Graduate students throughout the University of California system are engaging in some precarious extra-curricular activities.

And, when it comes to strikes, don’t forget to look for the union label.  At one school, the unrest during these protests has escalated.

One day after 20 undergraduate students were arrested at the University of California Santa Cruz during a strike, two more protesters were arrested as marches continued Thursday.

Violence broke out for the first time on Thursday when a young woman struck an officer in the head, UCSC spokesman Jim Burns said. A second woman was arrested for refusing to move out of a road.

UC Santa Cruz remained open Thursday as students and employees were shuttled around the strike. At 1:30 p.m. strikers had all entrances blocked, but the west entrance was clear again by 2 p.m.

Many more Banana Slugs were arrested Wednesday morning. Campus police armed with riot gear asked students who were peacefully protesting to disperse from the university’s west entrance on Empire Grade Road.

They were ordered to move three times by police because they were blocking the entrance. When they did not, 20 were arrested on misdemeanor charges such as failing to disperse and being pedestrians in a roadway.

Burns said 19 of the protesters acted peacefully and quietly as they were restrained with plastic restraints and transported on a bus to the Santa Cruz County Jail. One student pretended he was shot with a Taser, yelled, had to be forced by multiple officers onto the bus, and was charged with resisting arrest.

“The first individual fell to the ground, started flailing his arms and legs around, alleging he was being roughed up. Really, the officers were just trying to arrest him. He was not Tasered,” Burns said.

The strike is being held for the university’s graduate student employees, who are represented by the United Auto Workers union. The union informed UCSC last week that it was going to hold a 2-day strike at four University of California campuses to protest unfair labor practices and intimidation of workers April 2-3.

Strikes are also happening at UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, and UC Davis. Union spokeswoman Caroline McKusick described the four strikes as peaceful and legal.

The Santa Cruz strike began at sunrise Wednesday when a picket line blocked UC Santa Cruz’s main entrance on Bay and High streets. Police diverted traffic to the west entrance until students marched over there and blocked that entrance as well.

Because of the strike, some professors held their classes off campus or cancelled them.