UWM Students, Violent Protest: 16 Arrested

Katrina Cravy, FOX 6 News, introduces this report by saying, "They may have gone too far."

May have?

From FOX 6:

More than a dozen UWM students are arrested after a rally that started out peacefully. The protest was part of a national day of actions for education rights. Many who were involved in the protest say they never imagined it would end with violence.

In video captured by PantherVision, an angry group of students can be seen banging on the doors of UWM Administrative Offices trying to get to the Chancellor. One student event climbed the walls of the building.

It was an attempt on the part of some students to make their voices heard on the national day of action. Protestor Preston Chambers said, "Tempers started to flair because people started shoving cause students wanted inside the building and police pushed back and pepper sprayed the whole crowd."

The protest began very peacefully at the union, but ended at the Chancellors Office with some students throwing snowball at the UWM Police and other students getting arrested.

The protest centered around the rising cost of tuition at the University. School Officials say that topic has been the subject of many protests on campus over the years, but none of them turned out like this one.

Some students who did not attend the rally say they support the cause, but not the tactics used during the protest.

16 people were arrested and cited during the protest those students have been released. Attendance is estimated to be around 150 people.

 

National Day of Action for Education Rights...

As part of the National Day of Action for Education Rights, UW-Milwaukee students gathered to protest budget cuts and an alleged pay increase to UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago’s salary.

The UWM Education Rights Campaign, which consists of students and faculty, held a demonstration to present the chancellor with a petition to give up his alleged salary increase before making budget cuts and raising tuition by 3 percent, according to Michael Raspanti, UWM Education Rights Campaign spokesperson.

Even after the arrests, Jacob Flom, UW-Milwaukee junior and member of the Students for Democratic Society, which co-sponsored the demonstration, said the organizations involved in the demonstration are sticking by their original goals to push the chancellor to get rid of his alleged pay increase, his mansion by the lake and his luxury car.

According to UW-Milwaukee spokesperson Tom Luljak, the information the demonstration revolved around was erroneous and “intellectually dishonest,” and the chancellor has taken eight unpaid furlough days and not received a pay increase.

These students are trained well in Saul Alinsky tactics.

Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it. Don’t try to attack abstract corporations or bureaucracies. Identify a responsible individual. Ignore attempts to shift or spread the blame.

They're angry about rising tuition costs so they picked the chancellor as their target.

I hope they learned something. Throwing a temper tantrum, Leftist community organizer-style, did nothing for their cause. It only served to make them look like unruly, spoiled brats.