On Wednesday, students began to protest outside University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) as early as 6a.m. The Regents meeting did not begin until around 8:30a.m. Students were hoping their pleads and determination would shutdown the meeting and persuade them to vote against the tuition hike proposal.
However, at around 1:30p.m., the UC Regents Committee on Long Range Planning voted 7-2 in favor of increasing UC tuition. UC President Janet Napolitano had proposed a plan to increase tuition 5 percent each year for the next five years. The full Regents board voted in favor of the increase in tuition the day after.
[students out in the rain, listening to the UC regents meeting live over speaker]
Students from across the state all gathered together at UCSF for the same cause and to fight for the same rights. The right for quality and free public education. Students from UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC San Diego, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara protested despite of the rainy weather conditions the whole day. Although the outcome was not what they wished for, it was just another reason for them to keep fighting harder to have their voices heard.
Before the UC Regents meeting at UCSF took place, students at UCSC organized a rally to take action against the — proposed and not yet officialized — increase in tuition. Students at UCSC gathered at Quarry Plaza and marched throughout the campus despite the continuing rainy conditions. After marching their way through campus, they stopped marching at the Humanities department.
At Humanities 2 they announced their plans of occupying the building overnight. Students encouraged people to support the cause in order to bring in many more students and organizers. They encouraged others to spread the word and tell anyone they knew to tweet about it, post on Facebook, and simply encourage as well as educate others to join their fellow peers.
Students announced a public assembly meeting at 6p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20. Students followed through and occupied the building overnight. They are currently still occupying the building and do not plan on leaving until the UC Regents decide to revoke tuition increase.