UC Regents Say Yes To 27% Tuition Hike

By Matthew Hutchings on December 1, 2014

The principle of providing a good college education at low cost or no cost was once a key part of the University of California’s mission.

But times have changed.

On November 6th, Janet Napolitano announced her “Long-Term Stability Plan for Tuition and Financial Aid”, a comforting name for the former Secretary of Homeland Security’s response to the UC funding crisis. Apparently, the stability described in the title did not extend to tuition prices themselves, which are set to increase no less than five percent each year for the next five years. Thanks to the wonders of interest, this works out to be a total increase of 27 percent. The increase in tuition next school year for the average student will be $612. The day before it came to a vote the SUA and other activist groups made no secret of their intentions.

image courtesy LA Times

On the 19th, when the Regents met in San Francisco to discuss an agenda of items that including the rate hike, students from all ten UC campuses turned out to disrupt the meeting. As the regents entered the building students locked arms to try to prevent them from passing, leading to a rather amusing game of red rover between police and protesters as they forced each Regent through the barricade.

The next day there were marches at UC Berkley and UC Santa Cruz as the protestors returned to campus, which culminated in the occupations of Wheeler Hall and the Humanities Building, respectively. UC Davis had jumped the gun and was already in occupy mode before the meeting even happened. The marches wound their way through each college, the library, and several classrooms. Although I would consider myself thankful that somebody cares enough to march, bullhorns are not conducive to good test-taking.

I was lucky enough to finish my midterm and walk down Science Hill from Merrill just as the column of marchers reached Hagar Drive. The union reps that had stuck around during the protest and the busing campaign were fewer in number now, and the chants were a little more jovial. My personal favorite was “UCSC, Fuck The Police”. There were a couple of squad cars parked out front of the Humanities building, and the march briefly morphed into a dance party as more students went inside. The administrators were asked to leave, and they kindly obliged.

What happened next was fairly predictable. After the assemblies were finished people began to drink, dance, and smoke as any college student worth their salt is wont to do. Somebody stole a few laptops. Others had revenge sex in abandoned offices. The police sent out emails detailing an alleged physical altercation and a sexual assault occurring inside the occupied office building, but their veracity was challenged. Cornell West stopped by on the 21st to give a speech.

All of this failed to lead to any kind of resolution. The tuition hike was passed, but Jerry Brown has promised he will oppose it. The students have made their voices heard, but few are listening. The protest organizers have promised to continue the fight, but momentum is dying down.

In the end, that may be the genius of the Regent’s decision. No student can protest for very long. Most of us have interest payments to make.

image courtesy LA Times

 

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