UC Semester not quite over yet…

Early this morning Wheeler hall was reoccupied “reclaimed” by students intending to turn it into a cooperatively run 24-hour free-school for the entire week. It seems the action has been successful, at least for the night. Twitter reports cops began to move in with eyes toward arrests, but “The tensions have subsided, thanks to your support. We can now go in & out.” (Via http://twitter.com/ucbprotest)

An earlier statement from describes the intent of the action, called Live Week:

“Dear friends, and those we’ve yet to meet,

Over the past months, we, the workers, students, and faculty of this campus, have shown the world that we can shut this university down.

Now, we show that we can run our public university the way it should be—by the public.

Starting Monday, December 7 on the steps of Wheeler Hall at 2:30 p.m., we will transform Wheeler Hall into a 24-hour open university. We will open the space for anyone in the community to come and go as they please, to organize study sessions, teach-ins, concerts, forums, club meetings, dance parties, and anything else our creative minds dream up.

Live Week is a time for us to open this university to all people and to all forms of expression and education. Our university is not only a space for hard work and practicality; it is a place for fun, fulfillment, and happiness. Our university is not only a space for people of privilege; it is a place for all of the community: young and old, rich and poor, majority and minority, teacher and student, on-campus and off-campus. Our university is not only a space to learn from books and lectures; it is a place to learn from each other’s experiences and expressions, and to create new knowledge and build a new future.

This university is yours! We shift competition to cooperation. We replace stress and anxiety with compassion and joy. We transform the traditional balance of power of this institution to create an education that includes the interests, concerns, and passions of all of us, and embodies the true ideal of democracy.

It’s time to reinvent public education together, So come one, come all to your university!”

At UC Irvine, administrators caved to threat of a similar action and agreed to keep the library open 24 hours.

UC Headquarters in Oakland briefly occupied

Outraged by the eviction of the Wheeler Occupation and the police violence around Berkeley Friday, over 100 students seized UC Headquarters demanding to talk to UC President Mark Yudof.

With supporters and riot police massing some administrators apparently talked to the students for 2 hours, and the students left by the time the building closed.  This tweet indicates a very phoney sounding compromise on the part of a UC administrator. Nonetheless, action continues throughout California.

Follow this indymedia link for updates on Monday’s action and search these Hash Tags on Twitter: #UCStrike #OurUni #UCregents

UC Berkeley finally fucking OCCUPIED!

Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley occupied this morning after unsuccessful occupation of Capital Projects yesterday. Police entered building at 6 am, pepper-spraying and beating occupiers. Most of the people remain barricaded on 2nd floor, holding strong. Police are threatening to use tear-gas. Close to 50 police in riot gear inside the building beating on the door. . .