A group of about 150 people rallied against tuition hikes at Sproul Plaza Wednesday morning, before marching to downtown Oakland in solidarity with Occupy Oakland’s Nov. 2 general strike.
“We wanted students, workers and faculty to come out to show solidarity with the general strike in Oakland. And today you’re seeing a bridging of our struggle with the UC to the broader protest of the Occupy movement,” said Berkeley graduate student Shane Boyle.
The Public Education Coalition, which describes itself as a grassroots group of Berkeley students, instructors, staff and community members, organized today’s walkout and march to protest tuition hikes across the University of California system.
“We’re trying to connect the issues at the core of what’s going on in Oakland and other cities across the country with what’s going on in the UC with tuition hikes,” Boyle said.
UAW Local 2865, the union representing academic student employees at the university’s nine teaching campuses, endorsed today’s campus walkout and the general strike in Oakland.
Earlier, the UC Office of the President announced plans to close its office in Oakland Wednesday in anticipation of the general strike organized by Occupy Oakland protesters. Located several blocks from the site of the planned protests in downtown Oakland, UCOP advised its employees to work from home for the day.