Today we announce a student strike at UC Berkeley on Tuesday, Nov. 15th  to reject the excessive police force used against our protests to make Wall Street -- and the corporate elite on the boards governing our universities -- pay for refunding public education. Some faculty are expected to join the student strike, and the actions will add to the growing momentum for statewide convergences at the CSU Trustees meeting in Long Beach and the UC Regents meeting at UCSF Mission Bay on November 16th.

We call on the UC Regents and CSU trustees to devote their meetings on November 16 to a discussion of how they - many as corporate leaders - can carry out the ReFund California Pledge to make the 1% pay to refund public education.  The CSU and UC boards should open the meetings to all as equal participants.  And we ask that they promise not to use police force against nonviolent mobilizations at these meetings and during the Tuesday strike.
There is a crisis today for California’s students and their families, but not for the Wall Street and corporate elites who control the economy and dominate the governing boards of California’s universities.

California leads the nation in tuition increases with nearly 100 percent rise in tuition costs since 2008, inflating student loans to $1 trillion nationally.  We keep paying the price while Wall Street and corporations are left off the hook. We didn’t cause the economic crisis—they did.

That's why we call on the board members and executives of our universities to sign the ReFund California pledge to support real solutions to fund public education and improve the economy for California families. They should join the community whose interests they say they represent instead of irresponsibly using police force to silence our freedom of expression.

Academic Professionals of California, CSU - Mobilizing Committee
AFSCME 3299 - UC patient care and service employees
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
Berkeley Faculty Association
California Nurses Association
Communities for a New California
The Council of UC Faculty Associations
SEIU 721 - Southern California school and public service employees
SEIU - United Service Workers West
UAW 2865 - UC student employees
UAW 4123 - CSU student employees
UAW 5810 - UC postdoctoral researchers
UC Berkeley Student Labor Justice Project
UC Student Association
UPTE-CWA, 9119 - UC professional, research and technical employees

Tired of the never-ending cycle of funding cuts and tuition hikes? Tuition has doubled since 2008, yet students and workers face $2.5 billion more in cuts to public education. BUT we can stop them.

There’s an alternative: Make the big banks, corporations and millionaires in our state pay their fair share. We didn’t cause the economic crisis—they did. It’s time for them to take responsibility and pay their share—to stop cuts to higher education, restore needed state revenue and improve the economy for all Californians.  That’s why we asking the 50 corporate elite that sit on the boards of California's public colleges and universities to sign the ReFund California pledge to make Wall Street pay for refunding public education.

We hear it every day. There’s no more money. No money to keep college affordable, keep our senior centers open, pay our teachers, or help struggling communities. But there is an alternative: Make Wall Street corporations and super-rich pay, including those who sit on our schools and universities’ boards.

That’s why on 16^th we demand California’s education leaders pledge to support to fund public education by supporting taxes on Wall Street banks and California’s super-rich in 2012. On Nov 16th, tell banks and UC and CSU leaders: We already paid!  

 Click here to get more details about November 16^th actions!

A growing list of 113 faculty  from across the state have signed a petition calling upon UC Board of Regents to unequivocally support new sources of tax revenue in CA to put an end to budget cuts and are supporting the November 9th and 16th week of action.

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We, the undersigned University of California faculty, urge education leaders and policy-makers in California to support equitable and sustainable solutions to California’s budget crisis. The public university system in California has been regarded as one of the most innovative, productive, and accessible university systems in the entire world. As beneficiaries of this system, we believe it is our responsibility to ourselves, to our students, and to the citizens of California to protect the integrity of this institution.