Amid a violent protest, the California State University Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to raise next year’s tuition by 9 percent. The hike, which will increase undergraduate tuition $498 to $5,970, marks the third board-approved increase in a just over a year.

Board members, who met in Long Beach, moved to a second location for the vote after demonstrators tried to enter the meeting room, shattering a glass door. CSU spokeswoman Liz Chapin said four students were arrested: two from Cal State Long Beach, one from San Diego State University and one from the University of California, Los Angeles. One officer suffered a head trauma when a protester punched him, and two more received cuts when the glass shattered. Chapin said campus police used pepper spray to push the protesters back.

Some of the protesters were members of the group ReFund California, which also behind a demonstration in downtown San Francisco Wednesday afternoon against cuts to public education. Protesters during that event blocked streets and took over a Bank of America branch.

The CSU board has approved two other tuition increases in the past year: a 10 percent increase last November and a 12 percent increase in July. Tuition has increased nearly $1,500 since the 2010-11 academic year.

The new fee increase, which was approved in a 9-6 vote, will be used to “restore access, course sections and students services” for the upcoming year, according to an agenda for Wednesday's meeting.

CSU board member Tom Torlakson, who also serves as the state superintendent of public instruction, told the Bay City News Service earlier Wednesday that he opposed the hike.

“Fee increases should be our very last resort, not our first option. And yet for the last decade, fees have marched steadily upward, shifting the Legislature's failure to support our state universities onto the backs of our students and their families," he said.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who voted against the tuition increase, criticized fellow board members for voting “behind closed doors” after the protest got out of hand. Chapin disagreed, saying the meeting was open to the public.

Newsom called on the board to revisit the matter during its meeting next month and "hold an open debate, with full public comment and members of the media present."

"Whatever the rationale, this issue is simply too important to not allow for a full and thorough public discussion,” Newsom said in a statement.