Funding squeeze spurs student backlash
By Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles
Published: March 12 2010 22:17 | Last updated: March 12 2010 22:17
After a 40-year absence, revolution is again in the air in California, with university students taking to the streets to mount noisy and increasingly angry protests directed against steep rises in tuition fees.
The campuses of UCLA and Berkeley were once the setting for passionate demonstrations against the draft and the Vietnam war. The anger this time is directed at state legislators and university administrators who have imposed swingeing fee increases of as much as 30 per cent to plug a funding gap of $1.2bn (£790m, €872m).
California’s fiscal woes and a projected deficit of $20bn are threatening one of the state’s jewels, the University of California system, which was given a public mandate in 1960 to provide world-class education to deserving students regardless of their ability to pay.
But the annual cost of tuition at some of the universities within the network has jumped to more than $10,000, and that is higher than some of America’s private universities. At the same time and in a bid to cut costs teaching staff have had their hours reduced and the number of classes and study modules available to students is shrinking, sparking a furious reaction.
“We’re paying much more and not getting the classes we want,” said Judy Lee, a 20-year-old psychology student, at a noisy UCLA demonstration where protesters shouted “Who’s got the power? We’ve got the power!” and “The future belongs to