Its stated purpose may be higher education, but for the storied University of California system recent times have brought with them the lowest of lows.
Twice in the past six months, California’s leading public universities up and down the Golden State have endured raucous protests over a planned 32% increase in student fees that would help offset a $637 million budget cut to the university system. Once in effect, it’ll send resident undergraduate fees past the $10,000 mark for the first time in state history (by comparison, in-state tuition at the University of Virginia runs around $9,850). One such dust-up, last December in Berkeley at the campus home of UC Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, resulted in broken windows, lights and planters, lit torches tossed at police cars, and eight arrests.
