BERKELEY, Calif. (AP/KCBS) _ Students, professors and other employees at the University of California's 10 campuses demonstrated Thursday in protest of deep budget cuts that have led to layoffs, furloughs, course reductions and higher fees.
Rallies, teach-ins and class walkouts took place during the systemwide protest on the first day of class at eight of UC's 10 campuses.
A union representing thousands of university technical employees is holding a one-day strike because they have been working without a contract for 18 months.
Protest organizers say they are angry about the UC administration's handling of the budget crisis.
University officials say the fee hikes and job cuts are needed as UC grapples with a massive budget shortfall caused by an unprecedented reduction in funding.
KCBS' Mark Seelig reports
Many protestors took advantage of technological devices to keep fellow demonstrators, as well as people who couldn't attend one of the demonstrations, up-to-date on the day's events.
"I recorded some videos, I put them up on YouTube and within minutes there were thousands of people looking at it and thousands of people sending it out," declared Adam, a senior at UC Berkeley. "Just really revolutionized and I feel like even if I'm not holding a sign I'm still sending something out," he said of his constant updates on Twitter.
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