On Wednesday the California State University (CSU) trustees voted to raise student fees for the 2012 school year by 9 percent. Cal State spokesperson Claudia Keith told the Sacramento Bee that this would increase the cost of going to a CSU by $498 per year.
The trustees reconvened their meeting in a different room after there was an outburst of students in the normal meeting room at the CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed’s office in Long Beach. CSU spokesperson Erik Fallis told the Bee that protesters broke a glass door, injuring three police officers. One of the officers was transported for medical care, he said.
According to Fallis, four people were arrested — a Cal State Long Beach student and two San Diego State students. Fallis did not identify the fourth person, but said he was arrested for breaking the glass door.
The California Faculty Association — a union that represents Cal State professors — released a statement reported, “Police pepped sprayed the front door of Chancellor Reed’s headquarters, where the trustees were meeting to push the students out. Faculty members are trying to leave the building now as riot police are marching toward the protest.”
ReFund California, a group backed by several large labor unions pledged to protest at Wednesday’s meeting. Before the outburst, members of the group spoke, calling on CSU leaders to support higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy to fund public education and other services that have been reduced because of the state budget crisis.
– Angela Swartz
