UC Davis Occupy Protesters Cause On-Campus Bank To Close
DAVIS (CBS13) - Causing a bank to lock its doors may end up costing students more than just easy access to an ATM.
The US Bank was the one bank branch on campus, but now it's closed for good after it became the target of several Occupy UC Davis protests.
"That is a success," said a student.
It's a win for the on-campus movement. Students staged repeated protests in front of the branch that blocked customers from entering, ultimately keeping the bank from doing business.
"I think that real change actually happened a few days ago when we got an actual branch of a very big national bank to leave campus," said Artem Raskin, an Occupy UC Davis protester.
Occupiers say the protests were peaceful, but US Bank feels differently. They called the situation "intolerable," saying their employees were imprisoned in the branch.
US Bank released this statement:
"Despite our best attempts, we were limited in our ability to resolve the matter and were forced to close the office."
And it ends a 10-year deal between the bank and the university. US Bank's presence on campus generated $160,000 a year for student programs.
"I think they should have stood to the side of the bank and said their peace then, and that's who it should have been done. But instead they won't even allow students who wanted that option to use it," said Cyrus Khorshidchehr, a student.
Some students feel the occupy movement infringed on their right to choose and ultimately hurts the students who use it.
"They also have to look at what is going to be best for the university and best for the students here in general, and shutting it down is costing our university a lot more money, which is just going to end up hurting our university and our students." said Yara Zokaie, a student.
US Bank says it will hold the university responsible for all of its losses including the cost of building the branch.
The $160,000 the bank contributed has some students now speculating whether their fees will now go up.
