UC Santa Cruz Protest Draws Nearly 1,000 Students
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By noon, a large rally formed with students yelling "Student Power!" (YouTube)
Student protests over increased tuition and budget cuts forced UC Santa Cruz to shut down its campus Thursday.
Student-led demonstrations officially began with a 9 a.m. rally that closed the main entrance to campus at Bay and High Streets.
"They just have enough bodies, enough people standing there in the intersections that nobody can go anywhere," said UC Santa Cruz Career Center director Barbara Silverthorne.
An estimated 1,000 students were involved with the on-campus protest, Silverthorne said.
UC Santa Cruz employees were urged not to come to campus this morning through an emergency phone hotline. A follow-up announcement in the afternoon confirmed that protests had not subsided and employees should stay home.
Certain staff members were met with resistance while attempting to enter campus during the Thursday protests.
"Some staff who were going in said that they felt intimidated because the protesters were taking photographs of them...and photographing their license number," Silverthorne said. "And they were afraid that their car might be targeted later."
Students have been organizing the protest for weeks by handing out pamphlets and getting people to pledge support for the boycott. The push for support has been accompanied by marches around campus and campaigns to hold classes off campus.
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