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UC walkout in Berkley becomes protest march of thousands

by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | September 25, 2009 at 03:43 pm

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San Francisco, California, Sep 24, 2009

Classes cancelled as walkout turns to protest march of thousands

A walkout at the University of California Thursday erupted into a protest march, press say. After a 2 hour walkout at Sproul Plaza, the nearly 5,000 protesters - including students, faculty, and workers - began a march which extended blocks and backlogged traffic.

In a show of rising frustration and widespread and simmering disapproval over worker layoffs, reduced courses, rising fees, and imposed unpaid furloughs for nonunionized workers, the scheduled walkout was transformed into a Berkley protest march.

Tuition was expected to top $10, 000 next fall, which will make it impossible for many students to continue their education. It has been argued by student activists that the point of state universities are to allow a free or affordable education to all.

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.

Turning up Bancroft Avenue, they marched to Telegraph Avenue, where they staged a sit-in at the entrance to the campus. By 3:30 p.m., the crowd had thinned to a few hundred,

Earlier, Dan Mogulof, a Cal spokesman said the crowd at the Sproul Plaza rally was the largest in recent memory.

Shannon Steen, of Save UC, a group formed two weeks ago to protest cuts at the statewide system, called the turnout extraordinary.

"This far exceeds anything we thought would happen," she said. "This is an enormous success for the solidarity of the campus."

The protests are part of a systemwide walkout, which caused many classes to be canceled at UC and other campuses.