In what has been billed as a campus-wide “Day of
Action,” UC students from around the state will participate
in teach-ins and other programs this afternoon at UCLA geared
toward educating themselves about student power and activism.
Events include student-led teach-ins, rallies, a barbeque, and
cultural and music performances.
After the event, the students will take busses up to the regents
meeting in San Francisco to protest the raising of student
fees.
“The theme of the day is education, and it’s a day
of celebration of student power,” said Yousef Tajsar, one of
the event organizers.
The principle grievance of the organizers is the potential
increase in student fees. Organizers are encouraging not just UC
students, but professors, community members, teaching assistants
and even high school students to attend and learn about the
ramifications of such an increase.
“We really want to make it a community event so it’s
not just UCLA students,” said Anica McKesey, the
president-elect of the Undergraduate Student Association
Council.
UCLA is the gathering point for UC students from around Southern
California, which includes students from UC Irvine, UC San Diego,
UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside.
Students will participate in events from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. in
Royce Quad and Westwood Plaza. The busses to San Francisco will
leave around 9 p.m.
UC students from Northern California will also be attending the
regents meeting to protest.
Originally the regents were scheduled to vote on a fee increase
this Wednesday. But a statement released from the UC Office of the
President on Friday announced a delay pending the release of
further information about the state budget crisis.
The regents may vote on a fee increase at their next meeting in
July.
Matt Kaczmarek, the external vice-president elect of USAC, said
the regents’ decision to delay the vote makes sense, but it
is also “unacceptable” because it would give students
an insufficient amount of time to adjust their budgets if fees were
raised in the middle of summer.
Kaczmarek added that a large turnout from the Southern
California UC schools should send a powerful message to the
regents.
“The credibility we will gain as students will depend on
students coming up from the south (to voice their opinions),”
he said.
Organizers are anticipating around 400 to 500 people from
Southern California to attend the protest, and anywhere from 600 to
800 from all the UC schools to be at the meeting.