The University of California at San Diego has reached a settlement with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education after an investigation of racial-harassment complaints on the campus.

The complaints stemmed from several incidents, including public displays of hanging nooses and a Ku Klux Klan-style hood, that began last year and seemed to take aim at African-American students. The incidents prompted student protests, and the president of the University of California system, Mark G. Yudof, responded to the apparent racism on his Facebook page. “It has no place in civilized society, and it will not be tolerated—not on this particular campus, not on any University of California campus,” he wrote.

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A video showing an officer methodically spraying pepper spray in the faces of seated protesters has created an uproar. While some say the incident represents a wider problem with the way police confront protesters, Santa Clara University professor (and founding editor of Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor) Marc Bousquet argues that misses the point.

Nov. 18, 2011: letter from English professor Nathan Brown to Chancellor Katehi:

http://bicyclebarricade.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/open-letter-to-chancellor-linda-p-b-katehi/

Nov. 18, 2011: UC Davis students pepper sprayed:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nov. 9, 2011: police club UC Berkeley professors and students:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nov. 9, 2011: UC Berkeley students drive out police:

Click here to view the embedded video.

UC Berkeley professor on her arrest:

http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-i-got-arrested-with-occupy-cal-and.html

The campus could save about $75 million a year by streamlining purchases, concentrating job duties and laying off “redundant” managers, according to consultants hired last fall to help the school become a leaner operation

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/12/BAIH1CTI5M.DTL#ixzz0kzxgNagR

Hundreds of thousands of students and teachers took part in protests Thursday as part of the National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. Much of the day’s focus was on the university and state college campuses of California, where students face a 32 percent tuition hike. Thousands of California students staged a one-day strike and took part in rallies from San Diego to Sacramento to Humboldt County. Actions were held in at least thirty other states, including here in New York, where protesters rallied outside the offices of Governor David Paterson. It was the largest day of coordinated student protest in years.

BERKELEY, CALIF. — In an unprecedented day of national protest across all sectors of education, the epicenter proved to be this college town where the seeds of student activism were sown more than 40 years ago.

With the smell of burning sage and the occasional hint of weed in the air, an impassioned throng of students from the University of California’s Berkeley campus marched to Oakland (where the university system’s headquarters are located) in opposition of budget cuts and tuition hikes they say are crippling one of the nation’s premier public institutions.

The budget crisis afflicting California State University could not have come at a worse time for Berenice Vite and Rafael Curiel, whose son Alonso is a sophomore at Cal State Long Beach. As the university was imposing a 32% student fee hike this year, Curiel underwent two shoulder surgeries and lost his job at a medical equipment firm.

Protesters at the University of California at Berkeley smashed windows and threw torches at the home of the chancellor, Robert J. Birgeneau, late on Friday night, marking a violent turn for student protests that have roiled campuses around the state.

A group of 40 to 75 protesters stormed the grounds of Mr. Birgeneau’s house on the campus at about 11 p.m., yelling “No justice, no peace,” police officials said

Even in this deficit-riddled state, the sheer size of the University of California’s tuition increase last week was enough to spark a collective wave of anger and disbelief among many students, escalating protests that have been simmering throughout the system for months.

Protesters occupied buildings on four campuses to protest the higher tuition, drawing large crowds and causing hundreds of classes to be canceled. At Berkeley, a group of 40 students and their supporters barricaded themselves inside a major academic building for 11 hours, and top university officials were sent into the building as crack negotiators to end the standoff.

SANTA CRUZ – More than 100 students occupied the UC Santa Cruz Science and Engineering Library Friday night in protest of budget cuts and the decision to close the library at 5 p.m. on Fridays and all day Saturdays.
According to student protester Brian Glasscock, the protesters had permission from library administration to do the overnight sit-in. As students flo

BERKELEY, Calif. — Faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, are crying foul about the millions of dollars in subsidies directed to the school’s athletic department.
The campus Academic Senate on Thursday voted 91-68 in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling for an end to campus support of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and requiring a plan for paying back loans already made.

The 10/24 conference endorsed the U of California and California State U strike and mobilization on Nov. 17th– 20th and decided to call for statewide solidarity actions on these days.

In addition, Conference participants also called for a “Strike and Day of Action that is inclusive of all different tactics, including: walkouts, rallies, march to Sacramento, teach ins, occupations, and all other forms of protests chosen by schools and organizations.”

