There are many valid points being made on this page. I just wanted for a moment to be a voice for the protesters, who have had much said about them but have said little in return. (I did not take part in any way in the protests, I just feel a degree of empathy with those who did)
Valid points have been made, about the efficacy of this as a tactic, of the morality of keeping people from their appointments, of shutting down the routes for emergency services to get through. However, in all this, there has been an aspect that really irks me, that I think would irk me if I were involved in these protests, that I think it would do us all well to understand so we can have these conversations effectively and justly. Or do we want to just complain mindlessly and pointlessly?
Most of the popular comments in all these online discussions have included some personal insult to the students, something to the effect of "what were they thinking, if they even were thinking, they must be so dumb how are they even at UCSC". It benefits us, as critics of this protest, to not rely on weak, logically fallible ad hominem arguments (attacks on the person, rather than on their argument). It's possible to be personally disadvantaged and to not agree on tactics without resorting to name calling and other disrespectful attitudes.
If we are to be a cohesive society, we can't respond to misbehavior with outright rejection, even of those we feel have wronged us. Is it possible for us to understand, even a little bit, the actions of these people? Are they wrong for thinking there are injustices in how we run things? Are they idiots for seeing the dynamic relationships between these seemingly (to some) disparate areas of concern? Can they be entirely dismissed in thinking that shutting the highway down would be an attention-grabbing, "revolutionary" act? Remember that none of us is perfect; we all make mistakes, some of which manifest more publicly than others. Some think it's good to go out drinking the night before a test, some think it's good to shut down a highway in the name of justice.
The central question at this point, it seems to me, is: Do we want these students to live from this moment on in increasing bitterness and rejection of society, or do we want to talk to them, listen to them, and teach them how to work with us to make society better through constructive, positive action?