"What do we do? Stand up, fight back!" they chanted.
They wanted commencement speakers to boycott the event. Protesters say they are upset the university has not taken action yet on a list of demands that recently sparked a ten-day hunger strike. Those demands include dropping charges against student activists and rehiring laid off workers.
"We want to continue our jobs. We don't want to lose our homes. We don't want to end up foreclosed or out on the street. We want our children to be able to go to University of California because it's such a good university," UC Berkeley gardener Frank Chapeot told ABC7.
The university did not comment on Sunday's protest and despite the picket, commencement speaker Tiffany Shlain gave the graduation's keynote address as scheduled.
She is known as the creator of the Webby Awards.