CALL: March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education

On October 24, 2009 more than 800 students, workers, and teachers converged at UC Berkeley at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education. This massive meeting brought together representatives from over 100 different schools, unions, and organizations from all across California and from all sectors of public education – Pre K-12, Adult Education, CC, CSU and UC – to “decide on a statewide action plan capable of winning this struggle, which will define the future of public education in this state, particularly for the working class and communities of color.”

After hours of open collective discussion, the conference democratically voted, as its principal decision, to call for a statewide Strike and Day of Action on March 4, 2010. The conference decided that all schools, unions and organizations are free to choose their specific demands and tactics – such as strikes, walkouts, march to Sacramento, rallies, occupations, sit-ins, teach-ins, etc. – for March 4, as well as the duration of such actions.
We refuse to let those in power continue to pit us against each other. If we unite, we have the power to shut down business-as-usual and to force those in power to grant our demands. Building a powerful movement to defend public education will, in turn, advance the struggle in defense of all public-sector workers and services.

We call on all students, workers, teachers, parents, and their organizations across the state to endorse this call and massively mobilize and organize for the Strike and Day of Action on March 4.

Let’s make this an historic turning point in the struggle against the cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and educational segregation in California.

To endorse this call and to receive more information, please contact march4strikeanddayofaction@gmail.com and consult www.savecapubliceducation.org

On October 21, 2009 – hundreds of students at Fresno State walked out of their classrooms and held a rally at the university’s Peace Garden to protest the massive cuts to higher education and the California State University system. Students voiced their concerns with the unprecedented tuition increases, canceled classes, furloughed faculty and staff, and reduced enrollment opportunities. They then took their message to the sidewalks and streets of the campus calling out to students, faculty, and staff to take a stand and join the walk out. Many did. By the time the march reached Shaw and Cedar Avenues, all four street corners were overflowing with students speaking out on behalf of themselves and the future of higher education in the state. “I hope that this walkout will increase community awareness that the budget cuts to the CSU are delaying our graduations, forcing would-be students out, and creating a precedent that “its ok” to cut education when really funding education gives back in more ways than one,” explained Whitney Thompson, a women’s studies major at Fresno State and a spokesperson for Students for Quality Education, the organization spearheading the event. At the end of the march, the students presented Dr. Welty with a list of demands, which Welty indicated he would address at a later meeting.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday vetoed a bill that would have barred most salary increases and bonuses for executives at the University of California and California State University systems in bad budget years, such as this one. In his veto message, the governor criticized the measure as too broad and intrusive. “A blanket prohibition limiting the flexibility for the UC and CSU to compete, both nationally and internationally, in attracting and retaining high level personnel does a disservice to those students seeking the kind of quality education that our higher education segments offer. The regents and the trustees should be prudent in managing their systems, given the difficult fiscal crisis we face as a state, but it is unnecessary for the state to micromanage their operations.” The veto drew a sharp response from Sen. Leland Yee, sponsor of the bill and a leading legislative voice for closer oversight of the university systems. Yee noted that well compensated executives have continued to receive bonuses and raises even as the university systems face unprecedented budget cuts. “It is deeply disappointing that the governor wants to ensure top executives live high on the hog while students suffer,” Yee said. “The governor’s veto is a slap in the face to all UC and CSU students and the system’s low wage workers. His veto protects the UC and CSU administration’s egregious executive

During last week’s massive 10-campus walkout, several dozen students and workers occupied the Graduate Student Commons at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), issuing statements frankly acknowledging their intention to escalate the conflict: “Occupation is a tactic for escalating struggles,” they note at their website, “We must face the fact that the time for pointless negotiations is over.”

Rallies, teach-ins and class walkouts were held Thursday at University of California campuses, including UC Riverside, to draw attention to state cuts to higher education.

Hundreds of UC Riverside students, faculty, staff, union leaders and alumni gathered to voice anger over decisions earlier this year to increase student fees, decrease enrollment, cut class offerings and lower employee pay.

Hundreds of University of California employees, including both faculty and hourly employees, have vowed a work stoppage today (Thursday) to protest low pay for campus workers and higher fees for students.

And, on a deeper level, many of the activists say they’re fighting the privatization of the public university system and the corporate values which, they say, favor profits over people.

Amid shouts of “Whose university? Our university!” and “Lay off Yudof!” thousands of protesters demonstrated on the UC Berkeley campus yesterday against the university administration’s handling of the budget crisis.