Police Break Up Berkeley Ethnic Studies Protest

Police moved in before dawn Tuesday and arrested at least 80 people on the sixth day of a University of California protest called to push for more money for ethnic studies programs.

The protesters had set up a tent city in front of California Hall, which houses the offices of Chancellor Robert Berdahl. Some students refused to leave and had to be dragged away.

About 100 activists, including six on a hunger strike, took part in the protest that started Thursday.

Berdahl promised during the weekend to hire more ethnic studies teachers, but protesters said that wasn’t good enough.

There are 18 faculty members in the ethnic studies department. Members of the Third World Liberation Front say there is only one professor for Chicano studies and half a professorship for Native American studies.