The violence began when police tried to turn them away. No serious injuries were reported. The school was among dozens of nationwide campuses hit with marches, strikes, teach-ins and walkouts in what was being billed as the March 4th National Day of Action for Public Education.... Protesters at the University of California, Santa Cruz surrounded the car while its uninjured driver was inside. Earlier, demonstrators blocked campus gates.... At the University of California, Berkeley, a small group of protesters formed a human chain blocking a main gate to the campus. Later in the day, hundreds gathered for a peaceful rally.... At the University of Illinois, about 200 professors, instructors and graduate faculty marched through campus carrying signs that read "Defend Public Education" and "Furlough Legislators" -- a reference to recent furloughs and 4 percent pay cuts imposed on thousands of university employees.... At the University of Texas at Austin, about 100 students and staff rallied on campus to protest a 5.4 percent hike in tuition and fees approved by regents a day earlier. Protesters complained the quality of education was taking a backseat to the university's bottom line.... Read more...
Protesters at the University of California, Santa Cruz surrounded the car while its uninjured driver was inside. Earlier, demonstrators blocked campus gates....
At the University of California, Berkeley, a small group of protesters formed a human chain blocking a main gate to the campus. Later in the day, hundreds gathered for a peaceful rally....
At the University of Illinois, about 200 professors, instructors and graduate faculty marched through campus carrying signs that read "Defend Public Education" and "Furlough Legislators" -- a reference to recent furloughs and 4 percent pay cuts imposed on thousands of university employees....
At the University of Texas at Austin, about 100 students and staff rallied on campus to protest a 5.4 percent hike in tuition and fees approved by regents a day earlier. Protesters complained the quality of education was taking a backseat to the university's bottom line....
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Students also spoke out against a proposal to make PSU and other state universities more autonomous public corporations similar to Oregon Health & Science University. The State Board of Higher Education is studying the idea. Students fear such restructuring would lead to higher tuition and less access. Read more...
There were conflicting reports about what happened in Milwaukee. A campus official said students defied police orders by rushing toward the school's administrative building, pinning officers against a wall and knocking four of them down. A student organizer countered that the protesters were peaceful and claimed police used excessive authority. By several accounts, the protest began when 125 to 150 people gathered at the student union at noon, carrying signs and chanting in favor of tuition controls. Read more...
Participation rate across the US looks weak. News coverage concentrated in California, where 2,000 massed at Sacramento capitol building. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
Too many young people are too careerist, and too scared of a future of unemployment and downward mobility, to seriously protest much of anything.
