On Activism and Student Agency

On Wednesday, Nov. 19, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and got on a bus to San Francisco with myriad students at 5 a.m. We arrived at UCSF soon after, only to be greeted with police barricades and officers guarding the entrances to the building where the UC Regents would meet to vote on tuition hikes. We were immediately and preemptively being shut out, silenced, and flouted.

The deep, stomach-turning, throat-clenching frustration I experienced was a feeling to remember. Students from UC campuses across California gathered to make a statement against their subdual and were immediately muzzled and suppressed. The UC Regents, a group of individuals meant to make decisions on behalf of and as a representative of the students, willfully looked at the students linking arms in protest of their intended vote with unsympathetic gazes, cold faces, and an air of superiority. The police, their guardians for the day, responded by shoving, pushing, and even punching us in response—which of course led to a media representation of the protest as “violent,” as if the students had initiated said violence. In our rush toward the building, fellow Cal student Jeff Noven was unjustly arrested on suspicion of vandalism and inciting a riot after police and students struggled on either side of a locked door. The Regents voted, despite all our efforts, in favor of the tuition hikes. I felt snubbed, crushed, and insignificant.

However, that feeling quickly passed. The movement was not over, but just beginning. Over 200 people gathered at Wheeler Hall after a General Assembly on Sproul, inhabiting the space, making plans, and discussing actions all night. Three demands were drafted: no tuition hikes, transparency of the UC budget under AB94, and the dropping of Noven’s charges. Until the demands were met, we stated, we would continue to hold the space.

Since then, we have held daily general assemblies, teach-ins, rallies, and film screenings. We have created open working groups for coordination of the different aspects of our movement, and continued to mobilize student support. We have created a Twitter, website, and Facebook, as well as kept up coordination with other UCs. We have received enormous donations of food, supplies, and funds, as well as offers by professors, organizers, and organizations to speak or present work here at Wheeler Commons. We have received letters of solidarity from students in Egypt, Australia, Syracuse University, the Free Speech Movement Archives, and UC Santa Cruz. We have received continuous press coverage from numerous outlets ranging from the Los Angeles Times to NBC. We have continued to plan actions, such as a UC-wide walk-out on Monday, Nov. 24, and held the Wheeler Hall space as the hub of our Open University movement.

It is sometimes disheartening to consider the deep-seated root causes of this problem. Proposition 13 has been directing money away from public education since 1978, and state disinvestment is the major cause of the hikes. Napolitano has stated that the tuition hikes are optional, and will not go into effect should state funding be provided. The lack of funds for public education is partly due to the exorbitant amount of money that the state spends on the prison system: approximately $48,000 a year per inmate, while only about $8,000 per student. Furthermore, this hike has the potential to greatly lower the percentage of first-generation college students at the UC’s – about 42% – and the percentage of low-income students – about 55% – which are points of pride for these universities. These hikes might crush the dreams of community college students with plans to transfer or high school students set on attending the UC’s; while UC Berkeley provides a large amount of financial aid, not every campus has that privilege to such a large extent. These tuition hikes are but a symptom of a systemic problem.

Student action has been a UC Berkeley tradition for decades. The legacy of the Free Speech Movement is always present, prompting us to remember and use their ideas, strategies, and successful actions. There is a reason for this emphasis: we are educated, informed, and powerful, and we will use these strengths to fight for what we believe in and what we feel is right. Whether that issue is tuition hikes, police brutality, freedom of speech, or genocide, we have a responsibility to use our education to better our world for those who have been overlooked, silenced, or oppressed.

I have heard many fellow students during the past several days express doubt about our ability to change the situation or influence the decision in any way. I will admit: it is easy to feel powerless. It is easy to simply accept the decision, forget about it, and deal with the consequences later. It is easy to stand idly by and watch others make decisions for you, even if they completely quell your autonomy. It is easy to retreat, stay taciturn, and be indifferent. It is easy to proclaim that things will never change, so there is no sense in trying.

But we did not come to UC Berkeley, one of the best public universities in the world, to learn how to practice apathy. Apathy is the worst solution. It resolves nothing, accomplishes nothing, and inspires nothing. It is the ultimate cop-out, and it gets us nowhere. We, as students, have the ability to change situations that we feel are unfair, inequitable, or unjust. When we stand together, we can make unimaginable impacts on people across the globe. Our actions are not isolated, but stand among the wave of worldwide actions to preserve public education as a right and common good.

What started as several students deciding to hold Wheeler Hall became an organized, coordinated effort to change the rhetoric around the tuition hikes and initiate a conversation in which the students finally have a say. Chancellor Dirks attended a highly attended, UC-wide walk-out on Monday, Nov. 24, and stated that he supported and will continue to support our efforts. The charges against Jeff Noven have been officially dropped, as of Nov. 25. Our demand for transparency of the budget is perhaps our most attainable; while the UCs have been actively impeding this process in violation of AB94, we must hold them accountable. If we stand in solidarity against these wrongs and utilize our knowledge, we have the power to effect change. Our agency and our voices are our most powerful tools; let us harness them and demand accountability, transparency, and student input.

*** Updated on Nov. 25 to reflect recent changes. ***

Image Source: Hannah Berkman