UCPD arrested around two dozen labor union demonstrators who staged a sit-in during a public comment session at the UC Board of Regents’ May meeting.

The board held its bimonthly meeting May 13 to 15 at UC San Francisco. Students, faculty and community members from across the UC addressed the regents during three public comment sessions, calling on them to bolster support for undocumented and international students, expand programs to prevent food insecurity and raise staff wages.

The arrested union members urged the regents to settle a contract that provides them with livable wages, health care and benefits.

Several speakers also called on the UC to divest from weapons manufacturers linked to Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip during the May 13 public comment session.

Lily Grodzins, a rising second-year student at UC Berkeley, said she believes the University should prioritize investing in its workers over defense contractors. She added that she has friends in Gaza – including one who cannot afford basic necessities and another who was trapped under rubble for 72 hours.

“I refuse to graduate holding a blood-soaked diploma,” Grodzins said.

Ruhan Katre, a Berklee College of Music alumnus, said he believes the UC is complicit in the famine and death of civilians in Gaza. He added that, in his view, there is no justification for continued investment in weapons manufacturers.

“We are no longer asking nicely for divestment,” Katre said. “We are demanding the UC completely divest from companies who fuel Israelis’ genocide of Palestinian people.”

Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 60 people in recent days, and over 53,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to the Associated Press.

On May 14, several speakers also urged the UC to increase resources for undocumented and international students.

Sandra Oseguera Sotomayor, a doctoral student at UC Berkeley, called on the UC to improve communication efforts so all students – especially those most vulnerable – receive timely, accurate information and feel connected to their campuses.

“Graduate students who already face immense challenges are now living with heightened anxiety,” she said. “Some carry the heavy burden of not knowing if they will be asked to abandon the lives they have carefully built.”

Hyerim Yoon, a third-year English and history student at UCLA, urged the regents to protect undocumented and international students by ensuring emergency protocols prioritize noncitizen and marginalized communities.

Yoon, the director of academic advocacy for the Undergraduate Students Association Council international student representative, said she feels that a UC-wide emergency action plan needs to be created and that safeguards must be tailored specifically to international students.

Yoon – the USAC transfer student representative-elect – added that she believes the UC’s response to the recent mass revocation of international student visas was “shamefully passive, pathetic and delayed.”

“The University cannot call itself a global institution if it cannot protect the very students who crossed oceans to be here,” Yoon said.

[Related: ‘It’s unpredictable’: International Bruins react with concern to visa revocations]

Sherry Zhou, a third-year communication and political science student and USAC external vice president-elect, said UCLA’s student legal services center currently employs just one immigration attorney. She added that she finds it “ridiculous” that the UC has not invested in more legal staff at both the campus and systemwide levels.

Carl Maier, a third-year political science student, said there is an exponential need for basic needs support across the UC. Maier, the president of Swipe Out Hunger at UCLA – a student-led organization that provides meal voucher programs, food drives and food recovery – added that UCLA faces some of the highest levels of food insecurity in the UC system.

[Related: Bruin to Bruin: Swiping Out Hunger with Rachel Sumekh]

Victoria Tong, a third-year student and member of BruinDine – a program that recovers untouched food from dining halls for redistribution – said 39% of UCLA’s students are food insecure. She added that additional funding from the UC would allow BruinDine to invest in necessary equipment such as insulated food pan carriers and refrigerator units and to expand its reach.

Kelly Truong, a third-year sociology student and the incoming external vice president of Swipe Out Hunger, said she believes basic needs programs are essential to supporting marginalized communities in higher education.

She added that international students and students of color often face the greatest barriers to food access and called on the regents to fund Swipe Out Hunger’s grocery and meal supplement programs, hire full-time staff and expand basic needs support.

“There is a dire need for investment in these basic needs initiatives,” Truong said.

During the May 15 public comment session, community members addressed campus antisemitism and advocated for higher wages for UC employees.

Eli Bernstein, a second-year student at UC San Diego, said he appreciated the regents’ efforts to support Jewish students this year and believes the UC must build upon these actions going forward.

“The rot of antisemitism is truly beyond comprehension, with the active dismissal of Jewish voices and Jewish history permeating too many classrooms and tenure positions,” Bernstein said.

Elissa McBride, the secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees – a union representing 1.6 million public service workers nationwide and over 37,000 workers across the UC – said the UC should provide its workers with the compensation and resources they need to “live with dignity.”

McBride said the UC’s reputation as a world-class institution rests on the labor of its employees, including custodians, nurses and surgical technicians. She added that the regents play a key role in helping shape contract negotiations.

“The eyes of our union are on you. The eyes of the labor movement are on you. The eyes of our nation are on you,” McBride said.

Michael Avant, president of AFSCME Local 3299 – which represents patient care, service and skilled craft workers across the UC – said more than 13,000 UC employees have left their positions amid falling wages over the past three years.

He added that he was disappointed by the UC’s most recent contract offer – delivered April 30 – which meets the union’s original demand of a $25 per hour minimum wage and a 5% wage increase.

[Related: AFSCME Local 3299, UPTE-CWA 9119 announce May 1 strike against UC]

Avant said the proposal will ultimately worsen conditions, including through a permanent wage reduction and increased health care costs taken out of employee paychecks.

Kim Tavaglione, the executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, said workers across the UC have already gone on strike four times and have been fighting for fair wages and benefits for months. She urged the regents to settle a fair contract and ensure employees have living wages, health care and benefits.

“Values are not something that sit on paper and you read at the beginning of a meeting,” Tavaglione said. “They’re something that you need to live by. So, please, live by your words.”

Following the conclusion of the May 15 public comment period, demonstrators in solidarity with the union staged a sit-in in support of UC laborers, chanting, “Whose university? Our university.” About two dozen demonstrators were arrested, with the UC saying in a statement that community members must follow Time, Place and Manner rules.

“Enough is enough,” Avant said. “UC, you need to get your priorities straight.”