Thursday, March 4, 2010

California Crisis LIVE: Breaking News, Updates From 2010 Student Protests

Tensions are high at universities in California and they may boil over during planned student protests today, March 4, 2010, across the state.

Last week, an impromptu University of California-Berkeley riot led to a fire and damage to the campus.

California students also have participated in recent protests at UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis, and March 4 has been designated as a Student Day Of Action to protest higher education budget cuts.

Follow all the action LIVE via Twitter updates right here on HuffPost College. Let us know of great Tweeters we need to add to these lists attwitterlists@huffingtonpost.com!

housands of Students Taking Part in National Day of Action to Defend Public Education

Courage Campaign | Stand up for students: Pledge to support AB 656 and tax oil companies to fund higher education

In California, a Day of Protests Over Education Budget Cuts - NYTimes.com

March 4 Day of Action Map, March 3 Edition « Student Activism

Protests for public education: News & Videos about Protests for public education - CNN iReport

College News and Opinion on The Huffington Post

America's LARGEST Tuition Increases in PUBLIC Schools (PHOTOS)

Day Of Action Dawns With Excitement; Protests Underway

Live from the day of action | SocialistWorker.org

LAUSD Approves 5K Layoffs, L.A. Prepares List of 4K Job Cuts - LAist

Leah Finnegan: March 4 LIVE BLOG: Student Day Of Action

Today, March 4, is the Day of Action to Defend Public Education, a movement that originated in California last fall in response to threats of staggering university tuition hikes and budget cuts. Students and teachers at more than 32 campuses around the country will be protesting the state of of higher education today with walkouts, rallies and teach-ins.

We'll be live blogging today's events here. Check back for frequent updates and follow our "California Crisis Live" Twitter page.

12:16 p.m./UC San Diego Recent pictures from their cacophonous demonstrations:

12:08 p.m./UCLA 200 gathered for rally on Bruin Plaza.
12:05 p.m./UC Berkeley Police stop two protesters from throwing water balloons.
12:00 p.m./University of Maryland, College Park Here, the mantra is "March Forth. Life Sucks, Let's Change."
11:55 a.m./UC BerkeleyDaily Cal reports that about 300 are gathered on campus for a noon rally, blocking traffic, dancing and singing.
11:29 a.m./Sacramento Sacramento Bee Education Reporter Laurel Rosenhall is at the Capitol talking to students and capturing some awesome pictures of protesters.
10:56 a.m./San Francisco State Nearly 300 are protesting, shutting down an intersection. Students are joined by picketers from the California Faculty Association. An SFSU student told SocialistWorker.org: "Corporations are making record profits this year, but they're putting the burden on our shoulders. That's what we're fighting against."
10:50 a.m./UC Berkeley From UC President Mark Yudof's statement on his Facebook page:
As my predecessor Clark Kerr often said, higher education should never be regarded as a cost, but rather as an investment. The university is an investment, not only in an individual's well being, but also in the public good. Public education drives a society's ability to progress and to prosper. This state's great public universities hold the key to our economic and social growth and are deserving of support by all Californians.
10:40 a.m./UC Berkeley Protesters are traveling across campus, interrupting classes and chanting ""Today we strike, tomorrow we go to school." Police are standing both standing on guard outside building and trailing protesters.
10:27 a.m./Oakland Some Oakland schools are holding mock disaster drillstoday to simulate the "disaster" that the state's education system has become.
10:12 a.m./UC Davis Twitter reports indicate that multiple fire alarms have been pulled in UC Davis buildings.
10:06 a.m./UC Berkeley
An almost-dramatic moment: A parallel group of protesters gathered at Sather Gate with "Impeach Barack Obama" signs, prompting the student protesters to chant ""You're not here for the same reason, we don't support you, get out." But, apparently, the groups were able to overcome their differences; hugs ensued.
9:55 a.m./UC San Diego
First picture out of UC San Diego:
9:51 a.m. Democracy Now! reports that higher education protests are also occurring in Johannesburg and Moscow.
9:45 a.m./UC Irvine In a statement released on the UC Regent (Live)blog, UC Irvine faculty announced that they're canceling classes today. The statement reads:
For those who have classes on March 4th, canceling or re-scheduling is not a decision taken lightly. However, given the statewide mobilization of teachers, professors and students, we believe that this one day could make a significant difference in the course of California education politics. For those of us who never miss a day of class, this one feels worth it.
9:09 a.m. A blog out of Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California offers a few neat interactive graphicsexplaining the role of student fees in higher education funding and how the situation in California came to be.
9:03 a.m./UC Berkeley
Protesters at Sather Gate:
8:45 a.m./UC Berkeley More than 80 people are gathered near campus, many waiting for buses to Sacramento to demonstrate at the Legislature.
8:42 a.m./UC Santa Cruz
100 protesters block off gates to campus:
8:09 a.m./UC Berkeley Approximately 65 protesters have linked arms and blocked Sather Gate, a prominent landmark on campus. They are chanting "no cuts, no fees, education must be free."
7:57 a.m./UC Santa Cruz A security advisory posted on UC Santa Cruz's web site advises people not to come to the campus for work or school. University police also report that a car windshield was smashed on campus.
Addendum: UC Regent Live(blog) points out an interesting fact about UCSC's campus:
UC Santa Cruz only has two entrances in and out of the campus. The west entrance and the north entrance. This is a well-known and unfortunate fact for administrators. Students have shut down both entrances, effectively shutting down the campus.
7:30 a.m/UC Berkeley The Daily Californian reports that union members started picketing on campus at 7 a.m.
5:00 a.m. PST/UC Santa Cruz: According to the student activist blog Occupy CA, students have blocked off multiple entrances to UC Santa Cruz's campus, closing it off to vehicles.

