Santa Monica College (SMC) students protested against the two-tier course-pricing plan on April 3 during a board of trustees meeting.
The students who were all in the right to be angered by the two-tier course pricing plan that has been set to begin this upcoming Summer 2012 semester, protested only after their right to enter the room where the meeting was being hosted was denied to them.
Police officers who were outside the room pepper sprayed students that tried to make their way into the room and using excessive force to push back those that made their way to the doors.
An act that has been seen previously during a similar student protest at UC Davis back in November, 2011 when they hosted an Occupy Movement nonviolent-protest on campus.
Later, having to acknowledge publicly the exaggerated actions taken by officials, and apologizing to UC Davis students as well as community residents that were appalled by the events taken place.
Students never used excessive force against police officers in either the UC Davis or SMC protests, yet they were treated unfairly.
During these protests videos were recorded of the actions taken by officials, which can be found in various online sites such as www.yahoo.com, www.cnn.com, or www.latimes.com which show clear evidence of the excessive force used by police.
Students are concerned that the two-tier course pricing plan will make it harder for them to get into the classes they need in order graduate and/or transfer on time. As well as limit them more to the classes that will be open for them to sign up for, pushing them to have no choice but pay the higher fees for their education.
A plan that will only hurt students more in the long run, and will push many to drop which is what these school officials says they do not want to happen.
This use of pepper spray by the officers is an act that is both unnecessary and disrespectful to these student protestors. School Officials should be meeting with these students that are voicing their concerns to corroborate a plan that will have a higher acceptance upon the community and its students.