UCSC Coalition Rallies Against Budget Cuts, Fee Hikes and Layoffs

On May 28th, students, staff, workers, and faculty rallied at the base of the UC Santa Cruz campus to protest the UC administration's decision to cut Community Studies department staff, Latin American Latina/o Studies professors, and director positions at the American Indian Resource Center and the Women's Center. The rally was organized by the New UC, a coalition that seeks to save quality of education in the UC from regressive, belt-tightening attacks, to ensure universal access to education, and to promote freedom of thought in the university.

Since May 26th, members of the Student of Color Collective (SOCC) have been on a hunger strike at the base of campus to protest budget cuts to underserved communities. In addition to the hunger strike and rally at the base of campus, residents of UCSC's Family Student Housing (FSH) held a demonstration with tents to protest inadequate living conditions and a rent hike.

While these cuts are seen as part of a larger budget crisis in California, organizers with the New UC say that the execution of budget reductions at UCSC and across the UC system are unjust, undemocratic, and discriminatory. In solidarity and support of the hunger strikers and their demands, the New UC is calling for those concerned by recent budget cuts to protest, declaring "No Cuts, No Hikes, No Layoffs."

For more information, including lists of demands, see:

UCSC Students Hunger Strike
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/24/18597741.php

UCSC coalition says No Cuts, No Hikes, No Layoffs
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/28/18598828.php

And from 2006, check out:

The Need for Ethnic Studies
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/02/27/18051651.php

UCSC Charged With Disadvantaging Students, Faculty and Workers of Color
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/06/07/18272891.php

-

Crossposted at Indybay.org.