CSU trustees approve tuition hike amid protest

LONG BEACH — California State University trustees approved a 9 percent increase in tuition Wednesday despite a clash between police and demonstrators who disrupted the board's meeting with chants and a struggle that left an officer injured.

Assistant Chancellor Robert Turnage said the trustees reconvened elsewhere as the brief violence flared and voted 9-6 in favor of the increase.

The hike will raise student costs $498 a year, bringing tuition to $5,970.

Opponents of the plan disrupted the meeting by chanting and waving signs, and the struggle occurred as police tried to force them outside and close the doors to the building. Demonstrators tried to keep the glass doors open and one finally shattered, cutting an officer's arm.

It appeared that pepper spray was used because a choking vapor filled the air.

Three people were quickly taken into custody. More officers in riot gear arrived and the situation rapidly quieted as demonstrators di persed.

Turnage said the trustees also voted to strip out a clause of the proposal that asked the state Legislature for an additional $138.3 million to avoid a tuition increase.

Turnage said he understood the concerns of the students who disrupted the meeting.

"I understand why people are frustrated. A lot of this energy is misplaced," Turnage said. "It needs to be directed at people who have decision-making power over taxes."

"We have institutions to run," he said. "We can't send the bill to the bank. We have to make payroll every month."

It is the 23-campus system's ninth tuition increase in nine years.

With campus fees added in, the total cost for undergraduates will be more than $7,000 for the full year.

Elaine Nadalin, a sociology student at CSU Long Beach, was among students on hand to oppose the hike.

"Students are the least able to subsidize these increases. Some of us will be barred from accessing higher education," said Nadalin, a member of the group Students for a Quality Education. "Banks are making record profits at a time when there are record cuts."

University officials said the tuition increase for 2012-2013 is necessary because of continuing cuts in state funding. The CSU budget has been slashed by $650 million in recent years and another $100 million cut is possible next month.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a member of the CSU board of trustees, said he opposes a tuition hike.

"We have an obligation to our students and their families to send a strong message to Sacramento that our higher education system and economy cannot meet its potential unless this catastrophic trend is reversed," he said.

There are about 412,000 students enrolled at Cal State campuses.

Cal State officials said the availability of financial aid means about 45 percent of the university system's students won't be impacted by the tuition hike.

The demonstration was expected to be largely driven by members of ReFund California, a coalition of student groups and university employee unions seeking to make big banks and wealthy individuals pay higher taxes to help fund public education.

Tuition rose 23 percent and enrollment was slashed by 10,000 students in the past two years because of the cuts in state funding.

The tuition hike comes as faculty from two campuses made plans to walk off the job Thursday to protest Cal State's withholding of contractual pay raises for faculty members.