RIVERSIDE, Calif. (MCT) — Students protesting budget cuts temporarily disrupted a meeting of the University of California Board of Regents Thursday in Riverside, at one point forcing officials to move to another room.
About 18 protesters, borrowing tactics from the Occupy movement, had a sit-down protest in the room at UC Riverside where the regents were holding their two-day meeting that continued Thursday.
After nearly an hour of protests, though, the group dispersed.
The protesters locked arms in a circle and proceeded to conduct what they described as their own general assembly meeting to discuss higher-education funding issues.
About 30 campus police officers surrounded them just several feet away. Ultimately, none of the protesters were arrested and there was no violence.
At one point, Sherry Lansing, a regent and former film executive, approached the students and urged them to end the protest. She said regents were about to discuss possible alternative sources of revenue that could help avoid future tuition increases.
But the students refused to move.
