Photo courtesy from the Daily Bruin.
On Thursday night, November 20th, UCLA’s traditional bonfire was cancelled due to protestors parading around the artsy stack of wood which was to be set on fire. As for the reason for the protest? The tuition hike increase proposal that was approved earlier within the day. According to UC President Janet Napolitano, the purpose for the tuition increase is due to the drop in state funding, which is at its lowest in more than thirty years. However, with the raise in tuition prices, it has been looked that financial aid is set to increase as well.
During the rally, many students were against the protesters, booing them and yelling at them to leave the scene. None of the student performers addressed the student protestors or their cause. However, when UCLA’s football coach Jim Mora came up onto the stage, he took a stab at the students, first announcing the cancellation of the bonfire due to “circumstances beyond our control” before yelling to the crowd, “We don’t need a friggin’ fire to get it f*cking turned up!” This left the student body in cheering the rally on.
However, this did not discourage the students who kept on protesting. Still walking in circles, some students from the crowd began to join the movement while others kept on verbally assaulting one another. As the rally was coming to a close, students started to chant “light that fire” in hopes of getting rid of the protestors. However, school officials and police could not remove them because they had a right to have their freedom of speech on campus, which is in accordance to the First Amendment found in the Bill of Rights.
The lighting of the bonfire tradition has been cancelled once before, due to bad weather. Even though this upset a portion of the student body, the protesters made their voice made and stated their awareness across the UCLA campus.