Occupation at UCSC similar to TBNYU's

Last Thursday, Occupy California, an activist group at the University of California, Santa Cruz tweeted about a "dance party" on campus.

But attendees of the "dance" were not there for a party — they organized, then marched with approximately 45 students to the school's commons area and began an occupation there around 5 p.m. PST.

For NYU students, the concept may seem familiar.

Last February, Take Back NYU, an activist group at NYU, encouraged students to attend a "dance party" at the Kimmel Center that eventually turned into a three-day student occupation.

The UCSC students occupied to protest graduate student job cuts, forced faculty furloughs and a tuition increase of over 30 percent midway through the year. The occupation follows a campus walkout initiated by faculty on Sept. 24.

Although Occupy California has no formal relationship with TBNYU, OC spokesperson Christopher Barkan said his group was influenced by the Kimmel occupation.

"We are working within the same logic," he said. "They are in solidarity with us."

TBNYU posted on its website, "Take Back NYU! stands in ecstatic solidarity with the occupiers at UC Santa Cruz. Take back your school! OCCUPY EVERYTHING!"

Barkan said that some people from OC know students from TBNYU. But Emily Stainkamp, a spokesperson for TBNYU, said she doesn't know anyone from OC.

Regardless, Stainkamp said she was happy to see another group of students protest at a large university.

"I think that the kind of financial necessity that so many students have going into higher education and the impending debt that's associated with it is really relevant everywhere," she said. "It's really heartening to see that students are moving to action."

As of press time, OC has announced three dance parties and barricaded itself in the commons area for more than 48 hours. Some UCSC students not occupying the room have coordinated food drives to deliver food to the protesters.

Barkan said: "We want students to know that having fun is a way of protesting."