Source: Committee on Finance agenda
More than 20 classes were cancelled, rescheduled or moved off-campus to observe the strike, Berkeley law students and staff said.
Daniela Urban, a first-year at Berkeley who joined the protesters Wednesday, said she had only learned over the weekend about how big an increase was being prepared.
“We think with such a significant increase in fees that we should be part of the discussion,” she said. “At some point we have to take a stand — it’s a public university and it should be affordable.”
Not all Berkeley law students saw eye-to-eye, though. On the Nuts & Boalts blog, one of many commenters questioned what the protesters hoped to accomplish. “What the hell is a strike going to achieve for law students? The university is already in the red, how is disrupting operations going to improve the situation. If the strikers had a concrete plan (that they all agreed to) I could see there being some reason behind the protests. Otherwise it’s just a lot of sound and fury.”
Berkeley law dean Christopher Edley did not return e-mails and a phone call Wednesday.
The steepest year-on-year increase for residents comes at Berkeley — where they will pay $31,355 in 2010-11 for professional degree fees alone, or about $5,700 more than this year. At Davis, residents will see an increase of nearly $5,200, to $28,599. At both UC-Irvine and UCLA, those same fees will go up by about $2,400, to $27,225.
Also, law students at all four schools will pay an extra $579 in the upcoming spring semester as part of a mid-year education fee increase approved Wednesday.
For nonresidents, who already pay thousands in tuition that residents don’t have to, the professional degree fee increases wouldn’t be quite as big: Berkeley’s would go up by nearly $1,500, to $27,110; Davis’ by just over $3,000, to $25,186; and UC-Irvine and UCLA’s by about $1,800, to $25,003.
Thomas Frampton, another first-year at Berkeley who also joined the protesters, estimated that about 75 law students marched down Bancroft Way toward Sproul Plaza, where the main strike was assembling at noon. He said there was a depressing quality to the gathering, with some holding up signs in the shape of tombstones. “It feels exciting, but there’s this real sense of trepidation about what’s happening right now and where the regents are taking us.”
