WTHX: Experiment 2 – Why The Hell Is There A Sit-In Protest In UC Santa Cruz?

Yes, experiment 2. Experiment 1 was a closed beta trial amongst one of my online communities – preliminary response was positive, and the article was regarding Dick Cheney’s infamously harsh response to the declassification of intelligence memos and possible judicial action. I’ll post it later – first, to get my feet wet again…

Warning: Text copypasted from OpenOffice Writer. I could push the links into the text, but it’s almost 2 AM and I’m tired.

WTHX: Experiment 2 – Why The Hell Is There A Sit-In Protest In UC Santa Cruz?

The ongoing demonstrations at UC Santa Cruz (http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13600941) have involved the occupation of lecture halls, the tagging of graffiti on campus property, and the pepper-spraying of members of the student body by campus police. Loud music shakes the occupied halls, and students are reportedly dancing the night away – all in protest over the continuing increases to University of California’s tuition costs, along with the reduction of scholarships across the nation (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/07/content_11668059.htm).

The protests are not bound only to Santa Cruz, nor do they only involve students. A conference has been held in UC Berkeley regarding protests over the budget cuts and tuition increases (http://www.dailycal.org/article/107222/conference_held_at_uc_berkeley_to_protest_budget_c), of which has garnered significant cross-university faculty support.

Why are they protesting?

Note that the tipping point of the protests seem to originate not from domestic, Californian, education policies. Though the ongoing education cuts are certainly the focus of the protest, much of the actual trigger (as displayed in various student activist Facebooks) seems to have been generated from the ongoing protests in Austria (http://de.indymedia.org/2009/10/264499.shtml). Sympathetic activists (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=163329887062&v=info&ref=search) are using the Austrian protests as a memetic rallying point in which to build solidarity.

Thus, the rationale for the protests differ, depending on groups interviewed. There is a strong socialistic bent amongst major groups that regard the developing policies as a detrimental economization and increasingly authoritarian restructuring of public education. Others are specifically aimed at the possibility of a 30% increase to the cost of UC tuition (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-09-15-university-california_N.htm), as well as the increased cost of education throughout California’s higher-education system, for both CSUs and community colleges.

Why is California cutting its universities’ budget?

Simply put: the recession. As written in La Voz Weekly News (http://media.www.lavozdeanza.com/media/storage/paper911/news/2009/10/26/News/How-Much.More.Can.We.Cut-3813629.shtml), regarding the ongoing budget cuts at Cupertino City’s De Anza College, “…the district expects further cuts in January and May of 2010, making the current decision more of a stopgap effort than a conclusive decision.” The cuts are a reflection of the California state government’s ongoing budgetary issues, of which has not improved over the last year (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/us/01calif.html), despite many cuts across the board.

The outlook for the world economy at large remains mostly negative (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hixr2M_Qx1JQ-RsMvvAlU1RwLPiwD9BK83Q82).

~ by Gonzo Mehum on November 2, 2009.