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The post below is from Thursday morning, before the walkout began. For reports from the walkout itself, go here, and for a campus-by-campus wrapup of the day’s events, go here.
Students, faculty, and staff at all ten campuses of the University of California will be walking out today in protest of rising fees, pay cuts, enrollment restrictions, and the defunding of the UC system. This post provides an overview of what’s going on at each University of California campus today.
I’ll be updating as the day progresses, and I encourage visitors to add additional info in comments. Follow the @studentactivism Twitter feed and the #UCwalkout Twitter hashtag for real-time updates. (Update: Lots of tweets on the walkout aren’t using the hashtag, so search uc walkout for a fuller picture.)
The statewide walkout is scheduled for noon, with each campus holding a rally at that time. Other events will be taking place before and after. The University Professional and Technical Employees union has called a one-day strike in coordination with the walkout, and will be mounting picket lines on the various campuses over the course of the day.
Berkeley
A teach-in on the walkout was held yesterday evening, and half a dozen “teach-outs” on various topics are scheduled for this morning. A noon rally is planned for Upper Sproul Plaza, and there will be a General Assembly at Sproul Plaza at 6 pm.
More info:
- Your Guide to the Walkout Festivities, from the Daily Californian’s Daily Clog.
- The Facebook page for the Berkeley walkout.
- The website of the Berkeley Alliance Against the Cuts.
Davis
Participants in the UC Davis walkout are encouraged to join the campus picket lines at any time during the day. There will be a noon rally on the campus quad.
More info:
- A walkout factsheet from the UC Davis Graduate Student Association.
- The Facebook page for the Davis walkout.
Irvine
There will be an “interactive drama” in the Arts Plaza from 9 to 10 am, and teach-ins throughout the morning. The noon rally will take place at the flagpoles, and there will be another rally from 2 to 3 pm in the Social Science Plaza. From 5 to 7 pm there will be more teach-ins at Humanities Gateway 1010.
More info:
- A list of the day’s scheduled activities from a KUCI blog.
UCLA
Rally set-up at Bruin Plaza begins at 10:30, with a graduate student picnic at Meyerhoff Park at 11 am. The noon rally will begin at Bruin Plaza, and will march to Murphy Hall at 1 pm or a little later. From there, the marchers will head to Ronald Reagan Medical. There will be additional picketing and leafleting at UCLA Freud Theater from 6 to 8 pm.
More info:
- A list of events from the Saving UCLA blog. (login required)
Merced
There will be petitioning throughout campus, and tabling in front of the Koiligian Library from 10 am to 3 pm.
More info:
- The Facebook page for the Merced walkout and teach-in.
Riverside
There will be a teach-in at the corner of Canyon Crest and University Drive from 10 am to 3 pm. Events will include speakers, hip-hop theater, and rallies.
More info:
- A page on the UCR walkout from a student blog.
San Diego
There was a teach-in last night, and there will be another at the Pepper Canyon Building courtyard at 12:30 pm today.
More info:
- The Facebook page of the UCSD walkout.
- Saving UCSD website.
San Francisco
I haven’t found any online sources for information on the UCSF walkout yet.
Santa Barbara
There will be a variety of events going on all day, including tabling at the Davidson Library and an “open art studio” with lectures and hands-on workshops at Building 434. The rally at the Arbor (in front of the library’s main entrance) will begin with poems and songs at 11:30, and will continue with speakers from noon until 1 pm.
UCSB is also planning a teach-in on October 14 from 3 pm to midnight.
More info:
- Schedule of events from Saving UCSB
Santa Cruz
A friend writes that there will be a rally at noon, a general assembly at 3 pm, and picketing until 8 pm. Locations coming…
More info:
- News story on UCSC walkout plans.
Students, faculty and staff of the University of California, facing an unprecedented assault on their system’s funding, will be walking out of classes tomorrow, September 24. I’ll be posting more about the walkout soon, and updating during the day tomorrow, but here’s a quick intro:
Last fall’s economic collapse hit American higher education hard, and as the new academic year gets underway its effects are being felt all over the country, but the California budget crisis is in a class by itself.
California’s initiative system, and a state law that bars the legislature from raising taxes without a two-thirds vote, make it almost impossible to fund ordinary expenses in a recession. The state is in a financial free-fall, and political leaders are looking to higher education for revenue.
In the face of this assault, top administrators at the University of California are rolling over.
Last week, UC official released a proposal that would increase the cost of attendance by 15% for the winter term and another 15% in the spring — coming on top of a 9.3% increase approved in May, this would bring in-state fees to more than $11,000 a year.
