Northbay Uprising - Information for the liberated zones of the San Pablo Bay

2011-11-17 "CSU trustees raise tuition 9% as students protest" by Nanette Asimov from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2011/11/17/MN2L1M001V.DTL]
California State University trustees raised tuition by 9 percent Wednesday, even as CSU police used pepper spray and clashed violently with protesters who had been escorted from the system's Long Beach headquarters.
A glass door shattered when protesters tried to get back into the building, and police inside pushed back. One officer was sent to the hospital, and four protesters, including three CSU students, were arrested, CSU officials said.
The trustees raised tuition for the second time this year, voting 9-6 for the increase. They made the decision in a room by themselves after exiting an auditorium where protesters from the ReFund California Coalition - a grouping of students, labor, activists and others aligned with the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement - had interrupted proceedings.
CSU spokeswoman Claudia Keith said state law lets public officials conduct business outside of a main meeting room, as long as nondisruptive members of the public can attend.
 But Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a trustee, called the manner of voting alarming and said the decision should be canceled and taken up again at a special meeting next month.
 "This issue is simply too important to not allow for a full and thorough public discussion," he said.
State budget crisis
The trustees raised tuition in the face of an ongoing budget crisis in the state.
 This year, lawmakers reduced the university's budget by $650 million, leaving CSU with just above $2 billion for 2011-12. If state revenues fall short as expected, an additional cut of up to $100 million would be triggered.
The tuition hike will take effect next fall and add about $500 to each student's bill.
The price of a year at CSU has risen steadily for years. Next fall, basic tuition will be $5,970. With a mandatory fee averaging $1,047 across the 23-campus system, the price will stand at $7,017. That's more than triple what it cost in 2002-03.
Students, faculty and some trustees urged board members not to "use students as an ATM," noting that the Legislature won't fully fund the university as long as students' wallets are open to them.
That argument failed to persuade the trustees.
"We have an institution to run here, and we have an obligation to run it well," said Trustee Roberta Achtenberg, who voted for the increase.
Because she also sits on the board of the Bank of San Francisco, Achtenberg has been identified by protesters as among the "1 percent" who should make banks and corporations pay more in taxes to help public education. Finance Committee Chairman Bill Hauck, who also serves on the board of Golden Pacific Bancorp, is among those asked to sign a pledge to get banks to pay more.
Six trustees voted against raising tuition: Newsom, Bernadette Cheyne, Steven Glazer, Tom Torlakson, Melinda Guzman and Henry Mendoza.
A change of mind
The tuition proposal originally included a promise to rescind it if the state came through with at least $138 million more for CSU - the amount the tuition increase will bring in. Instead, trustees rescinded that provision.
In all, they voted to request an additional $471 million from the state for next year.
Students who had traveled from across California to attend the meeting said they were angry that the trustees did not extend the public comment time and excluded many from entering the auditorium at all. Those inside eventually disrupted the meeting, and police cleared the room.
As the trustees met by themselves, protesters clashed with police outside.
Kyle Arnone, a doctoral student from UCLA who attended the meeting to urge the CSU trustees to sign the protesters' pledge, said he saw police use pepper spray on protesters. CSU officials confirmed it was used.
Arnone called the tuition increase "basically a tax on students. It is a tax - but it doesn't go through the normal legislative process."