UPDATE: Student protestors say they plan to occupy through the weekend

UPDATE:

University of California students across the state are continuing to protest through Friday night. This comes after UC regents approved a tuition hike over the next five years. It’s a story we’ve been following closely as students at UC Santa Cruz continue to occupy a building on campus.

At the Humanities Two building, students hope having an organized plan to occupy the building will result in their voices being heard. On Friday night, a group gathered to discuss those plans, along with back-ups in case something goes wrong. The students voted on how to look out for one another, how to handle interactions with police and where to get help if things get out of hand.

With signs and a list of topics to cover, UC Santa Cruz students say they’re not going to stand for a tuition increase. Many said they’re working two jobs to afford their education at the current tuition.

“Right now if the tuition is going so high, how are we going to be able to pay for this,” asked student Gabriela Mazzarello.

On Thursday, UC regents approved a plan that could raise tuition by 28 percent over the next five years. Costs had been frozen within the UC system over the last three years. Students in Santa Cruz said their protests will remain peaceful but with a powerful message.

“This is our university, not the regents’ university, and we don’t want to damage anything, so we’re just kind of trying to peacefully occupy a space that should be ours anyway,” said a student who only wanted to go by her first name Julie.

Some are worried an increase in costs could push them off campus.

“Right now we are at UCSC but next year who knows,” Mazzarello said.

UC regents said the hikes could be avoided if the state devoted more money to the system. Students feel there’s too much emphasis on making a profit.

“I mean, there’s occupations all over the UC system right now and everyone’s just kind of trying to be peaceful and organized and show the regents that we out number them,” Julie said.

UC Berkeley plans to stage a walk-out from classes Monday. Students at UC Santa Cruz said they haven’t decided when and if they will hold a walk-out of their own.

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UC Santa Cruz has confirmed that students have taken over a building on campus as part of their protest against new tuition hikes.

The students occupied the Humanities and Social Sciences Building in the upper central part of campus about 3:00p.m. Thursday.

UCSC administration said classes Thursday went on as scheduled but the 10 classes and three discussion Friday were moved to other classrooms on campus. Staffers are also working out of alternate offices.

Thursday UC Regents voted to approve a 5% increase in tuition each year for the next five years.

So far, there have been no reports of vandalism.

The university says no police are present at the building being occupied and they are monitoring the situation.

UC Santa Cruz made people aware of the possible traffic delays for Thursday marches, and gave students an update on class plans here: http://news.ucsc.edu/2014/11/campus-advisory.html