Nov. 17--LONG BEACH -- Cal State University students clashed with police in a violent protest during a Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach Wednesday.
The crowd of student protesters began banging on windows and shouting during the meeting.
Officers in riot gear were called in and reportedly pepper-sprayed students inside the meeting room.
Police used their batons to push students out of the building.
Several protesters were taken into custody after a group tried to storm the meeting room, shattering a glass door.
Board members did pass the 9 percent tuition hike.
The increase will begin next fall.
Students, already hit by a series of tuition and fee hikes in the last few years, were protesting the latest proposed tuition hike.
This latest tuition increase means an additional $500 annually for full-time undergraduates, raising the yearly tuition bill to nearly $6,000.
With average mandatory campus fees added on, the cost of attendance will rise to $7,017 per year, not including books and housing.
The Cal State budget requests $397 million in increased funding for the 2012-13 school year.
Cal State officials say the hike will take place if the state does not increase funding to cover enrollment growth, urgent maintenance and student services.
Cal State and the University of California each lost $650 million in state funding this year.
This is now the sixth straight year of tuition hikes.
On Tuesday, the University of California regents announced they were canceling their planned meeting Wednesday and Thursday in San Francisco, after receiving threats of violence.
Back in July, the UC regents approved a nearly 10 percent tuition increase, on top of the 8 percent hike already slated to take effect for the 2011-2012 school year.
The two increases bring the undergraduate tuition for California residents to $12,192 per year, plus an average of $1,026 for campus-based fees.
UC tuition has nearly tripled over the last decade.
Copyright 2011 - KTLA-TV, Los Angeles
