Much of UCSC Campus Shut Down Thursday

Protesters at the University of California at Santa Cruz have
managed to significantly disrupt campus operations today, blocking staff and faculty from getting to work and causing class cancellations, a university spokesman said.

The protest is part of a nationwide series of demonstrations for
public education today organized by members of the Occupy movement and student groups. In California, students are protesting statewide cuts to education that have resulted in tuition hikes at public universities in recent years.

Protesters gathered early this morning at each of the campus' two entrances to block cars from getting through, UC Santa Cruz spokesman Jim Burns said. 

"There are enough people in each of those entrances to prevent
cars from entering," Burns said. "Once we recognized this was going to happen as advertised, we communicated to our own people not to bring cars to campus;
they're not going to be able to."

 Burns said this morning that 200 or 300 people were participating
in the protests, standing outside in the cold rain.

The protests are scheduled to go on throughout the day, starting
with the blockade and continuing with a rally and a "Tent University" event at noon, in which students and faculty will teach workshops on topics ranging from foreclosures to gender issues to Marxism.

Musical performances and a screening of the film "Brazil," a
dystopian story of impenetrable bureaucracy, are scheduled this afternoon and evening, organizers said.

Burns said that while campus activity hasn't been completely
disrupted, many classes have been canceled and dining services have been scaled down because staff haven't been able to make it to work.

However, he said, the campus health center is fully staffed and
the library has been at least partially opened.
He said staff members who are able to work remotely are doing so, and that others have found alternate means of transportation, including bicycling and walking to work.

University administrators have set up an informational page on the
school's website to inform students about what services have been affected and what is still available. They have also used an informational phone line and text messages to communicate with the campus community.

 "We made a considerable effort to communicate to members of the campus community to inform them of the prospect for this occurring and to provide them with various ways to stay up to date on the status of campus," Burns said.

He said the school has been preparing for the disruptions
throughout the week.

"It's not the same level of service for our students. We're not
happy about that, but we're doing the best we can," he said.

Burns said that he expects campus operations to be restored by
Friday morning.

Protesters will hold another demonstration on Monday, but for
that, busloads of students from throughout the state will gather at the state Capitol building in Sacramento for an "Occupy the Capitol" event.

--Bay City News--