The quad was lively on Tuesday as students and faculty gathered for the Take Back Your Tuition protest. Although the chants and picket signs were entertaining (one sign read “Napolitano don’t want none unless you got funds, hun”), the highlight of the event was when student and faculty leaders spoke passionately about the proposal to increase tuition by 5% each year. When I say passionately, I mean angrily. But hey, I’d be angry too if I was being forced into debt. Oh wait…I am!
That’s exactly the point one of the speakers, Mariah Kala Watson, was trying to make when she said “we can’t pursue the jobs that we want- fulfill our dreams- because we can’t afford to chase them!” Tuition hikes aren’t just inconveniencing a few students, we all have things hanging in the balance- not just our money, but also our futures.
Of course, undergraduate students aren’t the only ones taking punches. Claire White of the National Lawyers Guild reminded the crowd that graduate students are also being affected. “I will be paying $54,000 per year times three. Tell me how I can go out and fight for the poor. Tell me how I can go out and represent homeless veterans, student activists, incarcerated people.” Even though White made it personal, she wasn’t trying to evoke sympathy for herself. She was urging us to fight for others, not just ourselves.
Other speakers like ASUCD President Armando Figueroa addressed the regents, the root of the problem. “They continue to have these conversations without our consent… they’ve done nothing but blatantly ignore the students.” He gave UC President Janet Napolitano special attention, saying, “she’s here to make sure these conversations are subdued and to cover her own ass.” For me, and hopefully many others, Figueroa’s speech was a wakeup call. The UC regents are not our representatives. They are politicians doing what politicians do best- looking out for themselves.
Thankfully, UC students don’t have to feel completely abandoned. UC-AFT President John Rundin assured protestors that his union, which represents lecturers and librarians, “stands firmly behind the principle of affordable education for all students.” The question is, how do we practice that principle if regents continue to give us the cold shoulder? As many of the speakers suggested, marching around campus and posting on social media can be very effective. These tactics won’t make tuition costs disappear, but they’ll definitely show the regents how disgusted we are by their actions.