IRVINE : Hike in Fees Prompts UCI Protest

This fall’s 40% student fee increase at UC Irvine prompted a Halloween-themed demonstration Thursday, part of a coordinated protest at eight of the nine University of California campuses.

At UCI, students stuffed clothing to represent bodies of students priced out of attending the university because of the additional $729-a-year fee tacked on by the university regents last February.

The bodies had signs on them, which said “Killed by Fees” and other such statements.

“We’re mourning the loss of students that were impacted by the increase,” said Fred Tabatabai, UCI’s director of external student affairs and one of the organizers of the low-key protest.

The six “bodies,” placed around the student center and administration building, were to educate students about the increase and encourage them to write protest letters to the UC Board of Regents, Tabatabai said. Flyers stapled to the bodies gave the regents’ address and encouraged students to take one of the attached red ribbons to show their unity “against this outrageous fee hike.”

The protest failed to create a fervor at UCI. Most students walked past the displays Thursday without a second glance.

“I think most people don’t think there’s anything they can do about it,” said Heidi Chernow, 19, an economics and French major who chatted with two friends before class next to one of the “bodies” in the student center.

Students protested the fee increase last March and again in May when the regents met on campus, she said. But the increase still went through.

Ed Essa, 22, a senior majoring in English, also complained that the regents raised fees seemingly oblivious to the effect it would have on students. Essa had stopped at the display by the administration building to read the flyer.

“I don’t know if it’s really right to raise something 40% with one increase,” he said, tying a ribbon to his right wrist. “It was sort of like saying, ‘You’re going to pay 40% more next year and that’s all there is to it.’ ”

Besides the demonstration at UCI, students conducted similar protests at all the other UC campuses, except at UC San Francisco, which has no undergraduates.

The protests were undertaken to reveal that higher fees deter poor and middle-income students from enrolling at UC, Tabatabai said. With the increase, the UC system is now the country’s second most expensive public university system, behind Pennsylvania State, when fees, living costs and other expenses are factored in, he said.

The effect of higher fees is hard to document because “you can’t take a camera to UCLA and take a picture of students who aren’t there,” said Lee Butterfield, the executive director of the UC Student Assn. in Sacramento. But students are reporting that their classes seem smaller this fall and clubs have reported a drop in participation, he said.

Besides higher fees, Butterfield said, the student association also fears a warning to university regents issued last month by UC President David P. Gardner. Gardner told regents that with dwindling state funds, the university might have to cut costs by cutting students.

If UC abandons its longtime policy of accepting the top 12 1/2% of graduating high school seniors, future students might be denied admission to the university, Butterfield said.

“The new issue might not be fees, but access,” he said.