Rep. John Garamendi: Students in California March Today, I Stand with Them

Rep. John Garamendi: Students in California March Today, I Stand with Them:

Students at public universities in California are planning a series of demonstrations across the state protesting tuition hikes today. While a few isolated incidents in recent weeks have provided fodder for some in the media to dismiss their concerns, the students' cause is incredibly important. If we continue to yearly raise tuition in California far beyond inflation, we threaten to derail all that has enabled my home state to prosper in decades past.

It is no accident that the Golden State's Golden Age of economic innovation coincided with the establishment of and continued investment in the best public university system in the world. Fifty years ago, forward-thinking policymakers declared that California would be a state where higher education was the birthright of every qualified resident. Since then, we've become the world's great innovator in computers, biotechnology, space exploration, and clean technology.

Unfortunately, the vision that made California one of the largest and most diverse economies on the planet has fallen to the wayside in recent years, as Governor Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers have decided that it's politically easier to balance state budgets on the backs of students.

The result? Student fees have more than doubled at the University of California and California

Giles report update: Time to clear the record about Dec. 2 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Giles report update: Time to clear the record about Dec. 2 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

I am deeply troubled by one particular finding in Judge Giles report released last week about the violence last December at South Philadelphia High School. The report indicates that it could not substantiate a highly publicized allegation that Asian students had attacked a disabled African American student the day before.
It should be noted that this explosive allegation was first uttered by Superintendent Arlene Ackerman in her very first remarks on the violence at South Philadelphia High School, almost a week after the incident:

What began as an unwarranted off-campus attack on a disabled African American student, quickly escalated into a retaliatory multi-racial attack on primarily Chinese students at the school the following day.” (School Reform Commission hearing, Dec. 9, 2009)

Schools Matter: A much better way to help education budgets

A much better way to help education budgets Posted on LA Times blog: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/do-not-post-until-okd-by-jason-songbeth-shuster.html "Race to the Top was a way for the Obama administration to pressure school districts to take on reforms -- if they had the ...

Ravitch on Charter Schools From NPR: In 2005, former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch wrote, "We should thank President George W. Bush and Congress for passing the No Child Left Behind Act ... All this attention and focus is paying off for younger students, who ...

Watch John Tedesco Demonstrate How Racism Can Destroy Brain Cells And you will love the mom who argues that integrating poor and rich children in school is discriminatory. From My NC.com:

The Associated Press: Workers told to stay away from Calif. university

Workers told to stay away from Calif. university

(AP) – 1 hour ago

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Officials at the University of California, Santa Cruz are telling employees and others to stay away from the campus because of safety concerns involving protesters.

An advisory was posted Thursday on the school's Web site urging people to avoid campus as protesters upset about funding cuts block main entrances.

It says a windshield was reported smashed. Police began turning cars away from the campus' main entrance around 6 a.m.

The protest is part of nationwide demonstrations against cuts to education funding on what's being called the "March 4th National Day of Action for Public Education."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Millions of students, teachers and parents are expected to rally throughout California and many other states to protest deep cuts in funding for schools and universities.

