DAVIS—
Mrak Hall on the campus of the University of California at Davis was the staging ground Tuesday night for a third student protest against a 32% fee hike enacted by members of the school system's board of regents.Unlike a similar protest that ended in more than fifty arrests at the same location last Thursday, Tuesday's demonstration ended without incident and without arrest. More than 200 students vacated Mrak Hall after reaching a compromise with officials representing the university sometime around 11:00pm.
"We're very pleased that we could resolve it in this way," UC Davis Associate Vice Chancellor Janet Gong commented on the dispersement of students following the agreement, adding that the agreement "clearly sets some parameters for the time, the place and the manner in which free speech can occur."
Police dressed in riot gear were on standby outside Mrak Hall for most of the evening, but were never called in by school officials to make arrests.
While students may have reached an agreement to leave for the night, Thursdays evening's compromise wasn't a settlement between school officials and students on the main issues.
"I think a compromise is a compromise," UC Davis student Laura Mitchell said. "It's not necessarily either party agreeing to things as they would like it. We made a compromise, and we're ready to continue fighting until we get what we want."
During the demonstration, students drafted a list of demands, of which included the demand that the school not take disciplinary action against any of the 52 demonstrators arrested during last Thursday's protest and a review of one arrest in particular in which a student, identified as Bree Holmes, was slammed against the hood of a patrol car by campus police while allegedly resisting arrest during the Thursday demonstration.
Students at the Tuesday protest also demanded the school speak with the District Attorney's office to seek amnesty against all 52 demonstrators arrested during the Thursday protest. After deliberation, the students and UC Davis agreed to a compromise in which school officials would advocate for the students arrested, but not necessarily demand amnesty.
During deliberation and debate, some frustrated students made the point that students were focusing too much on compromises and not enough on the issue of increased student fees. One student, who claimed she was arrested during Thursday's protest, vocalized her frustration shortly after the compromise between UC Davis and the Thursday demonstrators was reached.
"It just pisses me off that the whole [expletive] last day, this is what we've been discussing," the unidentified student angrily said while standing on the staircase leading to the second floor of Mrak Hall. "I got arrested because I wanted that thirty-two percent increase to be dropped!"
Vice Chancellor Gong encouraged students to respect the hours of university buildings during future demonstrations, but also alluded that the compromise reached with students did not demand they respect said hours.
"Notice that [the compromise] says 'asks,'" Gong told students.
Thursday evening's demonstration was one of several felt throughout the state of California over the past week, following a decision by the University of California Board of Regents to raise student fees by 32% over the course of two years, with the first portion of the fee increase to take effect in January. Large demonstrations have been held on the campuses of UC Los Angeles and UC Berkeley; at both schools, riot police have been called out to force students to disperse from organized, and occasionally impromptu, demonstrations.
Before leaving Mrak Hall Thursday evening, many UC Davis students vocally promised to return to campus in a new set of demonstrations following the Thanksgiving holiday.
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