Boalt Hall Rally Denounces Fee Increases

Former gubernatorial candidate Arianna Huffington and a few dozen UC Berkeley law students rallied at Boalt Hall School of Law yesterday, decrying $5,000 in proposed fee increases and the law school's slumping rankings at the Boalt Hall School of Law yesterday afternoon.

"Tuition is going up: If you don't stop it now, it's going to continue going up," said Stacey Schesser of Law Students Against Fee Hikes. "You don't tax students-that's not the way to get rid of debt."

The students said the fee hikes were closely linked with Boalt Hall's slip in the U.S. News & World Report rankings from 10th to 13th this year.

In his budget proposal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested increasing graduate student fees by 40 percent for next year, on top of the 30 percent hikes from the previous year.

Professional school students, including law and business students, will also face separate fee increases, but they have yet to be announced.

"Premier legal education should be available to anybody who qualifies for it," said interim Boalt Hall Dean Bob Berring, who spoke at the rally.

Resident students entering the law school will pay an estimated $40,320 next year in fees and housing. Nonresident students will pay an additional $12,246, according to Boalt Hall data.

"They've essentially privatized public higher education," said Mo Kashmiri, a former ASUC Senator.

Kashmiri resigned from the Senate and left law school last semester because he said fees were too high. He returned this semester to take 25 units in an effort to lower his total costs.

"You can't control housing costs," he said. "You can control tuition."

Students said the fee hikes were also driving away low-income and minority students.

Speaking after the rally, Huffington reiterated the problem of resolving national and state debt with fees hikes.

"Do we want to live in a country or state where losing and breaking the fundamental promise that every qualified student can go to college is acceptable?" she said.

But cuts, she said, are being made "stealthily," regardless of whether citizens want them.

She said closing corporate tax loopholes would provide the money to cover the state's fiscal problems and in turn, college fees.

"It's completely phony to say there aren't alternatives and we have to have cuts," she said.

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