Demonstrations, marches, teach-ins and walkouts are planned nationwide Thursday in what is being called the "March 4th National Day of Action for Public Education."

Events are being held at most of California's public colleges and universities to protest budget cuts that have led to canceled classes, faculty furloughs and steep fee hikes.

Students, teachers and school employees are converging in Sacramento to persuade

Big education rallies Thursday afternoon could cause traffic jams in Westwood, downtown L.A. | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Big education rallies Thursday afternoon could cause traffic jams in Westwood, downtown L.A.

March 4, 2010 | 11:28 am

Authorities are warning of possible traffic delays Thursday afternoon in Westwood and downtown Los Angeles because of planned protests against cuts in education spending.

A large demonstration is scheduled to start around noon on the UCLA campus, with speakers and activities set to last several hours. The protesters have a permit to march off campus at about 5:30 p.m. They are expected to march south along Westwood Boulevard and then cut through some side streets to Wilshire Boulevard and back to campus along Westwood Boulevard, according to an Los Angeles police advisory.

The permit is for 150 people, but the statement notes that officials "expect more." No formal street closures have been scheduled.

Separately, many busloads of students, faculty and staff from Southern California universities and high schools are scheduled to converge at about 4 p.m. at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles and then march about three blocks for a rally an hour later near the Ronald Reagan State Office Building on Spring Street.

Police say there will be intermittent street closures along Olive Street, Hill Street, Broadway and Spring Street and around Fourth and Fifth Streets, and they urge drivers to seek other routes, particularly Figueroa Street as a possible better route to freeway entrances.

Rallies, teach-ins and student walkouts are scheduled throughout California, and around the nation, in what organizers describe as a "Day of Action" in opposition to teacher layoffs, furlough days and rising student fees. Much of the day’s activities are organized by labor unions and student government organizations, which predict that thousands of students, faculty and staff will participate.

Events are planned in, among other spots, Sacramento, Long Beach and San Diego, as well as in New York City, Boston, Seattle and Baton Rouge, La.

The Daily Aztec - SDSU participates in statewide protest against budget cuts

SDSU participates in statewide protest against budget cuts

By Reem Nour, Senior Staff Writer

Published: Thursday, March 4, 2010

Updated: Thursday, March 4, 2010

Glenn Connelly / Photo Editor

San Diego State is one of many college campuses across California participating in a statewide “Day of Action” today, where students, faculty and workers will simultaneously hold demonstrations in defense of public education.

The March Fourth Committee at SDSU — which was created to plan and organize efforts for today — is calling students and faculty to walk out of their classes at 11:30 a.m. to meet at the Arts and Letters building. Protesters will march to the Open Air Theatre and hold a rally there at noon.

“Students are experiencing rally fatigue, but this time it’s different, it’s a statewide action,” March Fourth Committee member Crystal Sudano said. “We’re asking them (faculty) to walk with us, not just support us. It has to be uniformity; it has to be solidarity.”

Thousands expected to rally for education at State Capitol | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Local News

SACRAMENTO, CA -- Students from all over California were converging on the State Capitol Thursday morning for a "day of action" to bring attention to the importance of education funding. List of planned rallies around Sacramento Valley

Organizers called this an historic event because students from kindergarten to college will be showing up to send a message of solidarity.

Kevin Wehr, a professor of sociology organizing the effort at Sacramento State University, said they are protesting the budget cuts to education over the past several years and sending a message to lawmakers that they're expecting the money that's been promised for the 2010 budget year.

Wehr, plus other faculty members and students, have been making signs and handing out t-shirts. They're expecting 500 to 600 people from their campus to show up.

One of them is 5th year student Robert Graham, who studies government. He's from a lower-middle class background and his parents just lost their jobs and their home. Without help from his family, he says he had to get two jobs and is $40,000 in debt.

"Because I hear no one can get jobs right now with their degrees, it's horrible," said Graham. "I'm about to get a degree, but I know people that have degrees who are making minimum wage."

Graham said he has some faith that lawmakers will hear their message. He was encouraged by recent promises to protect education funding, but he wants students to join the protest to keep the message on the top of lawmakers' minds.

Join local moms who are talking about their kids' schools on MomsLikeMe.

Wehr said he realizes the state's budget mess, but says it's important to remember education is important when it come training the tax base, and that higher education can be used as a law enforcement tool by keeping people out of prison in the first place.

Latest News and Comment from Education