Students commemorated May Day in Bruin Plaza Thursday afternoon by protesting numerous campus issues, including tuition costs and the debate over a diversity-related general education requirement.
About 40 students protested in solidarity with other May Day protests across University of California, California State University and community college campuses, said Chakib Mouzaoui, a first-year mechanical engineering student and one of the coordinators of the protest. The Student Collective Against Labor Exploitation student group, which advocates for labor rights, organized the protest.
Many protesters wore red strips of cloth safety-pinned to their clothing. Mouzaoui said the red squares of cloth were used to give protesters a sense of unity and demonstrate their solidarity with protesters on other campuses.
The group also protested the appointment of UC President Janet Napolitano on the grounds that she was not elected by students.
Mouzaoui and other participants also used the protest to explain the history of May Day. May Day started in 1886 with a labor riot in Chicago’s Haymarket Square.
Some protesters used megaphones to voice their grievances to students passing by on Bruin Walk.
Lauren Schaeffer, a philosophy graduate student participating in the protest, said that May Day is one of her favorite holidays because people get together to celebrate worker power.
Compiled by John Peter Cavender, Bruin contributor.