Eight arrested at UC Regents meeting at UCLA

Soon after the UC Regents meeting began today, demonstrations broke out inside the hall, UCLA’s Covel Commons, disrupting a presentation by UC President Mark Yudof on the budget situation and his recommendation for student fee increases.

When the protesters refused to be quiet, university police cleared the public from the hall, but eight people refused to leave, standing and singing “We Shall Overcome” for several choruses.

They were escorted out and handcuffed and police said they would be cited for misdemeanor unlawful assembly. It was not clear whether they were students.

Outside the hall, meanwhile, several hundred protesters gathered, holding banners protesting the likely vote to increase fees and shouting, "Cut from the top!"

-- Larry Gordon at UCLA   

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Comments

[Sergio]

Cut From the top!

[Fred]

There is no way on earth there will not be substantial fee increases. The state is broke, tons of cuts have already been made, and no one wants to support our schools. The students can thank Goldman Sachs and the financial industry for raping our country with fraud - now they students can pay for their misdeeds.

[Marlena]

Good - some people just have a sense of entitlement. California is the only State that guarantees all qualified students an almost free education. We can't do that anymore - the state is practically bankrupt. If you want an education you need to pay for it - the taxpayers can't do it anymore.

[2 cents]

let me guess: liberal arts majors "studying" ethno-babble and/or gender-babble? - seriously self-absorbed children emulating 60's-style behaviour in the vain hope of being involved in meaningful things - I recommend holding their allowances and issuing time-outs

[Nat]

The Regents claim that the fight should be directed toward Sacramento, not them, but that doesn't vindicate their horrible mismanagement of the UC system's budget in the face of decreasing funding.

[Student - CSUF]

How about a presentation on recommending wage cuts for the UC Regents and all other UC officers. And how about cutting back on athletics and not academics. And how about no 360* HD TV in the UCLA arena.

It's time to recognize that they are only hurting the future of this state and of our nation.

[lee]

Most students in the UC system borrow up to a quarter of a million dollars to pay for their tuitions, books, living expenses. A fee increase of "2,500 dollars", unless per unit or something, is really a drop in the bucket.

As long as students attend the UC institution on massive amount of borrowed money, the regents will keep pulling stunts like this. They probably understand just how much the state is (or was, at least) willing to shell out to upcoming freshmen.

Cut from the top? Unlikely. We can't so much as touch public school teacher salary in CA. Tenured professors and regents won't be any different.

[Daniel]

These cry babies can join the military, serve their country, then go to school on the GI Bill just the same as millions have done before.

[RabidinL.A.]

Absolutely! Cut from the top!

[blm]

Sounds like the usual bunch of trouble makers. They reflect the teaching of our "progressive" universities. They should be arrested

[CA]

Agreed!

[Ron]

Yeah! Cut from the top!

[R]

In this day and age when everyone wants our youth to get a better education it seems like the first things they cut from any budget has to do with schools. If our youth were properly educated I seriously doubt this state would have a $21 billion deficit. I second the statement "CUT FROM THE TOP!"

[KK]

Sorry no way out. The state is literally bankrupted! Everybody comes to California to get cheap education and those days are gone.

[Common]

California has become a dump, same old political favors has finally cost the residents an arm, and a leg.

If they get out of this mess, and I stress if, they will be right back in it soon after, because their elected officials have not come to terms with the fact, that you cant keep doing the same thing expecting a different outcome.

Your going to have to make some serious changes, which will anger some, or your going to continue full steam ahead and hurt everyone.

[pasadena jag]

Cut from the top. These administrators, in the University - Cal and State - need to be dumped or retired. They are mostly useless paper pushing blowhards. Most should have been retired years ago. The State of California is nothing but a dumping ground for supporting every bureaucratic idiot who could survive selling coffee at Starbucks!

[bill]

gee wait till these, "protesters" have to go out and get a job, boy will they be upset.

[m]

Long term effects are not being considered. Taking away from affordable or free education in California will only accelerate our social decay. We need to demand reform and transparency.

[UCSD alumni]

Regents need to take a 32% salary cut.

[Robert T. Green]

It does not matter how smart one is...the only determining factor is how much money one has. Look at USC. 45% Americans and 55% wealthy kids from across the world. Why do we allow our students in this country to be kicked to the curb so that greedy administrators can cash in and sell our knowledge to the highest bidders? Is that really good for Americans?

[Mari]

I believe "Cut from the top" is referring to the gross overpay that the UC Regents are getting for mismanaged money. One would think that with pay like that, they would have been able to manage finances efficiently, and I'm not just referring to the last couple of years with the financial crisis, but the last twenty years.

[ANavarro13]

I say cut all the wasteful amenities students have been given AND cut from the top.

[Joe Bruin]

I'm a student here at UCLA and this protesting is nonsense. About every other year you're bound to see a protest against the rising cost of education and an unwillingness to pay more. I wonder if these kids know that they should be mad at the state of California for cutting funding, and not UC President Yudof for trying to make ends meet without sacrificing the quality of the education.

[Jon]

"Most students in the UC system borrow up to a quarter of a million dollars to pay for their tuitions, books, living expenses."

That's no correct at all. I graduated from UCLA in 2006 and financed my entire education with student loans totaling about $60k. Tuition has gone up but it hasn't gone up $190,000 in the past 3 years.

The reality is the UC system is a relative bargain compared to private universities like USC yet people forget that.

[Greg]

As a UCLA student I can personally attest that there is a lot of waste that can be eliminated from the UCs before we make the rash move of a substantial fee increase. There are many UCLA staff that don't do much of anything. The UCPD should also be downsized - if they have the ability to enforce things like a ridiculous bicycle ticketing policy that means there are too many of them.