Student protesters are currently staging a sit-in at the UC Office of the President and said they plan to leave the building after meeting with administrators.

Around 3 p.m. Monday, approximately 150 protesters, some of whom are UC Berkeley students, sat down in the lobby of the UC Office of the President in Oakland and demanded to speak to UC President Mark Yudof.

After about half an hour, Nathan Brostrom, interim executive vice president of business operations, and Larry Pitts, interim provost and executive vice president of academic affairs, met with the protesters.

The protesters demanded a formal meeting with Yudof, but no date has been set.

The protesters are not occupying the building and plan to leave after they finish talking with Brostrom and Pitts.

Protesters demanded that Yudof make himself more available to disadvantaged and low-income students. Administrators said programs such as the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan are designed to help such students, but the protesters countered that many students do not have enough information about the program.

Additionally, Brostrom and Pitts called for students and administrators to work together to lobby legislators in Sacramento for change.

"You have to get legislators to change back in your home districts," Pitts said. "You have to write your legislators."

But protesters countered that these traditional methods are often ineffective.

"Letter writing and marching doesn't work, what works is striking and showing the system it cannot function without you," said Jamal Jones, a student at San Francisco State University.

Tags: UC PRESIDENT MARK YUDOF, UC OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT