Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Laurel Brishel Prichard -University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Students held protests at over 100 California college campuses Thursday in response to the state’s proposal to raise tuition by 32 percent and a series of significant budget cuts.

“Today’s the day that the students are on strike and standing up in solidarity with our fellow brothers and sisters, who are facing cuts in K-12, community colleges and the California state university system," activist Don Kingsbury, a teaching assistant and former graduate of University of California Santa Cruz, told Talk Radio News Service. "No more business as usual. We’re changing things."

Kingsbury said the administration at UC Santa Cruz has misplaced its priorities, as has the California state government.

“We think it's ridiculous that the UC president makes more than the President of the United States,” he said.

The students are urging the UC's Board of Regents to return to “The Master Plan,” which was a 1960 document that would allow for free, high quality and universally accessible education for all citizens of California.

“My students are telling me daily that they aren’t sure what they are going to do. Some of them are literally being priced out of their education,” said Kingsbury.