Between 30 and 50 protestors from UCLA and other UC campuses barricaded themselves inside a UCLA building Thursday morning while thousands more demonstrated across campus in anticipation of UC Regents’ approval of a plan to raise tuition by 32 percent, the Daily Bruin reported.
The Regents approved the two-phase tuition increase through 2011 for all UC campuses Thursday afternoon, according to the Daily Bruin.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the occupation lasted about 18 hours and yielded 41 arrests. However, the Daily Bruin reported zero arrests pending an assessment of damage done inside the occupied building.
The Daily Bruin reported that the occupation forced University officials to temporarily close the hall and cancel classes and services offered there, causing problems for students and faculty who wished to continue their day uninterrupted.
KKK protest outside Ole Miss-LSU football game
At the University of Mississippi about 12 members of the Ku Klux Klan gathered Saturday before the university’s football game against No. 10 Louisiana State University, the Associated Press reported.
KKK Great Titan Shane Tate told The Daily Reveille — LSU’s newspaper — Thursday that Klan members would protest the decision by Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones to remove the song “From Dixie With Love” from the marching band’s song list.
Jones asked the band to remove the song after fans ignored a request that they drop the customary chant “The South will rise again” from the end of the song, The Daily Reveille reported.
Tate told the Daily Mississippian that Klan members would be in full ceremonial dress, but that the rally would be a “silent protest” in support of free speech.
The AP reported that the Klan members waved flags, flashed Nazi-style salutes and gestured to a large group of hecklers, including children, for about 10 minutes.
On book’s 150th anniversary, students receive controversially modified edition
Occasioned by the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” this month, individuals on University of Minnesota and Purdue University campuses handed students free copies of the book Thursday, according to The Minnesota Daily and the Associated Press.
The books, however, included one major modification: a 50-page introduction by notable evangelical leader and Minister Ray Comfort explaining creationism and refuting evolution.
The giveaways were part of a nationwide effort led by Comfort and actor Kirk Cameron, both members of the Living Waters ministry — a national evangelical organization — to promote creationism and inspire discussion, the AP reported.
The Minnesota Daily and the AP reported that many students accepted the free book despite disagreeing with the Creationists’ message and tactics. According to the AP, members of the Purdue Society of Non-Theists engaged in counter-protest by handing out pro-Darwin fish stickers that read, “I Support Science.”