As you all probably know, the UC Board of Regents voted on Thursday to increase student fees by 32% (15% for spring quarter and an additional 15% next year).  In protest to the fee increase and a variety of other serious problems facing the UC community and public education in California as a whole, students have occupied school buildings throughout the state.

Below the fold is a press release from UC Santa Cruz students currently occupying Kerr Hall and Kresge Town Hall.

Letter of Discontent 11/21/09

From: An Autonomous Group of Students Occupying UCSC

We are a group of students dynamically and peacefully participating in the reformation of our California public higher education system, aligned with Clark Kerr’s ideals that education should be accessible to all, regardless of economic means. The 32% increase in student fees is a direct product of structural failures in California’s political and economic system; the dire threat to accessibility this creates has prompted us to occupy our University spaces.

With drastically increasing student fees, insulting cuts to workers’ hours, diminishing academic programs, and increasing privatization of this public institution, many of us are appalled and outraged. Across the UC system we are paying more for less – class sizes are growing, students are being denied access to essential classes, and vital student services are facing cuts. We want change and are committed to achieving it nonviolently.

We actively engaged students have taken back Kerr Hall and Kresge Town Hall to further this cause, which is supported by many faculty members, staff, and local union groups. We have taken these spaces to continue the vocalization of our dissent against the slow death of public education. We are utilizing these spaces to further organize our movement against the unjust decisions of those governing the UC system. The education of hundreds of thousands of Californians depends on the redesign of the California higher education system’s priorities, budget, and plans.

We are not alone and we do not act merely in self-interest. We acknowledge that certain actions have been controversial; however, we are in agreement that we must take measures to grow the movement and catalyze positive change. We are extremely grateful for the support we have received from faculty and workers at UCSC and many others too numerous to name. We urge everyone concerned about the future of education in California to learn and get involved in the public process. The priorities of California’s economic structure need to be redefined using a variety of collective actions. Our occupation is one of these methods and is contingent on the demands that have been received by the administration and we will continue to push for their adoption.

The demands mentioned were a consolidated set of seven demands, chosen from a larger list of goals and demands, that UCSC has the ability to enact on their own and immediately.  They are as follows:

I. Total amnesty for all individuals involved in current and past student protest concerning budget cuts, including Brian Glasscock & Olivia Egan-Rudolph

II. Keep all resource centers open under the management of individual directors: Engaging Education, Women’s Resource Center, Ethnic Resource Center, CANTU, etc.

III. Making UCSC a safe campus by protecting all undocumented (AB540) students and workers through non-cooperation with ICE.

IV. Renege the 15% cut in labor time for UCSC custodians

V. Prohibit rent in Family Student Housing from exceeding that of operating costs in order to keep it affordable.

VI. Freeze on layoffs to all campus employees.

VII. Guaranteed funding through employment or fee remissions for both graduate students who have lost TAships and undergraduate students who have lost work-study positions