Student protesters at the University of California, Santa Cruz, shut down most of the campus Thursday as part of statewide demonstrations against budget cuts to higher education, the Associated Press reports. Hundreds of students blocked all entrances to the coastal campus and prevented vehicles from entering, said Josh Brahinsky, a graduate student and union representative who helped organize the action. The protest at Santa Cruz is part of demonstrations being held by college students at about 30 campuses across California and was scheduled to coincide with state budget negotiations, organizers said. Rallies, marches, teach-ins and walkouts to call on lawmakers to restore funding to higher education were also planned…
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At campus rally, eMails speak louder than chants
This year, protesters at UC Santa Cruz have used marches, performance art, and poems to express their objections to successive budget cuts. But they can never be sure if their chants of “No More Cuts” reach the ears of the budget-makers in Sacramento.
So, on May 19, as part of a statewide campaign by Stand Up California, an advocacy group championing the tax extensions Gov. Jerry Brown is asking for to help balance the budget, rally organizers took a high-tech approach.
Those in attendance were invited to use laptops set up in UCSC’s Quarry Plaza to eMail state legislators.…Read More