Viral video spreads Occupy message beyond college campuses

More than 1.3 million people have watched the UC Davis web video.

Chris Wong saw it unfold just hours before millions saw it on the internet: A police officer dousing students with pepper spray, a scene recorded with smart phones and turned into a viral web video that has brought national attention and energized the Occupy movement on college campuses.

Wong, a senior at the University of California (UC) Davis, was on the outskirts of the human chain formed by students who has set up tents on the campus quad in protest of state tuition hikes. Watching his peers sprayed at point blank range with the chemical gas was harrowing, he said, but broadcasting web video of the incident could be a boon for the movement, which has connections to the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests.

“In a strange way, [the police] did us a big favor,” said Wong, whose face was dotted with pepper spray, while students forming the human chain “looked like their faces had been painted.” “It’s good for waking people up to what’s happening on the ground. … Some people choose to ignore it and say it won’t accomplish anything, but we’ve seen an exponential surge in support [since the video went viral]. It served as a good platform for us.”…Read More

Anne Hathaway supports students at Occupy Wall Street

Thursday afternoon, protestors marched toward Union Square in New York City, and a famous face was among them, the Huffington Post reports. Holding up a sign showing support for students, Anne Hathaway stood among the crowds in a dark hoodie and sunglasses. At least 175 people were arrested for blocking streets near the New York Stock Exchange. Hathaway has long been an advocate for education, and urges young people to “make their voices heard” through The Creative Coalition, a social and political advocacy organization aimed at educating arts community leaders on arts advocacy and public education…

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Social media fuels Occupy Colleges movement

More than 5,000 students participated in walkouts Oct. 5.

Within a week of launching Occupy Colleges, a group in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protests, more than 100 U.S. campuses had offshoots of the national movement. That would have been impossible, organizers said, without Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook groups and Twitter accounts have cropped up across higher education since the beginning of October, when Occupy Colleges launched its website and invited schools of every size to join the burgeoning protests against corporate excesses, including rising tuition and growing student loan debt that leaves many graduates with hefty monthly payments in a stagnant job market.

Student organizers said they expected students at 140 campuses – from community colleges to research universities – to launch protests Oct. 13, a week after more than 5,000 students from 80 schools participated in a walkout as Occupy Wall Street continued its protests at Zuccotti Park in New York City.…Read More

‘Occupy Colleges’ movement urges students to walk out of class

For 19 days now, the group “Occupy Wall Street” has gathered in Manhattan’s Financial District to protest corporate greed and corruption, reports the Washington Post. It calls itself a leaderless resistance movement that was modeled after the Tahrir Square protests in Egypt and is gaining numbers through social media. On Wednesday, college students were encouraged to join. The group Occupy Colleges was asking students to walk out of their classes at noon to protest on campus or join a local movement such as Occupy Wall Street or Occupy LA…

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