Marching against fee hikes
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Photography by Cheng Saechao / UC Davis News Service

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Following a sometimes noisy forum with campus leaders, protesters marched across the UC Davis campus today for a sit-in at Dutton Hall. About 100 demonstrators remained on the ground floor of the building until 6 p.m., when they left voluntarily.

The protests were in response to the UC Board of Regents' Nov. 19 decision to increase student fees across the 10-campus system.

Today's demonstrations followed a sit-in yesterday at Mrak Hall that resulted in 52 arrests.  (See story in Dateline).

At the Dutton Hal sit-in, police arrived just before the building's usual closing time and asked protesters to leave.

One protester, Laura Mitchell, stood up to argue that if the crowd left peacefully, the Yolo County District Attorney might be more willing to consider dropping charges against those arrested at Mrak Hall.

Dutton Hall houses student-related administrative offices, including the Financial Aid Office and the Cashier's Office.

Today's protests started with an 11 a.m. rally on the Quad. From there, some 60 protestors marched through the rain toward the Activities and Recreation Center, where campus administrators had scheduled a noon forum to address student concerns. The march eventually grew  to more than 200 people.

Fred Wood, vice chancellor for student affairs, led the forum, with Kelly Ratliff, associate vice chancellor for budget and resource management, Jason Murphy, director of state government relations, Lora Jo Bossio, associate vice chancellor for financial aid, and Annette Spicuzza, chief of the UC Davis Police Department.

Some audience members called on campus leaders to pressure the Yolo County District Attorney to drop charges against those arrested at Mrak Hall. Others asked why the protestors had been arrested, rather than being allowed to stay in the building overnight.

State government relations director Murphy applauded the audience for the energy in the room, saying that he wanted to turn that commitment and energy towards the state Legislature and governor. He pointed out advocacy efforts by the University of California, including the UC for California and Aggie Advocates, which students and other supporters of the university can join.