Tuition Hiked, Students Heckle

A raucous crowd of about 2,000, including students and labor union activists who traveled from other UC campuses, faced a large force of UC police and CHP officers in riot gear outside UCLA's Covel Commons....Across campus, about 40 demonstrators occupied a classroom building, Campbell Hall, locking themselves inside until Thursday night.....After the vote, some of the regents were trapped in the building and in vehicles as about 100 demonstrators surrounded the garage...Earlier, a group of students marched into Westwood Village and briefly blocked traffic Colin Williams, an English major at UCLA, said that as a fourth-year student he would be mainly spared from the financial pain that younger students face, but protested in solidarity...."We're all the same person; we're all in the same boat," said Williams, who complained that the regents were hiding "behind closed blinds." Busloads of students and union activists from other campuses descended on Westwood. Among them was Tommy Le, a fourth-year student at UC Santa Cruz, who left his campus at 3 a.m. Thursday on one of two buses. The American studies major said he was worried about not being able to afford the higher charges, beginning with an extra $585 for the rest of the school year. "It's adding more stress and more burden," said Le, who added that he works two part-time jobs and sends money to his family.

Protests began yesterday morning before a Regents' finance committee voted to push the tuition increase to the full board today. At yesterday's meeting inside Covel Commons, 14 were arrested, 12 of them students. Outside, protesting students gathered around the building resulting in various quick scuffles with police caught on video. A UCLA statement said two officers used tasers "in light stun mode" against two protesters, though they were not hurt. Two other students sustained minor injuries for unknown reasons.