If there is dissatisfaction with the status quo, good. If there is ferment, so much the better. If there is restlessness, I am pleased. Then let there be ideas, and hard thought, and hard work. If man feels small, let man make himself bigger.
Hubert H. Humphrey

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Anna Hiatt/Staff

UC workers, faculty and students protested the expected tuition hikes and budget cuts across the university system.
The Challenge to States:
Preserving College Access and Affordability in a Time of Crisis HERE

A guide to today's protests

Today is the day college students across the country plan to skip class, attend rallies, strike, host panel discussions and protest state budget cuts, tuition hikes, faculty lay-offs and diminished services on campus. Dan de Vise and I plan to follow everything, report what is going on across the country hour-by-hour and give you background info on the budget situations at various universities.
You can help us out by letting us know when things happen. Email me, send me a message on Twitter or leave a comment if there's something happening. In the meantime, here's what we know so far.
THE EVENTS
The National Day of Action to Defend Public Education Web site has a lengthy list of events going on in more than 30 states.
The blog Student Activism has a map that shows all of the events they have heard about.
PROTESTS WE ARE WATCHING
Everything in California
This is where this movement began, and I have been told that many of the dozens of events planned are expected to attract crowds in the thousands. Most of the action will be centered at the state capitol in Sacramento, but there are events also planned on all major campuses and in major cities.
University of California, Berkeley
Last week, a dance party turned into a violent riot near campus. Today students and faculty members plan to strike today and will form picket lines at 7 a.m. Unlike picket lines during past protests, when students just walked around in circles with their signs, the plan is to link arms and aggressively hinder people from entering campus buildings, said Callie Maidhof, a Berkeley graduate student who is serving as the movement's spokeswoman. At noon the crowd will rally on campus and march five miles to Oakland. Local Oakland teachers plan to bring their classes to the march, even if that means organizing a "field trip or impromptu tours of the neighborhood," Maidhof said. "There's really been a dedication at Berkeley for us to come out of our ivory tower and go to Oakland," Maidhof said.
University of Maryland, College Park
Last night a basketball win over Duke incited more than 1,500 students to riot on Route 1, throwing shoes and beer cans, setting fires and taunting cops on horseback. What will budget cuts make them do?
Students plan to plan to walk out of classes at noon, meet in the student union and then march to an academic building they plan to occupy all afternoon. Last night I talked with student organizer Bob Hayes, who said students are upset that they are paying more in tuition but getting less from the university and having trouble finding a job. "We feel disconnected from our education," Hayes said. "We're being run by a Fortune 500 company instead of by a university."
FOLLOW THE STORY
Nationally
The Post's Higher Education page will have updates, plus a Twitter feed showing all #March4 tweets.
Student newspapers
The Daily Californian at UC Berkeley has been aggressively covering the state budget situation (reporter Javier Panzar has beat the national media to several stories) and student protests with articles, video, photos and audio. They are asking students to e-mail photos to youreport@dailycal.org and follow them on Twitter, @dailycal.
The Daily Bruin at UCLA also will cover the protests.
Blogs
Student Activism is a blog is maintained by Angus Johnston, a historian of student activism and student government. You can also follow him on Twitter, @studentactivism.
Occupy California is a blog that compiles demands of students at various California colleges and universities. There is a strong focus on reducing funding to jails and corrections, which has been steadily increasing as higher education funding decreases. They have popularized the hashtag #occupyCA.
UC Regent Live is a blog run by student regent Jesse Cheng, a fourth year student at the University of California, Irvine. Today he will have a team of students filing updates for a "liveblogaton." You can also follow him on Twitter, @UCRegentLive.
On Twitter
We put together a list of March 4 Twitterers. Student Activism also has a list of key people involved.
Hashtags to search and use: #March4, #OccupyCA, #rebelleft, #csustrike, #ucstrike
Who did I forget? Let me know and I will add you to the list.

Follow Campus Overload all day, every day at http://washingtonpost.com/campus-overload.

For a working class movement to defend education!
The International Students for Social Equality and the Socialist Equality Party are intervening in the March 4 demonstrations tomorrow against the attack on public education in California and throughout the country. Below is a link to a statement that has been issued by the ISSE. We encourage all of you to read this statement, and download and distribute it at demonstrations in your area. If you agree with it, make the decision to join the ISSE and SEP and take up the fight for socialism. If you would like information on demonstrations in your area or how to be involved, write to isse@intsse.com.
http://www.wsws.org/media/March4Education.pdf