Fueled by an Occupy Davis rally Tuesday, Nov. 15 that drew approximately 2,000 protesters, students at UC Davis shifted their focus to occupying campus buildings. After being foisted out of their one-night stint in Mrak Hall, UCD protesters regrouped Thursday night, setting up camp in the Quad in protest of the 81 percent four-year fee hike. The news of what happened next has been splashed across front pages, covered by national news outlets, editorialized on our Facebook newsfeeds, retweeted, reblogged and viewed on YouTube millions of times.
“We are the 99 percent,” they cry — the mother of four, the husband working multiple jobs, the college grad crippled in debt. They cry of financial hardship, of how they live from paycheck to paycheck, barely scrapping out a living of long hours and meager wages. They cry of injustice, how the richest 1 percent of America is currently in possession of approximately 40 percent of the nation’s collective wealth — an influence that they then allegedly abuse and exploit to their benefit.