Students Block UC Santa Cruz Entrances To Protest Tuition Hikes
SANTA CRUZ (CBS SF) -- Student protesters shut down the University of California, Santa Cruz campus Thursday over possible tuition hikes and nationwide police violence
Demonstrators blocked both entrances to the campus starting at 4:30 a.m. in another day of week long protests.
The campus remains open, but individuals are advised to not try to get onto campus.
The UC system has promised to raise tuition if they don't get enough money from the state.
Students hope this shut down will make it clear to the UC Regents how they feel about the higher costs.
"It's corruption," said student Chris Hables Gray. "But we see it through all levels of society the institutions are taking more for themselves and not giving back to the community that originally started them."
University spokesman Scott Hernadez-Jason said it's a major disruption to campus.
"As a university, we have research to conduct, we have classes to teach," he said. "People live on campus and have appointments to try to get to, childcare, facilities that they need to get their kids to so, you know that this sort of ripples from this sort of event and are felt far beyond just the classroom.
Thursday's shut down comes just a couple of days after protesters attempted to block traffic on the Fishhook, the busy Santa Cruz interchange where Highway 17 and Highway 1 connect. Six people were arrested as a result.
