14 Arrested During UC Regent Protest at Mission Bay Campus

It has begun. Today, a day after a mass walkout was planned for the UC system, 14 protesters were arrested "after they briefly shut down a regents meeting this morning in San Francisco where a proposed tuition hike was being discussed," reports SFGate. "Whose university? Our university! "Lay off Yudof!" was the chant students, faculty and other assorted staff members yelled at the UCSF's Mission Bay campus. (Yudof was none too please. One of his Twitter messages reflects that: "Lots of shouting. Be nice if everyone shouting respected the free speech rights of the rest of us. We'll take a break until we can resume.") According to CBS 5/BCN, "The interruption came during a public comment period that opened the daylong board meeting. During the public comment period, dozens of people had voiced their opposition to the plan, as well as their disapproval of UC President Mark Yudof." Also, San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos was one of the speakers voicing his frustration at the UC regents plan to increase fees and tuition. Even one of its own board members, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, is furious at the fee hikes, who said in a written statement, "[Yudof's] jaw-dropping proposal...will single-handedly take a University of California education off the table for thousands of hardworking students," The regents, by all accounts, should be ashamed of themselves. Seriously. Anyway, the arrested protesters were "cited for trespassing and unlawful assembly and released." The board will vote on the fee hike come November.