Day Of Action: TOP MOMENTS

Though yesterday's California-born Day of Action to Defend Public Education became a national event, activity was anchored in the Golden State. The state saw a bevy of protests large and small, wild and peaceful. Here's a rundown of definitive moments from what's been called the most significant student movement in 40 years.

Berkeley Students Take Over Highway

In a word, Berkeley's protest smoldered, becoming hotter and hotter as the day went on. What began as a human wall of approximately 60 students and staff turned into a massive traveling organism of ralliers that spanned seven city blocks. While many of those protesters marched five miles to another protest at Oakland City Hall, more than 150 took a turn for Highway 980 and sat in its lanes, stopping traffic for 45 minutes. According to CNN, 160 were arrested.

UC Santa Cruz Shut Down

Protesters at Santa Cruz starting the day early at 5:45 a.m. PST, effectively shutting down campus by blocking its two entrances. Campus police released a statement at 7:45 a.m. warning people not to come to the school. The protesters kept up momentum through the night, and City on a Hill Press reports that activity may continue today.

Bay Area Flooded

The Bay Area hosted the most protesters, with reports of up to 10,000 college, high school, middle school and elementary students -- along with parents and teachers -- turning out across the city to march, chant and rally. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger responded to protesters, saying that he wanted "a constitutional amendment guaranteeing that higher education received more funding than the state's prison system."

Police Skirmishes In Davis

Davis saw some intense student-police confrontation. The California Aggie captured a picture of a cop holding what appears to be a stun gun to a student's neck. Another student, identified as Laura Morrison, was dragged away from the protest by her wrists.

San Francisco State Starts And Ends With Dance Parties

San Francisco State kicked of the Day of Action the night before with a 200-person dance party on campus, replete with graffiti and firecrackers. After the sun rose, students and teachers blocked off a busy intersection, cheering and chanting. The day closed with more dancing on campus. Check out the Golden Gate [X] Press for audio and video from the protest.

UC Riverside Goes Red

Red was the official color of the Day of Action, but no student body owned the color as well as UC Riverside's, which turned the lawn around the school's bell tower crimson during a noon protest.

UC President Mark Yudof's Statement

The social media-savvy figurehead of the UC system did not make an appearance at any of the protests, but he did issue a statement on his Facebook page -- later posted on UC's official site -- cheering students on. "My heart and my support are with everybody and anybody who wants to stand up for public education. I salute those who are making themselves heard today in a peaceful manner on behalf of a great cause," he wrote.

Capitol Costumes
Sacramento Bee Reporter Laurel Rosenhall was at the Capitol taking pictures of the uniquely bedecked protesters, devils and dogs among them. Approximately 500 convened in Sacramento in what has been described as a "quiet and peaceful" demonstration.

Comments

[martinmil]

06:28 PM on 03/11/2010

Education is something we should stand for. We should use our rights.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, "If we are not careful, our colleges will produce a group of close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists, consumed with immoral acts. Be careful, “brethren!” Be careful, teachers!" With the increase in tuition costs, what are we teaching out students? Which is more important, education or money?

To read all of King's education speech and more articles check out the link below.
http://www.purposeofeducation.com/the-purpose-of-education

[realitytrumpsbull]

03:12 PM on 03/06/2010

You think they're mad now? Just wait until all these students realize you can read a book all by yourself and learn something....D'oh!

[rljon]

09:36 AM on 03/06/2010

Wouldnt know what to call these blissfully unaware props for SDS and other far, far left organizations if Pelosi hadn't brought the Acorn/union protesting techniques of ASTROTURF into the lexicon.

