#united4edu

(Photo: @NYU4OWS http://pic.twitter.com/DkgIa96L) "Hundreds of students protested Monday as the City University of New York's Board of Trustees voted to raise tuition by $300 annually for a 31 percent increase over four years. 

Dozens of demonstrators from Students United for a Free CUNY gathered at Madison Square Park and marched over to Baruch College, where the board met for a vote.

The demonstrators chanted and held signs as they marched around the school. There were at least three arrests, police said. The charges were not immediately clear.

The board approved the hikes by a vote of 15 to 1. By 2015, undergraduate students will pay $6,330 a year under the plan, compared with $4,830 in 2010. Community-college students also pay more.

The university says it has faced surging enrollment amid millions in budget cuts, but students argue administrators should look elsewhere to balance the budget.

Baruch decided to reschedule afternoon classes and limit student access during the board meeting to avoid a repeat of a Nov. 21 incident where 15 students were arrested during a protest.     

"The chants of University of California (UC) students disrupted the UC Board of Regents teleconference meeting today at UCLA and other UC campuses, forcing board members to relocate to different meeting rooms. About 60 students from several campuses gathered in UCLA's Bruin Plaza to listen to the broadcasted teleconference and, of course, to protest.

The teleconference, which was postponed earlier this month due to threats of significant violence and vandalism, was conducted by UCLA, UC Davis, UC Merced and UC San Francisco-Mission Bay. Board of Regents chairman Sherry Lansing and UC President Mark Yudof commenced the meeting by advocating free speech and criticizing the use of force at UC Davis.

Security was high at all campuses for the meeting, and the largest group of regents - 10 board members and 4 chancellors - gathered at UCLA. A public comment period was scheduled to allow students to speak their minds and was extended to one hour due to the overflow of voices. During this time, student protesters "vocally disrupted" the meeting at multiple locations, according to UCLA Newsroom. L.A. Now noted that "student speakers expressed deep frustration over rising tuition costs and the recent pepper spraying of nonviolent protesters at UC Davis by campus police."

After the regents relocated to another room at UCLA, approximately 20 students, who dubbed themselves "The People's Regents," stayed in the original meeting room "discussing issues such as tuition, chanting protest messages and negotiating with UCLA student affairs representatives," reports UCLA Newsroom. One UCLA grad student, Whitney Richards-Calathes, stood outside the site of the meeting since approximately midnight. She told the UCLA Newsroom, "Seeing several police in riot gear here has created a visual that is incredibly symbolic of what has become of the system. Our aim is to be heard while being nonviolent and peaceful, but what are their intentions?" Today's meeting wrapped before 2pm with an approved proposal to request additional state funding for the 10-campus system in order to avoid yet another tuition bump in 2012. Yudof also announced that a university task force will review an investigation of the November 18 pepper spray incident at UC Davis. Former L.A. Police Chief William Bratton will lead the investigation.

"This week, California state budget analysts will propose $2.5 billion in new “trigger cuts” to public education. UC’s president has proposed more job cuts and up to 81% in tuition hikes to cover the shortfall. This comes in the wake of $17 billion in cuts to education since 2009 that have contributed to:

The layoffs of thousands of teachers and workers and cuts to educational and student services.

A 300 % increase in tuition at public universities in the last 10 years.

Hundreds of thousands of students – particularly students of color – having to drop out or delay education plans.

Soaring debt for students and their parents.

This is why we call for a Week of Mass Actions starting Nov. 9th at our campus and sites to raise awareness about the crisis of education and the need to raise taxes on the wealthy and Wall Street, as well as to send a clear message to the UC and CSUs administrations.

And we commit to mobilize our base and membership to protest the UC Regents and CSU Trustees meetings Nov 15th-17th to demand that they reverse their decisions.

All day Wed. Nov. 9th – Actions on UC, CSU, and Community College Campuses throughout the state.

10 am, Wed. Nov. 16th— Regional Convergence at the CSU Trustees and UC Regents Meetings in Long Beach and at UCSF Mission bay.

Local actions TBA throughout the week.