Students and demonstrators rally at Sproul Plaza in support of Occupy Cal at the University of California in Berkeley, California on November 15, 2011. The Occupy Cal group called for a student strike today. UPI/Terry Schmitt |
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BERKELEY, Calif., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Students at the University of California Berkeley said Thursday they will continue to occupy a university building until a plan to increase tuition is killed.
In a demand reminiscent of the Free Speech Movement of the 1960s, students also demanded that charges against Jeffrey Noven, a Berkeley student, be dropped. Noven was arrested Wednesday at UC San Francisco, where UC regents were meeting, and joined the protest at Wheeler Hall in Berkeley after he was released.
Noven told the San Francisco Chronicle by phone that he was joining "in solidarity with my fellow students to bring attention to just how underrepresented the university's most important constituents are, students."
A committee of the regents voted Wednesday to recommend tuition increases for the entire UC system.
Lauren Kivlen, a senior majoring in microbiology, spent Wednesday night in Wheeler.
"More and more, I realize that education should be a right and not a privilege," Kivlen said. "Everyone should have access to education as a human right."
University police warned students late Wednesday that the building was closed and ordered them to leave. Officers were also advised to have batons and helmets with them.
But officials said police would move in only if students engaged in property damage and vandalism.
Students also protested at Wednesday's meeting, where the committee approved a plan to increase tuition by up to 5 percent in each of the next five years.
Gov. Jerry Brown opposes the proposed increase. He and members of the board traded accusations, with regents accusing Brown and the state of failing to provide the funding needed to avert tuition hikes, while the governor said the university has not taken steps to trim spending.
