Students focused on protesting against the recent University of California tuition increase proposal at the Student of Color Conference, one of the biggest UC-wide conferences over the weekend.
In addition to protesting at the UC Merced campus, where the conference took place, students talked and made signs describing ways the tuition increase would affect them. The proposal, announced by the UC last week, would raise tuition and fees by up to 5 percent for the next five years.
“Once the conference is over, this will be the conversation we’ll keep having on our campus,” said Fabienne Roth, Undergraduate Students Association Council general representative 3, who attended the conference.
The Student of Color Conference, hosted in UC Merced for the first time in its 26-year history, is meant to create a space for student advocates to gather and discuss topics that relate to underrepresented students in higher education. In recent years, students have focused on issues such as mass incarceration and college affordability.
A few dozen students from UCLA attended the conference as part of a USAC external vice president’s delegation. About 1,000 people attended the event.
The UC Student Association, which advocates for University students in higher education issues, hosts the conference every year. The event took place at UCLA last year.
UCSA members have voiced opposition to the tuition hike proposal since it was announced, calling it a way to hold students hostage in a battle between the University and state legislators.
The conference featured several workshops on immigration, among other topics. It also featured guest speakers, such as Carlotta Walls LaNier, one of the first black students to attend an all-white school in Arkansas after the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. The Supreme Court decision led to the desegregation of K-12 education in the country.
Devin Murphy, USAC president, and Savannah Badalich, student wellness commissioner, led a presentation on the “All of Us” mental health campaign at UCLA and urged student leaders at other UC campuses to create their own mental health campaigns.
At the conference, the UCSA Board of Directors also met. The board voted to table a resolution calling for the UC to divest from companies that some students say profit from the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, Roth said.
The board also passed a resolution calling for the University to sign a community benefits agreement with Richmond, a city in Northern California that will house the UC Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay. The agreement, if established, would seek to promote investments in small businesses and education in Richmond. The agreement would also aim to prepare residents for jobs at the campus.
Compiled by Jeong Park, Bruin senior staff.