OT: UC students confront regents, riot police over fee hike

Outrage over a 32 percent fee increase is fueling tense student-led street demonstrations throughout the ten-campus University of California System. Riot police were called in on several campuses.

According to the Los Angeles Times: “The fee hike of $2,500, or 32%, will come in two steps by next fall. That would bring the basic UC education fees to about $10,300, plus about another $1,000 for campus-based charges, for a total that would be about triple the UC cost a decade ago. Room, board and books can add another $16,000.”

Last Thursday, students from across the system converged on UCLA to confront the Board of Regents, which met there to approve the fee increase. Students took over one campus building by chaining the doors shut. Some attempted to start a sit-in in front the vans that rushed the regents off campus (pictured).

At UC Berkeley, campus police brought in a SWAT team to help them control a student picket line. 50 protesters were arrested for holding a sit-in at UC Davis’s administration building. Students also took over the administrative building at UC Santa Cruz.

While the regents approved the fee hike, they also expanded the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, a financial aid program that covers all fees for in-state undergraduates whose families make less than $70,000 per year.

The UC system faces a $535M budget deficit. Campuses have laid off employees, frozen faculty hiring, implemented furloughs, cut library hours, and are considering freshman enrollment caps.