As a SFSU student and a former journalist, I think there should be a more news-oriented story on this topic; the disagreement with the protest gets only a few lines when it's shared by so many people!

Almost everyone in my classes today thought the protest was distasteful, and that choosing registration time, finals prep time - a bad week all together - makes all the students of SF State look bad. I even read a news report that one of the teacher forced out of his classroom in the building had coffee thrown at him.

Why would the government feel compelled to give more money to a bunch of delinquents? If anything, this is building the case against funding for schools, not helping us.

MLKjr's autobiography condemns the actions of these whiners. He specifically disrespects protesters who demand amnesty. True CD requires accepting the consequences of your actions, since that gains respect of others and persuades them to change.

These whiners gain no respect.

As a SFSU student and a former journalism major as well, I would say that this piece was really poorly written in its explicit bias, or negative frame. As well as its shallow or superficial nature. There was no discussion whatsoever of the actual protest that took place all day and which at times amassed as many as 1000 people.

Where is the description of the context in which Tori D. is speaking in? For most of the day she was engaged in heated debate with those who were deeply offended by her manner and message.

Where is the description of the hundred person dance parties? The stirring spontaneous speeches? The human chains that were formed by students who were inspired by the action, which at times wrapped halfway around the business building? The lack of imagery and description of the mood, energy and overall character of the day reflects poor writing as well as biased journalism which omits aspects of the story in order to weave everything into a single frame.

Where are the descriptions of the signs held by students in favor of the action? The dozens and dozens of chalked pictures on the sidewalk by people who joined in on the action? Do they not count?
The author omits them for the sake of consistency.

What about the fact that there were at least 5 teachers who CHOSE to let out their classes and bring them to the protest?

From the way this article is constructed, it would seem as though the only people who spoke positively about the action were the actors themselves and that everyone who was outside the action's planning saw it as negative.

Tsk tsk

Furthermore, the College Republicans I think really uniformly disgraced themselves in the eyes of the hundreds of students who repeatedly insulted by these people, as well as PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED. If you watch this video:

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/education&id=7161937

You can see this "professor" aka, a disgruntled College Republican who claimed to have had coffee spilled on him repeatedly assaulting the three ladies standing in front of the doors. Among the charming things this winner was heard saying - calling a woman a "pussy eating dyke" and that he would love to "kill all of us".

Victoria Conlu, if you are so concerned about the effectiveness of your case, maybe you wouldn't spend all your time targeting people trying to stop the budget cuts. Perhaps you'd attend a general assembly and argue for your perspective. How can anyone be taken seriously when the way they address issues is to furiously curse out and confront people who they see as "hurting their cause" and who ASSAULTS WOMEN. Ridiculous.

You know, I think this childish act by these "protesters" isn't doing much good to their cause AND its counterproductive if they want to get their cause heard - this applies to BOTH sides of the aisle, guys. The LSD and casual sex-fueled angst of the 60s is over people. Violent protests won't get problems solved. Its too bad the politicians that WE THE PEOPLE elected to represent the public's interest sadly stab us in the back into order to cater to special interests like the labor unions, banks, environmentalists and what not.

To the protesters - MAN THE F UP. Turning a place where people are trying to study into a scene from a Paramore video is NO way to get your sensationalist ultra-liberal agenda through. If you guys want it so badly, run for office. Gandhi, MLK and Rosa Parks are rolling in their graves because you "protesters" act like pre-pubescent teenagers at a Jonas Brothers concert or a showing of Twilight.

To the SFSU administration, and ultimately the CSU BOD and chancellor - I'm sorry guys, your life of luxury isn't deserved just becuase you're the head of a public institution. If you want a job you can rake the green, there's the private sector. You're still considered public servants, and I'm sick and tired see anyone whose a head of a public agency live in a McMansion in Lafayette and drive around in a Lexus or Mercedes while the hoi polloi gets screwed.

