Students and union activists block the roads leading into the U.C. Santa Cruz campus to protest a vote approving 32% fee hikes

SANTA CRUZ (KRON) -- The entrances to U.C. Santa Cruz are back open after hundreds of students and staff members blocked the roadways leading to the campus as part of a series of  protests against proposed tuition and fee hikes.

KRON 4's Rob Fladeboe says about 300 picketers blocked both primary entrances to the campuses. Police monitored the protests but no arrests were made. .

Despite the protests, a regents committee has voted to increase undergraduate fees by 32% in two stages over the next two school years.  U.C. President Mark Yudof says the hightened fees, the equivalent of tuition for system students, won't be enough to keep the campuses going.  He says U.C also needs a $913 million increase in state funding next year.  The full board of regents is due to vote on the proposed hikes on Thursday.

The U.C. Santa Cruz protests come on the same day as about 1,000 students rallied at U.C. Berkeley.  At UCLA, where the regents were voting on the hikes, 14 protesters were arrested after refusing to leave the meeting room.

"No one, not the president nor the Regents, likes higher fees," University of California spokeswoman Leslie Sepuka said in a written statement.  "We understand out students’ anger and frustration over the issue. The university faces a severe budget shortfall—1.2 billion dollars brought about by two years of deep state budget cuts. While we realize that fee increases would be painful for students, a deterioration of UC’s quality would also be painful and devastating in the long run. "

Stay tuned to KRON 4 and KRON4.com for the latest on this developing story.

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