[georgethompson]

10:03 PM on 03/05/2010

Obama and the corporate media have launched a vigorous campaign to turn schools into businesses rather than a public service. Every aspect of education reform in America and the world right now is geared towards partnering with business and turning a profit for business. An article at Daily Censored explains how EVEN the PROTEST has been reframed by CNN as a sell for education as business---a corporate notion that educators should be paid commission based on the test scores of their students. The article is called "CNN Uses Massive Education Protest to Push Performance Pay."
George Thompson

[Conservative in NJ]

07:27 PM on 03/05/2010

The high cost of higher education can be fixed/mitigated in a few ways:
1) allow students to finish school in three years.
2) AP high school courses should count.
3) School is in session about 180 days (average work year is 250). Therefore, schools should function 6 days a week to make best use of facilities. Students can choose classes to meet their schedule
4) Make teachers teach a full schedule. They should be teaching 250 days a year and 10 hours a day like most Americans.
Eliminate Financial Aid and just have loans and work/study programs.

This is just a few ideas.

[poseA]

08:27 PM on 03/05/2010

These people will never go for any of that. They've been brainwashed into thinking higher education is a right.

[bcgd]

01:56 PM on 03/08/2010

A right! Where is the right to gouge them like this. With a scholarship It took 75K w/o interest and 4.5 years without a summer to get a bachelors. F your 180-250 days a year and 10,12,14 hrs a day. College kids that deserve to be where they are stay and the weak leave and go to work full time at that job they use to feed themselves while studying.
We spend 700Billion on military a year, but kids have to worry about being charged out the ass with interest, easily six digits just to be above the flock at 25-26. It wasnt 20 years ago you could get your higher education with your work ethic and hunger to expand your future. You would owe little to none and have more then 6 months to start paying it back. Banks are running the show not the schools. Schools are underfunded.

This is the same thing that insurance and credit cards are doing. IE any private organization. Its business. Kids dont have the right to go to any school past HS but if you get in and get through you will owe for 20-30 years! The young are the future and education is their only vehicle they can help themselves with.

[ucmep]

05:09 PM on 03/05/2010

eyewitness account of the freeway occupation:
http://ucmep.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/what-we-learned-from-march-4-privatize-the-streets/

[cloudminder]

04:47 PM on 03/05/2010

this is what needs to be known about Schwarzenegger Yudof and UC:

# Schwarzenegger vetoes whistleblower protections for UC workers (2010)
# UC regents Schwarzenegger and Wachter – are they making a profit from university investments? (2010)
# UCLA consultant involved in accounting scandal (2010)
# More Scandals Uncovered at UC, Yee Requests State Audit (2010)
# UC Admits Misleading Public About Senior Executive Buyout Taker (2009)
# List of Salaries of UC Highest Paid Employees (2009)
# UC regents OK millions in incentive pay to top execs (2010)
# UC Boss Mark Yudof's Case Against Himself (2009)

http://cloudminder.blogspot.com/

[cloudminder]

04:45 PM on 03/05/2010

as usual Berkeley and Santa Cruz and Davis and UCLA are at the forefront

while UCSB were out to lunch I guess- I have yet to see anything from UCSB, are they in a bubble?

[Yeom]

10:07 AM on 03/06/2010

Don't forget the Cal States......SFSU, SDSU and others also at the forefront.

As far as UCSB.......blame the beach!

[T4]

03:01 PM on 03/05/2010

Hello arising students - Welcome to the real world! You didn;t say anything as we invaded Iraq and killed 100,000 men, women and children for now reason, while we exploded the defcit, when the banks got bailed out and Obama made sure they got bonuses or when the stimulus program robbed you of a future, BUT when someone you had topay for something - you got upset - spare us all the hypocrisy of your tragicposition. Does the system have less money - yes - Obamanomics has seen to that. Is there money available to keep tutiions lower - yes. Where is it? It's in the pay and benefits of the administration and staff and in the bloated projects the Univ are sponsoring. Example - the head cop at UCB makes $500,000 a year not counting benefits - just her. While you pay - they play. You want to protest - go to their homes and march on their homes and embarras them - nothing that apublic likes less than embarrassment - demand an accounting or quit whining.

[lazercat2008]

01:52 PM on 03/05/2010

WHAT CAN people do to support this fight?