I also think the people in this classless act of civil disobedience - if they are even enrolled here are taking BS majors like ethnic studies or human sexuality that won't help them get far in society - unless you want to babysit teenagers at Hollister as a manager or drive buses for Muni or AC Transit. If you're on financial aid and if you're going to be become a business major or one that gives you skills and knowledge you'll be using for your career, all the power to you. However, if you're here on the public dime and taking a major like ethnic studies or history you should be at a liberal arts school instead.

to nthatch, THIS WAS NOT A VIOLENT PROTEST, were you even there? and UM I'm pretty sure that in 2009 people still take LSD and have casual sex. But really? that is just irrelevant banter to what we are REALLY talking about. And who are you to say that one major is better then the other? How far your education takes you is based on the YOU the individual. Just because you major in business doesn't make you the cream of the crop of society. your whole post is just silly with all the babbling on about paramore and twilight. turn off the MTV already. your mind is poisoned.

I'm not sure if this is allowed, but I'd like post a second response in response to, well... a response directed toward me.

"Perhaps you'd attend a general assembly and argue for your perspective."

I've been nothing close to silent about how I feel about the importance of availability of higher education - I'm one of the spokespeople.youth ambassadors for the Campaign for College Opportunity which is a non-profit organization that builds itself on the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education that every qualified student would have an accesible spot in the public higher education system.

I have *not* been silent on this issue, and I am aware that it is an important issue to bring to the public consciousness - but I feel that the way this protest was poorly orchestrated and a poor man's version of the protests occurring at UC Berkeley. I've been to the UC Berkeley campus, I have friends describing the atmosphere.

That is NOT the atmosphere this protest is creating.

What I heard today at approximately 10:40 AM was simply anger and chanting, not people bringing up intelligent and insightful discourse.

And another thing? These protester's demands are ridiculous. Have you looked at their Twitter/Blog?

http://occupysfsu.wordpress.com/

A meager sample...

We demand the following, or we will occupy this building indefinitely.

We demand that the presidents of the universities and the trustees have their salaries redused to the level of janitors.
That prisons are closed and defunded.

That the imperialist wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Gaza are ended, and that money is used to feed and clothe the poor.

That the university system be run by the students, faculty, and staff. Not administrators.

That the multinational corporations and oil companies pay fifty percent in taxes

Seriously? You can't protest every single issue on the face of the Earth in one protest. Change doesn't happen overnight.

This is ridiculous and it makes the students of our school look bad.

@A. Shasta , first of all, you lose all credibility when you don't use your full name. Secondly, that guy in the video has nothing to do with the college Republicans. I've never seen him at a meeting, ever. Nice try though attempting to tie the one crazy guy to the campus GOP. Shameless.

To Ali -
For the record, I don't watch MTV. I think pop culture corrupts everyone, just like when a hard drive gets a bad sector. It's sad to see people in this country who are too worried about American Idol than the State of the Union. The Democrats via ultra-liberal Hollywood was able to use this to their advantage.

And I'm guessing you're in solidarity with these apeshit protestors too, how can you even SUPPORT these lunatics? I likened them to acting like teeny boppers at a Jonas Brothers concert or seeing Twilight for good reason - they've got nothing better to do than act like kids. And I've seen that both your drive AND your degree work hand in hand - I know people that got business degrees from this lowly school do good for themselves. And I know people who graduated from Cal, Davis and Stanford who are still babysitting teenagers at Hollister or selling Hondas. And I know people who graduated from here with BS degrees too that got themselves into a dead-end situation.

No act of civil disobedience is ever perfect. They are meant to cause a disruption in the mundane, to draw our attention away from the status-quo. That's exactly what they accomplished.

These students have had the courage to take a risk, to give voice to an anger and frustration that has been mounting for days, weeks, months, years, we could even say for generations.

Their demands are as much symbolic as they are irrevocably real. There will never be enough funds to sustain an equitable educational system when there is war, there can be no end to war when there is corruption, there can be no end to corruption when you have an undereducated populous, and, well, you can't have a informed public when you continuously erode the educational systems both in terms of access and academic offerings.

Honestly, if you really can't understand why these students took action, then, please, by all means continue to hang out to your pleasant bubble of a life, it feels nice and righteous to be in it while it lasts.

Sooner or later, though, I hope you'll grow to understand what it means to have NOTHING to lose, because EVERYTHING has already been taken from you. It is in that light that civil disobedience makes not only good sense, but it becomes the only imaginable form of action.

@nthach
Don't insult the College of Ethnic Studies. I'm proud to receive a B.A. and M.A. from them and use my knowledge to help ethnic communities.