As UC Berkeley’s student government president has said, “not even during the depression of the 1930’s did student fees rise as suddenly and as much as they are now proposed to rise.” And the attack on higher education isn’t limited to fee increases. California politicians and UC administrators are laying off faculty and staff and cutting employees’ pay while reducing enrollment and increasing class sizes.
Tomorrow’s walkout began as a faculty initiative, and more than a thousand UC professors have signed on, but the protest has been picking up steam among students and non-teaching staff as well. The statewide University of California Student Association has unanimously passed a resolution of support for the walkout, there are two student websites up spreading the word, and folks are sharing news via the #UCWalkout hashtag on Twitter as well.
More to come…
(Last week, I started posting a weekend roundup of highlights from the @studentactivism Twitter feed. Here it is again.)
Links to this blog:
Students for a Democratic Society has relaunched its SDS News wiki. Great stuff: http://bit.ly/Y1zbm
Student protests in Allahahabad, India, entering their sixth day: http://bit.ly/pi4c9
Campus budgets are getting slashed coast to coast, and students are fighting back: http://bit.ly/1YxoTh
Chomsky on student activism in the 60s & today, & on high tuition’s role in suppressing protest: http://bit.ly/3BFxi
What John Brown taught me about privilege, whiteness, and anti-racism. http://bit.ly/AsIHi
#SAFRA means better student loans, financial aid, drug rules–but it still has to pass the Senate: http://bit.ly/1s7rIc
Students fight fees around the world! Reports from South Africa, Ireland, Cyprus, and Nepal: http://bit.ly/2v3i8c
Outside links:
RT @forstudentpower: Blagojevich gives a great example of why University Trustees should be popularly elected:http://bit.ly/zewZE
Student union suspended, leadership expelled, after anti-govt campus protest in Zambia: http://bit.ly/3duy7
Bizarre, unhinged National Review rant on student activism & campus culture: http://bit.ly/2FWikB
Harvard Med School has reversed new policy regulating students’ interaction with the media: http://bit.ly/t6st0
Canada: New province-wide student association looks to build student power in Saskatchewan. http://bit.ly/10VZFi
India: Campaign for students’ rights at Allahabad U goes national. http://bit.ly/19nHqX (Background here: bit.ly/pi4c9)
Race, frats, history, and the University of Alabama student government: http://bit.ly/3QLOe0
MUST READ — U of California students & profs will walk out Sept 24. Here’s why: http://bit.ly/LYrR7 (Via @kmmcbride)
Other stuff:
When MTV replays that Kanye moment, they should splice in a shot of Mike Myers looking uncomfortable. #vmas
This ACORN story is just so incredibly bizarre. Are we seeing the birth of Borat journalism?
I hate Illinois Nazis, but I always made an exception for Henry Gibson. RIP.
Whenever someone refers to something as “the last acceptable form of prejudice,” they’re full of crap. All kinds of prejudice still thrive.
SAFRA, the Student Aid and Financial Responsibility Act, passed the House of Representatives yesterday in a 253-171 vote. If passed by the Senate later this fall, SAFRA will end government subsidies to private student loan companies, move those loans federal direct loan program, and use the savings to increase aid to students and colleges by $8 billion a year.
This is a very big deal.
The House’s endorsement of loan reform is a huge step forward, but SAFRA contains another component that’s also worth paying attention to. Since 1998, the Higher Education Act’s Aid Elimination Penalty (AEP) has denied federal financial aid to students with drug convictions on their records. Commit robbery or rape and you can still receive financial aid, but if you’re busted with pot you’re out of luck.
Two hundred thousand American students have lost financial aid because of this law since it went into effect a decade ago, but in the version of SAFRA passed yesterday, the AEP has been scaled back dramatically. If the House language makes it into the final bill, AEP will now apply only those students who are convicted of selling drugs while actually receiving financial aid.
Observers are predicting a tough fight for SAFRA in the Senate, where private lenders are gearing up to protect their turf. We’ll keep you informed as the situation develops.
The landmark Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) is moving toward a vote in the House of Representatives today.
SAFRA is the most significant piece of financial aid legislation to be taken up by the US Congress in decades. You can follow the progress of the bill at the United States Student Association homepage, or by checking in on the #SAFRA hashtag on Twitter.
I’ll be spending most of today teaching, but I’ll update here when I get the chance, and post news and links at the @studentactivism Twitter feed in the meantime.
studentactivism.net 
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