A mock funeral procession for public higher education at UC Davis will be only one of several protests happening at University of California campuses on the March 1 Day of Action.
Thursday’s events will involve protests at several UC campuses as students, faculty and staff plan to host teach-ins and speakers for the Day of Action — during which demonstrators intend to stand in solidarity against declining state funding and tuition increases.
At many campuses, rallies and movie screenings are planned. Some campuses, such as UC San Diego, will feature faculty speakers expressing discontent with the state of public higher education.
“Many professors have agreed to bring their lectures outdoors,” said Samer Naji, vice president of external affairs for the Associated Students of UC San Diego, in an email. “There is a large coalition of activists from across the campus, and ASUCSD has been playing a role with logistics.”
But the day could become controversial, as protesters at some UC campuses plan to pitch tents as a part of the day’s events. According to Facebook event pages, protesters at UCLA, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz plan to bring tents to their respective demonstrations.
Protesters at UCLA will camp out overnight at the Bruin statue, according to an event page.
Additionally, according to an Occupy UC Davis event page, the group intends to establish an encampment in the campus quad — the same location where some UC Davis protesters were pepper-sprayed by campus police in November.
Furthermore, protesters at UC Santa Cruz have planned events beginning at 4:30 a.m. Thursday, according to an event page. Protesters intend to block all traffic from entering campus, with the exception of emergency vehicles, campus residents and “other necessary exceptions,” according to a letter posted on the UC Santa Cruz Faculty Association’s website.
Along with the activities planned for Thursday, protests will continue on Monday, when thousands of students plan to converge on the state Capitol in Sacramento, according to the UC Student Association website.
Protesters at the Merced, Riverside and Santa Cruz campuses plan to take buses to Sacramento, according to Occupy event pages.
The student association, which is holding its 10th annual Student Lobby Conference in Sacramento from March 3 to March 5 — an event aimed at helping students better communicate with UC regents and state politicians — plans to join students in marching to the Capitol, according to the website.
Student Regent Alfredo Mireles Jr. and Student Regent-designate Jonathan Stein will participate in the association’s conference, according to an association press release, although the release does not specify whether the two will attend the March 5 protests.
Darius Kemp, organizing and communications director for the association, declined to comment on whether the association would back Occupy movement protests.
Naji said he was unsure how Occupy movement protesters would integrate with other student protesters on March 5.
“There are two main groups that will be holding events at the Capitol on the 5th: Higher education groups (UC, CSU, and CCs) on one hand; and the Occupy Movement on the other,” he said in the email. “There has been some collaboration between the two, but not much.”
Damian Ortellado is the lead higher education reporter.
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Join the 99% in our march to Sacramento!
I thought you were taking the bus? Can you march in a bus?
They are going to march up and down the bus aisle until the driver tells them to sit down and shut up.
More silly posturing by people who don’t have a clue. Why aren’t you protesting the rampant waste, fraud, and abuse in California state government that has resulted in this fiscal debacle in the first place? Where’s your outrage for California politicians supporting HSR and the Dream Act? Or are you incapable of connecting the dots between wasteful spending and the current fiscal debacle in this state?
The Dream Act is clearly necessary to help hard-working students who just happen to be undocumented. Hard-working, undocumented students shouldn’t be punished just because their parents broke the law many years ago. This is not wasteful spending. It is an investment into these students’ futures, which in turn will put more money back into the state’s coffers. If undocumented students can’t get a quality education, then they will be stuck with low-paying jobs and will be unable to contribute more taxes to society. The corruption of the 1% and the politicians in their pockets is at the root of the current fiscal debacle, not poor, undocumented students. Shame on yourself for dragging the Dream Act into this!
[The Dream Act is clearly necessary to help hard-working students who just happen to be undocumented.]
They are not “undocumented”. They are ILLEGAL ALIENS. Not only are the taxpayers of this state under NO moral obligation to fund the educations of people who aren’t even here legally, but the Nightmare Act is providing yet ANOTHER incentive for illegal aliens to move to California. How do you plan on paying for this? Or do you not care about the details because that’s too much for your small mind to handle, and because you think it’s more fun to march around and protests, because it’s somehow the “Berkeley” solution to all the world’s problems?
Nobody is better than anybody else because we all sit down to take a shit. Education is a human right.
There’s no “human right” to enter a country illegally and force others to pay for your education. Another example of the type of brain-dead rationale that passes for logic among liberals, and another reason why the state of California is broke…
yo dawg i’m a hobo and i jus though, this is a great oportunity to get sum action. wer gona be close too all these young men and women and i wudnt be surpised if i cud strokes in without drawn atention to mysef
And where, my good hobo, are you getting internet access at 2:00 a.m.?
Probably at the dorm he shares with the rest of his fellow Peace and Conflict Studies majors…
That up there is a troll, as are you. He’s definitely not a peace and
conflict studies major, and there’s nothing wrong with being one. Have
you taken a peace and conflict studies class, Tony M? If you did, you
would know that they’re definitely worthwhile.
Peace and conflict studies is a respectable major. Please do not act as if it is worthless.
You seem to be in conflict with TM….
He/she/it is my little stalker chihuahua, and is obsessed with me.
[Peace and conflict studies is a respectable major.]
Yeah, right, whatever. Now tell me the one about the flying reindeer, and the guy in the red suit who gives away free government cheddar and student tuition to all the good little undocumented boys and girls…
So what type of job do you get with a Peace and Conflicts Studies degree, Tony? Maybe one of those places where you get to say “would you like fries with that”?
Maybe you can combine that with a double major in Spanish. Being bilingual never hurts, especially if you can say “Le gusta mas chips y salsa?”