@Leigh Wolf
Although I'm not a fan of the College Republicans, I agree that the person on the video is simply a student.

@Civil Disobedience
"True CD requires accepting the consequences of your actions, since that gains respect of others and persuades them to change."

I think they're simply trying to let authorities know that condemning students for protesting what they see as "wrongs" against them shouldn't be punishable. I don't really see that as not taking responsibility. I'm sure these students know the risk and went into this knowing the consequences. At least, I'd hope so.

@A.Shasta

I don't see any "bias" in this article as bias is leaning toward one side or another. This is a straight forward news story that's stating the climate of the protest from a "breaking news" journalistic style. More than likely, a follow up article is in the works that goes more into detail about the protest itself and the reasons. I think this article accurately describes the details in as short as possible so students who were not present can get a general idea of what the students were doing.

As far as the protest goes, I think it's the first step in students trying to actually garner attention to the current climate we're in. Crass or not, it's getting different people talking (as seen above) and hopefully more people will protest in a way that "they see fit."

I agree with the aims of the protest, and occupying the business building is symbolic. Banks are "too big to fail", while education and healthcare have been allowed to fail miserably for some time. Decreased spending on education in California has been an ongoing trend; it's not some recent phenomenon. Read up about Prop 13: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052702904.html

Note how certain majors are devalued and ridiculed. Imagine the concept of going to school to learn and educate oneself about the world, and gain knowledge. (History is useless, so it's not important that MLK, Rosa Parks and Gandhi never ran for public office, something a previous poster maybe didn't realize) But unfortunately, many disciplines have little to do with making money, or supposedly "getting far in society." It's an interesting view of how some people see the role of colleges, and how to regard those people who aren't motivated by profit-making aims.

In a way, the students are using their "comparative adavantage." SFSU has a surplus of concerned students, and they have opened up a new market for spreading the word about their "product" at the business building. Rugged American bootstrap ingenuity, in my view!

It must be a nuisance for certain students who don't have classrooms. No joke here. And it's not just business students, it's everyone. But for those of you who actually attend/work at SFSU you've noticed that furlough days shut the school down...classrooms as well as classes.

Of course it can be annoying when people protest, but it's also annoying when you pay more and more for classes when you're not getting your money's worth. Many of these are working people, who are educating themselves for a reason--to graduate and hopefully contribute in some way to their society.

If the school "looks bad", so be it. The quality of public education has been bad, from the elementary schools on up.
Note how the list of demands are "ridiculous," while invading other countries isn't. Our nations priorities on military adventures, and the profitable business of going to war, developing, using weapons--it's fundamentally connected to spending in other areas. Military, business interests are on the "public dime" in a lot of ways, and education suffers as a result.

It's just unfortunate that they are inconveniencing the students and faculty, instead of the administration. I work three jobs to go get through school. They think they are acting on my behalf, but I want to go to the class I work so hard to attend. I would gladly join an occupation in Sacramento or City Hall, but by occupying a building where my classes are taught, these students are now placing themselves in opposition to the very people they state they are trying to help.

@ Anonymous -
Sorry if I offended you.
@ Full Name -
You're correct on how different people see things in a different light, and I certainly agree with you about how the public education system is broken. However, throwing more money to fix something that is broke simply doesn't work - look at how much the State spends on infrastructure projects that are always behind schedule(the Bay Bridge is a fine example of which), and how much the UC and CSU systems hell even the community college systems are raising fees and saying that these fee hikes are justified even though the number of courses available are sparse and teachers are forced to take furlough days which hurt everyone involved. Raising taxes won't fix the problem, it'll only reduce revenue the State will get from businesses and cause people to move out of California.

I personally think that Sacramento is clearly to blame here, it's a hodgepodge of politicians who "claim" to be working for the public interest when they are working for the special interests. Add to that a top heavy structure and the picture doesn't look good. I support education, but I think both sides need to sacrifice something. The administration of the UC/CSU system, and all the school/community college systems in the State need to look long and hard about how much they are paying their administrators and managers - I'm sure they can give up their McMansion and a Lexus for the public good, as well other perks I don't think the taxpayers should pay for.

