Mother of UCSC student arrested in protest speaks out

Six UC Santa Cruz students were arrested Tuesday after shutting down part of Highway 1 to protest tuition hikes.

The mother of Lori Nixon, one of the six people arrested,contacted News Channel 5 after she found out about her daughter’s arrest on our website.

“I was reading along, going ‘please not be Lori, please not be Lori,’ but then there was Lori,” said Lorita Nixon. Passionate about her beliefs, Nixon said her daughter has always stood up for what she believes.

“I thought she was going to be one of the support people. I didn’t realize she was going to be one of the ones to shut down the freeway,” said Nixon.

That’s probably part of the reason why she chose UC Santa Cruz to pursue her education.

“The campus does have a rich history of protest and we support that right, but the area where that gets drawn is when it starts impinging on other people’s rights,” said Scott Hernandez-Jason with UCSC.

Drivers were unhappy as protestors shut down the roadways in Santa Cruz for several hours.

“I apologize for that. I didn’t realize that this was going to be done. They probably could have come up with a different way to get support,” said Nixon.

However,Nixon said while she doesn’t always agree with the method, she’s proud of the passion behind the protest.