In lieu of the proposed 32% tuition hike for next year, both students and faculty from UC campuses statewide have come together in solidarity and claimed today, September 24th as a day of action. UC Berkeley has staged a walkout and rally to "fight the power" scheduled to take place at noon. Those who are not walking out will stay in and hold teach-ins, where they will lecture to students about the budget crisis, cuts and what it all means. The picket lines are already in full swing and the people are descending on the campus, getting ready to band together. The budget crisis and mass budget cuts to the state and UC system has left furloughs, pay cuts, and layoffs in its wake, not to mention less classes being offered as a direct effect of this. These nouveau institutional conditions are already a burden on students who are striving to complete their academic careers, but fee hikes add a whole new dimension. This would not only be detrimental to folks who are still on the grind, but also to students who hope to come into the UC system.

Within the CSU system, students have already been turned away in large numbers because of the campuses' inability to support them, and my campus, good old Cal, is planning to admit a large number of international students because their tuition costs are higher than students who have CA residency; thus the University can pull in more money from these students to fill in financial gaps left by the current crisis. Like I said, this situation is pretty urgent. Desparate times are calling for desparate measures, but there are costs.

A part of me wants to believe that the rising up of students and faculty today will make an impact, however, from experience, I know that no matter how big the number and how strong the support, the University is an institution and it will do whatever it has to in order to save itself. They already know this fee hike is a serious proposal. They already know that faculty are fighting to keep their jobs and fighting for a livable wage. They already know that students are losing out big time and are pissed off about it. They know all of this, yet, at the end of the day, they've said that there isn't anything else they can do except for what they are already doing, which is to continue to lay off and induce furloughs.

We'll see what impact the contributions of those across the 10 UC campuses will make on the powers that be.