The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
Thousands of UC students marched through downtown Berkeley and the area around campus this afternoon, staging a sit-down protest and blocking traffic as part of a demonstration against cuts to the university budget and proposed fee increases.
The unscheduled march started at the end of a two-hour rally on Sproul Plaza attended by an estimated 5,000 students, professors and other university employees. The protesters, shoulder to shoulder and chanting "Education should be free. No cuts, no fees," marched through campus, passing by UC Chancellor Robert Birgeneau's office, and then went off campus to Shattuck Avenue, ultimately blocking all lanes of traffic for two block.
Learning about Marx and Lenin is getting expensive:
UC's governing board of regents is also expected to raise next year's tuition to $10,302, not including housing. The 45 percent increase over last year's tuition of $7,126 is also intended to close the university's budget gap, but many students say it will put a UC education out of their reach.
45% in one year!
