I was not aware that you can be both "homogeneous and elitist."
This is just "sophomore college radicalism." It goes away after their first
year of "changing the system from within."
Prices for food and fuel are at an across the board all time high. I don't
think it can be termed deliberate "oppression" if school fees follow economic
trends.
This is just a case of students playing radical.
Kevin White
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 8:34:18 AM
Subject: [Fulcrumsofchange] Fw: 16 arrested at UCLA protesting fee increase
Fight Back News Service
California: 16 arrested at UCLA protesting fee increase By Eric
Gardner Los Angeles -
Chanting, "Regents, regents, can't you see?
You're creating poverty!" 16 student activists from UCLA Students for
a Democratic Society, the UCLA Student Worker Front and other
University of California campuses temporarily brought a meeting of
the University of California Regents to a halt May 14 to protest a
hike in student fees. The students locked arms and continued chanting
until they were physically removed by UC police officers. All were
charged with misdemeanor counts of failing to disperse.
Those arrested were part of a larger group of more than 100 student
demonstrators from across the UC system that attended the meeting to
protest the proposed fee increases.
"Every year that the UC regents increase student fees, thousands of
low-income students, and especially students of color, are denied
access to higher education," said David Chavez, a UCLA student among
those arrested. "Myself and others are tired of the economic
oppression that our communities face, which the regents take part in
with their efforts to privatize the UCs. The levels of poverty and
harm in our communities will not shrink so long as higher education
continues on the current track towards a homogeneous and elitist
institution."
>From May 14-16 UCLA was host to a quarterly meeting of the UC regents
- a group of ten people, appointed by the governor, which has final
say over all decisions affecting the University of California. While
the meeting took place, student activists at UCLA hosted a
counter-meeting of their own to agitate for greater democracy in the
UC system as well as an end to practices like investment in war
profiteering, nuclear weapons research and the constant increasing of
tuition and fees.
In a statement released after their arrest, the 16 said that the fee
increase, "would mean more out-of-state students...because they bring
more revenue for the school, thus limiting space for California
residents. It would mean less diversity, as the poorest students -
overwhelmingly of color - are effectively excluded from a public
education because they simply can't afford it. It would mean families
most vulnerable to fee increases would be forced into a false choice
of accruing massive debt or not sending their children to school. It
would mean pushing the California Dream farther and farther off the
coast for much of the state's truly diverse population, as the UC
student body becomes both richer and whiter."
The fee increase will raise costs for students by 7.4%, or about $500
per year for resident undergraduates. The slogan "7.4% = 1 month's
rent!" could be seen at a display set up by some of the protesters on
the UCLA quad.
Thirty years ago, resident students paid nominal registration costs
and virtually no tuition, making the cost of a public education
almost free. But all this has changed in the era of Republican
cutbacks and Democrat 'reforms.' Under the new fees, in-state
undergraduates will pay around $8000 each year, a cost that is
already far out of reach for many working families in California who
are struggling to cope with astronomical prices for rent, gas, food
and healthcare.
The only beneficiaries of the constant UC fee increases (which have
gone up 91% since 2001) are California's rich. By fighting tooth and
nail against any taxes on their enormous incomes, the richest segment
of California's population has worked to force the costs of public
services on to those least able to afford them. This also pushes
public institutions like the UC ever closer to full privatization,
directly benefiting the same wealthy interests.
By voting in favor of continuing fee increases, the regents (with the
exception of a small minority that opposed the hike) have embraced
these trends and chosen to settle the university budget crisis on the
backs of the students.
The May 14 civil disobedience action was one of many such actions
that have interrupted recent meetings of the regents, as students
continue to demand a say in the way their universities are run. In
the face of such willful disregard for the needs of the people they
are supposed to represent, the regents can expect more frequent - and
more militant - actions in the future.
Fight Back News Service
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