UPDATE: Orange County Register now reports 800 protested at UCI . . .
Today's K-12 teacher protests mentioned here are part of demonstrations nationwide aimed at saving primary and secondary education from draconian budget cuts. So far, it appears the largest spectacle of the day goes to UC Irvine, where 400-500 800 people reportedly gathered near the administration building before marching through the campus and shouting “walk out” to convince students to leave their classes in a show of solidarity.
]
The Aldrich
Administration Building, where 17 people were arrested at a sit-in last week, was closed “until further notice,” according to a sign on the building.
Protesters blocked traffic on Ring Road.
A concurrent noontime rally was held at Cal State Fullerton over state
budget cuts.
More than 200 faculty and students turned out for an earlier rally and rally at Fullerton College, according to the Orange County Register.
Perhaps a new state budget analysis will make protesting faculty and students feel better. It claims that drastically hiking tuition costs is better for poor students, because it raises more financial aid. (It also shows families earning at least $70,000 per
year are screwed.)
Neither scenario is likely to temper (or be believed by) protesters, who received unexpected backing for today's demonstrations from an unlikely source: the governor (who also urged no violence, please).
As for the feeder school systems, besides the Huntington Beach and Long Beach K-12 actions mentioned in the earlier Weekly post, teachers and their supporters protesting budget cuts were said to be gathering in Anaheim, Cypress Fullerton, Santa
Ana, Buena Park, Garden Grove and Laguna
Hills this afternoon.
The Register estimated 2,300 people attended those rallies and marches.
The general plan is to rally in front of schools before marching to a nearby busy street corner.
Who knows, perhaps if they toss a couple tea bags in the street, Fox News cameras will show.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.