Police cited and released 14 protesters, mostly UC employees, on the UC San Francisco campus Wednesday morning.
Demonstrators disrupted the UC Board of Regents meeting soon after public comments, chanting, “Whose university? Our university,” for several minutes.
Most of the demonstrators left the Mission Bay Community Center meeting room at the request of police, but others remained to form a line in front of the Board of Regents and held a sign that said, “People’s Board of Regents.”
Jillian Marks, an arrested protester and recent UC Berkeley graduate, said the demonstrators do not accept the past faculty and staff layoffs and the recently implemented system-wide furlough plan, which requires academic and university employees to take 10 to 26 days off for this year.
Marks also voiced her concerns regarding the proposed 15 percent mid-year student fee increase and a following 15 percent fee increase for 2010-11.
“We don’t accept those things without the (Regents) opening their books,” Marks said.
After refusing to disperse, the protesters were cited and later released outside of the meeting rooms, said Peter King, director of media relations for the UC Office of the President.
King added that many of those protesters belong to the University Professional and Technical Employees, a union representing thousands of UC employees for the university.
The board left for a temporary recess during the protest and resumed its meeting soon after the arrested protesters were escorted out by the police.