The teacher unions also need to stop asking for more pay in times of economic duress, if you're into teaching because you truly love to teach or want to improve the lives of students, money should be an afterthought. They also need to be more accountable, I'm just sick of tenured teachers who teach out of PowerPoint or a DVD and expect you to learn the bulk of material on your own.

Its the SFSU Foundation and Ucorp that are the cause, look back in the Xpress Thurs. Nov. 30th 2009 page 8,9,14 and you will see why the university is so expensive... they are "developers" now... Students should fight this all the way to the legislature, and corrigan's development projects office on the first floor of the admin. building.....

Sorry, apologists. Read MLKjr's autobiography.

He specifically addresses the issue of those who protest and demand amnesty. He specifically says the only true CD means taking responsibility. That's why he sat in jail.

The protesters are whiners without any sincerity. That's why they have no respect. They got attention -- but no respect. No one is going to start supporting them as a result of this action.

Whiners and posers.

nthach, it's interesting when caricatures are used to pass for argument. It's not really argument. It's ridicule.

So what's the point? People aren't able to get high-paying jobs with "BS" degrees? So they work at department stores, become bus drivers. They're probably struggling to make ends meet. Are these things really worth insulting?

The problem with caricatures is that they often aren't true. You can contribute to society with a business degree no more/less any other degree, and you don't need to search far for examples.

I think the basis for the ridicule is the perception that a public university isn't producing the "right" kind of people--namely, obedient cogs who will passively consume and not question things. People are supposed to contribute to the GDP, not their own quality of life, their education, or helping other people. Look out for number one.

Ultimately, it's refreshing when people do get their voices heard and bring discussion to the table. Furloughs, closures, faculty/staff losing jobs aren't newsworthy, so they can happen without people even noticing. Direct action like this in the very least brings issues to public consciousness.

Open Letter to the College of Business
From the 12/9 Occupation,

First: Thank you so much Business students, faculty and staff for your patience during the occupation on Wednesday December 9th. Thank you for your critiques commentary, to those who joined, to those who
listened. Thank you for showing solidarity for the people inside fighting for budget justice for students faculty and staff here at State, all over California and the world and workers everywhere.

We would like to clarify. We are all students and we are one. We apologize if it seemed like we singled you out, or didn't care about your finals, or had a stereotypical view of you. We understand thatthe College of Business is facing cuts too.

We picked the business building because it is at the front of campus and wanted as many people to see it as possible. We wanted to disrupt the idea of "business as usual", the idea that everything can keep running without our approval. We do not approve of the fee hikes and the faculty and staff layoffs. We wanted to disrupt the idea that this school is anything without us. That this school should continue to run while students faculty and
staff do not have a real say. This system and this school are nothing without us, we make it run and the way things are going, we as students
are being treated like we are nothing more than units from which the university can profit. If this is not how we are thought of, this is
how we are treated. We must disrupt this, because if we don't show resistance now, the next fee hike will be 60% and the one after that 120%. This is our university and we must have a voice.

There was a lot of talk about "why are you doing this, if there's no money, there's no money, everyone is taking cuts right now." We want to refute that. This is not a budget crisis, it is a crisis of
priorities. There are more prisons in this state-36 to be exact-than public institutions of higher education. It takes more than 3x the amount of money to incarcerate people than to give them a college
education. Get rid of the prisons! How about that for a savings plan?
How many enrolled college students could we give full scholarships to if we gave full scholarships to all incarcerated people in the state instead of keeping them locked up? This is the eighth largest economy in the world. We must be spending the money on something, why don't we know what that is? How much money is California contributing to the two imperialist wars we are currently involved in? If there is no money for education why is Robert
Corrigan, the president of the university, earning over $255,000, with a $60,000 per year housing allowance? This does not sound like desperate times for the president, or people at the top of the power
structure to us. The Ethnic Studies Resource and Empowerment Center was closed because of budget cuts, but it costs only $8,000 a year to
run. Did the people who ordered it closed understand what a valuable and
cherished resource it was to us? Did they care?

We think something needs to be done. We know we as students, as workers need to understand our power. If you disagree with the strategy, lets talk about it. Give us your ideas, stories,frustrations, inspirations. Let's start a dialogue, let's define
together what we need and how we will get it. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for debating with us. Thank you for your support. And for being strong in these times. All we have for you is respect. Next
stop the moon!
In Solidarity,
The 12/9 Occupation