop the privatization and the re-segregation of education stemming from a lack of funding for services and programs that serve students of color and underrepresented communities, according to its Web site. The committee would also like to put students, teachers and workers in control of the schools and drop all charges against student activists, according to its Web site.

The student committee’s demands for the state are focused on financial practices. The goals of the protest were to reverse recent cuts, layoffs and fee hikes. The committee also wanted to institute progressive taxation on the wealthy and certain corporations to fund education and social services. It also rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to fund education by privatizing prisons.

On March 1, students met with lawmakers in Sacramento, California’s capital, to lobby for increased state funding to the UC system, more financial aid to students and renewed supported for the Master Plan for education in California, according to an administrative message issued to the UCSC community by Chancellor George Blumenthal and Provost David Kliger.

UCSC students were satisfied with the results of Thursday’s protest but are preparing for more action in the future, Ellison said.

‘The students are gearing up for a long fight,’ Ellison said. ‘Right now, they are resting up, reflecting and planning to come together soon to discuss next steps.’

medelane@syr.edu

Published on March 8, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Meghin: medelane@syr.edu | @meghinwithani