THE GEO clearly has the momentum at this point. We have broad support across the campus, and we've gained some momentum in the bargaining room recently.

While I can't predict how long this strike will go on, I do know that this week is crucial. We need to shut down classes in the buildings we picket. We need to show the university our collective strength. We need to reach out to undergraduates, community members and other campus unions, and draw them into our fight.

The more support we have and the more bodies we have on the picket line, the greater the impact we can have.

http://socialistworker.org/2009/11/16/grad-employees-strike-uiuc

[lazercat2008]

01:50 PM on 03/05/2010

So more and more students have had to turn to student loans in order to get the education that the American Dream propaganda machine tells us will lead to a better standard of living. That's a lie. Graduating from college with $15,000 to $20,000 of student loan debt is not the path to a better standard of living.

What we need is a more rational higher education system that focuses on turning out well-educated graduates, rather than deeply indebted graduates.

[KevG]

04:22 PM on 03/05/2010

Corporate America needs enough warm bodies with large debts to fills its rosters without complaint or ease of departure. "Society", the concept of common good and enlightened progress, is being trampled under the heel of the slavering stock market and desire for growth and profit which characterizes modern American capitalism. American capitalism needs its indentured servant class, and colleges are becoming factories which churn them out.

How can we turn this around?

[avocats]

04:30 PM on 03/05/2010

You're complaining about graduating with $15-20,000 in debt? I had that much in the 70s! I thought you were talking about serious sacrifices!

[lazercat2008]

01:46 PM on 03/05/2010

IN the past 28 years, funding for public education has been eroded at all levels.

Starting with the Reagan administration, and continuing through Bush, Clinton and Bush, funding for public education at all levels--primary, secondary and higher education--has been slashed. The free marketers pushing this agenda forced colleges and universities into making huge cuts in spending.

They did this in a number of ways. They slashed union jobs by selling off and privatizing essential services such as food service, maintenance and janitorial jobs. These private companies often paid near minimum wage, with little or no health benefits.

[T4]

03:07 PM on 03/05/2010

Sorry, not only is your logic mistaken but it makes no sense relative to an increase in tuition. As for the Union jobs - what is your point - non=performance oriented bloated salaries for incompentents is to be recommended? The key in the current situation not your rant about the last 28 years which would mean there isnormal in the till is that the money is in the bloated salaries of the administration and regents and programs - this is accurate. Tenure without performance standards is another a fuedal way to operate a system. The post secondary system in CA is filled with bloat and waste but the admin won;t cut it's slush - only that of other people and then the ever popular demand rep answer - higertuirion opr higher taxes - it's all the same.

[poseA]

08:18 PM on 03/05/2010

You are correct regarding the under-qualified and overpaid union workers. I'm a non-union systems analyst in a university research lab. The unionized maintenance staff for the entire campus appears to be predominately comprised of functionally illiterate workers.

[poseA]

10:40 AM on 03/05/2010

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger responded to protesters, saying that he wanted "a constitutional amendment guaranteeing that higher education received more funding than the state's prison system."

That man is an idiot.

California spends $16.5B on prisons and $37.6B on higher education.

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/california_state_spending.html

[Blackorpheus]

01:25 PM on 03/05/2010

Do those alleged figures include salaries paid to prison officials as opposed to salaries paid to university faculty. And among the UC system, Cal State system, and community colleges, aren't there many more universities than there are prisons?

The overall dollar figure spent on prisons (assuming it is accurate, which is doubtful) vs the overall dollar figure spent on higher education is not an accurate way of assessing the state appropriations.

[poseA]

08:30 PM on 03/05/2010

"The overall dollar figure spent on prisons (assuming it is accurate, which is doubtful) vs the overall dollar figure spent on higher education is not an accurate way of assessing the state appropriations."

Why do you doubt the numbers and why do you not consider total expenditures of each an accurate means of comparing the budgets of higher education vs. the prison system?

[lazercat2008]

01:47 PM on 03/05/2010

$33,000 per year to keep one prisoner in custody.