A typically quiet street in Santa Monica filled with curious
residents and drive-by horns as nearly 100 UCLA and California
State University students protested the governor’s proposed
budget cuts on Tuesday afternoon in front of Schatzi on Main, a
restaurant owned by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Students were transported from campus to the Santa Monica
restaurant in yellow school buses to march down the street and
rally in front of the business bought in 1992 by the
actor-turned-governor. Next to the restaurant is an office from
which Schwarzenegger campaigned during the recall. The governor was
in the capitol during the protest.
The event was part of a statewide day of action, in which
students from the University of California, CSUs and community
colleges collaborated in three locations to express their
frustration with the governor’s latest budget proposal,
revealed in the May Revise last week. The proposal calls for a $372
million cut to the UC budget and for undergraduate fees to be
raised by 14 percent and graduate fees by 20 percent next year.
Students also protested the low number of black students who were
admitted to UCLA for next year.
Students from Northern California universities also participated
in a peaceful protest in Sacramento.
In San Diego, parts of the protest caused police to step in, and
led to the citation of seven students. The students were cited and
released after they did not move out of an intersection that had
been blocked when 200 students from UC San Diego rallied in the
intersection, said Dave Cohen, spokesman for the San Diego Police
Department. He added that the students issued tickets were to
appear in court at a later date.
“If they blocked (the intersection), it would certainly
impact travel around school,” Cohen said.
Though a police presence was visible in Santa Monica ““
with two California Highway Patrol officers blocking the
restaurant’s entrance and four Los Angeles Police Department
officers observing from across the street ““ the rally ran
relatively smoothly. Only the occasional profanity caused police to
raise some eyebrows.
Before a procession down the street began, the students were
warned by René Castro, the Southern California organizing
director of the CSU faculty union, to be respectful of residents
and the Santa Monica Police Department, and to obey traffic
signs.
Provided with logistical support from the union, students mocked
a funeral procession, as four students carrying a coffin filled
with thousands of petitions led a march down the street. Many
students followed behind with chants condemning the governor and
“RIP” crosses for education and students of color,
among other messages.
While students walked in a single-file line and distributed
fliers, they received responses ranging from supportive yells to
disapproving gestures from passersby.
In front of the restaurant, students from UCLA and California
State Los Angeles, Northridge and Dominguez Hills made speeches,
chanted, and sang songs. At one point, a union organizer called the
governor’s office and left a message of students chanting on
the answering machine.
The surrounding police began expressing concern after Deola
Adeseun, a UCLA fourth-year psychology student and member of the
African Student Union, took to the mic.
Using some obscenities to describe her frustration of not
running into many black students on Bruin Walk, Adeseun’s
passion rose as she turned in the direction of the watchful police
officers and the governor’s restaurant with threats to riot
if the situation was not changed.
“If you don’t change those conditions, we will riot
on you, motherfuckers,” Adeseun said.
Soon after, a CHP officer warned organizer Sophia Kozak, also
the
Academic Affairs commissioner of the Undergraduate Students
Association Council, that enticing riots is reason enough for
police to intervene.
“It’s been pretty peaceful, except for a little bit
of foul language,” said CHP Officer R.A. Richards, but he
added that threatening a riot was “not the way to have the
message heard.”
After several students spoke on the importance of ensuring all
students access to education, paper flowers were placed in the
coffin and taken to the restaurant’s mailbox, where students
were assured that the governor would receive their petitions.
The chanting caused some disruption in the restaurant, said
Helmut Elmann, general manager of the eatery. Other residents also
came to observe the rally after hearing the students speaking about
the cuts. Many who stuck around were impressed by students’
efforts.
“The cuts are wrong, but the governor is in a tough
position,” said nearby resident David Jones, 33, who came out
of his home to see what all the noise was about.
“He shouldn’t be blamed directly,” Jones said,
but he added that students are smart to express their concerns.
As organizers filed back into the buses and headed to campus,
most believed the rally was a success.
But it is unclear what effect their efforts could have on the
governor’s decision.
“We’ve come to a point where it’s very clear
that the democratic process has been undermined,” Kozak said.
“This is not going to be the last action.”
With reports from Charles Proctor, Bruin senior staff, and
Narges Zohoury, Bruin reporter