University of California
Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
USA
What: 96 Hours of Direct Action Schedule of Events Statewide (Berkeley, All UCs, CSUs, Community Colleges)
Monday, March 2
All Day: Decentralized Direct Actions across Campus
10am: 20 Minute Mass Flyering: Meet on Sproul Steps
5pm: Short Debrief and Info Hub in Wheeler Commons
Tuesday, March 3
All Day: Decentralized Direct Actions across Campus
10am: 20 Minute Mass Chalking: Meet on Sproul Steps
5pm: Short Debrief and Info Hub in Wheeler Commons
Wednesday, March 4
All Day: Decentralized Direct Actions across Campus
12-1pm: Funeral for Public Education on Sproul Steps
+all students, workers, faculty, and community allies are invited to wear black and join die-in
5pm: Short Debrief and Info Hub in Wheeler Commons
Thursday, March 5
12pm-Whenever: STRIKE to Fight the Hike + Phoenix Free Education Festival on Sproul Plaza
+all students, workers, faculty, and community allies are invited to transform our campus together
+bring a tent
*To stay updated on actions around campus, text “FightTheHike” to 88202
*To post or learn about some actions being planned, visit our Facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/lanwxn9
A 27% fee hike in UC tuition has been announced with a range of justifications—this on top of the 300% increase in attending the UC in the last decade alone. The administration claims that the state’s defunding of public education has forced this on us, the only option left is to displace the costs of running the university onto students. We disagree. The UC doesn’t want public money from Sacramento; it wants more of your far less regulated private tuition dollars. In spite of the increased cost of education, we endure cuts to student programs, overflowing lecture halls, classes that are difficult to get into, decreasing numbers of students of color, and many other signs of the declining quality of education.
In response to mounting pressure from students around the state, the administration has now announced plans to delay the fee hike, to wait until we’re less prepared. But a deferral is no victory; we demand far more. Rather than a signal that we should give up, we believe that now is the time to push our demands for a better UC. Students across the state–at UCs, CSUs, Community Colleges and High Schools–have called for “96 Hours of Direct Action” the first week of March, culminating in a statewide student walk out on Thursday, March 5. In 2010 similar actions won hundreds of millions of dollars in state support, and in 2012, they beat back a proposed tuition hike that would have nearly doubled of the cost of a UC education. This March, let’s demonstrate that there’s an alternative to privatization and debt. This is your call to action. On March 5, let’s shut it down.