In reaction to recent budget cuts, over 800 people filled the Pauley Auditorium at UC Berkeley on Oct. 24 in an effort to coordinate statewide action in defense of public education. The conference was attended by students, faculty and community members from UC campuses, state universities, community colleges, K-12 education and labor unions.

The conference resulted in the decision to call a statewide strike and day of action on March 4 to build a unified movement of all educational sectors in the state.

“I was really happy with how the conference turned out,” Desiree Angelo, a student organizer from the City College of San Francisco, said. “We had really less than a month to organize it, and we got over 800 people from across the state — from across public education — together in one room.”

Along with voting on the March 4 strike, the conference called for statewide action from Nov. 17 to Nov. 19 to coincide with a meeting of the UC Board of Regents in Los Angeles. The labor unions in attendance endorsed both proposals, which called for solidarity to support the student movement.

“There was overwhelming support for solidarity action [on Nov. 17] and overwhelming support for the March 4 strike,” Angelo said. “All different sectors of public education voted to endorse solidarity action.”

Participants also discussed proposals ranging from similar types of university strikes to more radical propositions — like the establishment of a tent city in Sacramento and the occupation of a Wells Fargo bank in Oakland.

On the day’s agenda were discussions about the current state of public education, debates on what course of action to take regarding it and open-floor opportunities for anyone to voice their opinion. During the afternoon, the conference split into four different groups — one for each of the UC campuses, state colleges, community colleges and K-12 — that discussed their individual demands and how they could be connected with the movement as a whole.

The inclusion of so many sectors of public education, while seen as a positive development by organizers, presented problems, as well.

“There was some conflict,” UC Berkeley student Lucy Carrillo said. “At the community colleges, they’re threatening to take away summer school and cut back a lot of money from their funding starting in January. So a lot of community colleges are fighting to have this day of action happen before [the March 4th strike].”

Lucy Carillo, a UC Berkeley student, saw the conference’s diversity as a huge step toward a successful campaign throughout the state.

“There were students, grad students, faculty, workers, unions, parents from elementary, middle and high schools,” Carrillo said. “I don’t think anybody was left out; we had people from all sectors.”

Echoing Carrillo’s beliefs, Angelo touched upon the significance of having such a wide range of representatives at a conference in support of all public sectors.

“There were also parents there who have kids in the public education system and there were a lot of folks involved in organizing against the budget cuts who identify as community members,” Angelo said. “Folks from public sectors as a whole came to the conference and said how can we work together, how can we bond in this.”

Most students in attendance had no affiliation with any one specific campus political group, representing instead the growing numbers of proactive students looking for a means to fight against rising tuition fees.

“This was definitely for non-organizers to get organized,” Carillo said. “Most of the people who are going to be [influential] in this struggle are going to be those who aren’t organized right now. There’s a lot of opportunity for the different communities to get involved in their own movements.”

No representatives of the regents or public administrators attended the conference. Organizers of the meeting view this as a positive sign and as motivation for their movement to go even further.

“Our plan is to go where they are,” Angelo said. “We went to the Trustees meeting Thursday night and we plan to go to the regents’ meeting down in LA… The only time they’ve ever tried to communicate with us was after the walkout and it was a clear attempt to get us to pick at each other.”

The conference’s Continuation Committee is currently writing up the final draft of their strike proposal to be distributed throughout the state and presented to the UC administration.

Readers can contact Jake Blanc at [email protected].