Source: RT.com - Top News
Title: University of California campus erupts in riots
http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-03-03/california-berkeley-tuition-riot.html/print
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Date: 03 March, 2010, 00:49
Violence breaks out as students at the flagship school of the University of California protest stiff tuition hikes.
Students at the University of California’s flagship Berkeley campus took to the streets on Friday night, vandalizing university buildings, burning trash cans and clashing with police in the latest expression of frustration over cuts to the educational budget in California.
In November, the University of California Board of Regents voted to raise tuition by 32 percent. At the same time, professors were asked to take pay cuts or be furloughed, classes were eliminated and class size increased. Protests erupted across the University of California system, particularly at UC Davis and UCLA.
The first tuition hikes took place in January, and since then tensions have been on the rise.
“Nobody planned what happened, but anger erupts when it has been building for so long. That’s what happens,” said Callie Maidhof, a student activist at UC Berkeley. “[The regents] are effectively closing off the campus, making it less accessible, and those already here are getting less out of their education.”
The University of California system, made up of 10 campuses with nearly 160,000 students, has long been the envy of other states. For many years, UC has provided a low-cost, world-class education, and scholars and politicians alike have noted the role of the UC schools in building California’s middle class. In recent years, however, the system has been battered by the state’s ongoing budget crisis.
California, which has the sixth largest economy in the world, has been hard hit by the economic crisis. Rising unemployment has caused a drop in the state’s income tax revenues and lawmakers have been reluctant to raise taxes, leaving the state government with little choice except to make severe budget cuts.
Schools across the state are planning mass protests on March 4 to protest the $17 billion in cuts to education budgets expected over the next two years.
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2 comments:
I was wondering why whomever is in charge of the tuition hikes all across the country haven't been dragged upto Capitol Hill and had to exlpain themselves, seems everybody else has to.
What is worse is the CAFR reports show that southern California alone has over 4 billion in investments of unrestricted funds, so they are not broke.
The way they treat 'broke' is by basing it on Tax revenues. If the tax revenues exceed the expenses, they consider themselves broke, however, they do NOT INCLUDE THOSE INVESTMENTS IN THEIR BUDGET PROJECTS thereby misleading the public as to their true financial condition.
Guess who makes tons of money off those investments??? WALL STREET BROKERAGE HOUSES that handle the trades. Its a fraud and a crime what is going on in all our states. There are trillions of dollars of tax payer money out there in various investment accounts while all the states are screaming broke and lying about it which is fraud.
If they go to bancruptcy court, we have to bring in the investments and tell the court not to award the bancruptcy to them. They are trying to cause choas and drama and upheavel so we will allow them to regionalize us. Its clever, but now transparent.
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