Massive protest fails to stop tuition hikes at University of California
The University of California’s Board of Regents approved on Thursday a plan to increase college tuition by as much as 28 percent during the next five years, notwithstanding a multi-day protest attended by hundreds.
By a vote of 14-7, the board said on Thursday that they’d go
forward with a move that will let tuition prices be hiked
annually by 5 percent during the next half-decade.
According to the Washington Post, the decision will see the
cost of attending classes surge from $12,804 next fall to $15,564
in 2019, which students opposed to the decision said would make
obtaining an education must less affordable for the middle-class.
Ahead of the decision, students gathered at UC Berkley’s Wheeler
Hall this week in protest, with as many as 300 remaining in place
on Thursday evening, according to the Daily Californian, despite
the wishes of administrators.
“People who are easy to step over are stepped over,” UC
Berkeley Daniel Evans told Daily California from the occupation. "If
this works, this shows our Berkeley ethos — that student protests
are not something to roll your eyes at.”
“This is between the students and the administration,”
added UCPD Officer Marco Ruiz. “If there’s a life threatened
or hazardous conduct, (we’ll intervene). But short of that, we’ll
let students do their thing.”
One student, 21-year-old Jeff Noven, was arrested on Wednesday
over allegations he incited a riot at a UC campus in San
Francisco. Speaking to the The Chronicle the next day, Noven said he was
“sitting in solidarity with my fellow students to bring
attention to just how underrepresented the university’s most
important constituents are, students. There is not enough
accountability.”
Despite the students’ efforts, however, the Board of Regents
approved the plan on Thursday, setting the stage for what will
likely be “months of negotiations and political
posturing,” according to the Los Angeles Times, before a final tuition
increase is set in stone.
Thursday’s vote, the Times reported, was inaudible because
roughly 25 students in attendance interrupted the proceedings
with loud chants of “Hey, hey, ho, ho, tuition hikes have got
to go!"
UC administrators in favor of the decision said that a decline in
funding has made operating the 12-campus university more of a
burden than before. According to the Times, the school received
$460 million less in state revenue this year than seven years
earlier.
In 2009, similar protests and an occupation were waged in
response to tuition hikes.
“The fact that we’re coming back again means something didn’t
work,” Navid Shaghaghi, a UC Berkeley alumnus involved in
the occupation five years ago, told Daily Cal. “The issues
haven’t changed. The decision-makers are the same. The villains
of the story are the same — the Board of Regents.”
