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On Saturday. September 27th at 11am, nearly a hundred workers from local UC campuses - including members of UPTE, the University Professional and Technical Employees union- converged in the Oakland hills to make pancakes for newly appointed president Mark Yudof at his Oakland Hills mansion on Woodmont Way. They demanded Yudof come out and explain how he intends to end poverty wages at the University of California.
AFSCME workers at all ten campuses and five hospitals have been in contract negotiations with UC management for nearly a year and even though ninety percent of the workforce is eligible for public assistance, UC executives have not moved.
 Photos
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Previous Coverage
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UPTE
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AFSCME Local 3299
On September 26th, San Francisco State students and members of the community marched and rallied outside and inside a campus career fair in order to oppose the presence of military recruiters and the Border Patrol.
Organizers of the protest say, "In a time where our economy is in a recession and students are struggling to pay for college with rising tuition it is no mistake that the War in Iraq and the amount of money spent on Homeland Security patrolling the borders is a crime against hard-working people in this country. Rather than the career fair bringing in these entities of discrimination and racism the career fair should promote jobs that serve to empower students at this institution of higher education in making a positive change."
Event Announcement
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2005 SF State Anti-Recruitment Protest
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Courage To Resist
After 10 months of occupying in 100-foot high redwood trees, tree sitters at UCSC's Science Hill are ready for students to return for school. The tree sitters say that their presence is more important than ever since the Santa Cruz City Council settled their lawsuit with the University. The settlement gives the City Council's blessing for UCSC to begin the first phase of their construction plan that will eventually destroy 120 acres of forest and add at least 4,500 new students to the area.
UCSC tree sitters have taken a stand against construction before it begins. Precious watershed regions, unique manzanita groves and hundred-year old redwood forests will be destroyed by the University's unfettered construction. The homes of such rare native animals as the burrowing owl and the endangered red-legged frog will be devastated. The University's plan sacrifices the unique ecosystems, as well as the highly esteemed liberal arts education that attracts many people to Santa Cruz. Following the trend of privatizing public universities, current students are paying more for education and receiving less. Read More
previous coverage: Tree Sitters Maintain Perch as UCSC Settles Lawsuit || With Students Gone, UCSC Tree-Sit on Alert || Standoff with Police as Activists Occupy Redwoods to Oppose UCSC Expansion
Following last month's raid of the venerable Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley, the San Francisco chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG-SF) says it is working with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on a legal response on behalf of the Infoshop. Court filings reveal that the University of California, Berkeley, police obtained a warrant to search the Long Haul as part of an investigation into e-mail messages sent to UCB staff in the spring of 2008. Prior to the raid, the UCPD used court orders to obtain identifying information from the Long Haul's internet service provider, Sonic.net, and from Google. UC police are still holding the computers and data storage devices seized from Slingshot newspaper and other Long Haul tenants for analysis by a forensics team.
According to Carlos Villarreal, Executive Director of NLG-SF, "the conduct of the UC Police is reprehensible. They entered a community activist space with deadly weapons drawn and seized every computer, making no distinction between those used by independent media and those open to public use. They were able to invade people's privacy and seize all of this equipment based on the claim that threatening emails were traced back to this location. This would never be tolerated at a public library, a Kinkos, or a corporation with multiple computers and multiple users. The tactics used were abusive and violated basic First and Fourth Amendment rights."
In response to the raid, Long Haul supporters have held a protest on the UCB campus and tech volunteers held a weekend workshop to setup a new, more secure computing environment for Long Haul users powered by donated computers and open-source software.
Read more: Protest pics | Affidavit used to obtain warrant | Search warrant and inventory | Related interview with Google
Previous Indybay Coverage: UCPD and Feds Raid Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley
Starting on Friday September 6th, U.C. Berkeley's Memorial Oak Grove started being cut down. As of Sunday, all of the trees that the University plans to cut were down except for a redwood that still has four tree sitters in it. Five people were arrested as they peacefully pleaded with arborists not to destroy the trees.
On August 9, the Santa Cruz city council and Coalition to Limit University Expansion (CLUE) reached a settlement agreement with UCSC over campus expansion. In response, the tree sitters occupying the area released a statement declaring that although Chancellor Blumenthal speculated that the tree sitters "have accomplished their goals," they will not be coming out of the trees. The tree sitters accuse the city and CLUE of never intending their lawsuit to protect the north campus trees and ecosystem, saying "Let the city and university make their agreements. We are here for the forest."
Consensual Liberation through Intimate Tactics Collective (C.L.I.T. Collective) is a collective of folks who have come together to open dialog about Sexual/Intimate Violence. CLIT Collective is hosting a series of classes as part of Free Skool Santa Cruz from July through September. A workshop on consent and sexual/intimate violence will be held on Wednesday, August 13th at 6:00pm in the library of the Zami! Co-op.
The workshop will continue to explore patriarchy in a local and global framework as well as its role in radical communities, and in a historical context in relation to Sexual Violence. Participants will also discuss the realities and misunderstandings of Sexual Violence committed by acquaintances as opposed to Sexual Violence committed by strangers. Read More
On July 22nd, Judge Barbara Miller upheld U.C. Berkeley's plans for an athletic training center in the Memorial Oak Grove. The order will end an injunction that had blocked destruction of the grove.
On Thursday, July 24th, the Berkeley City Council will likely make its final decision about whether or not to pursue an appeal. Supporters of an appeal plan will meet at the grove at 3:30pm and march to City Hall at 4pm before the 5pm public hearing.
On July 11th, about 30 people, brought together by Youth Coalition Santa Cruz (YCSC), the Resource Center for Nonviolence, and the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz, displayed a series of radical and contemplative statements to motorists on Highway 1 during rush hour. Dubbed, the "Freeway Banner Manifesto" by organizers, it was an attempt to present a different message on every overpass from Santa Cruz to Watsonville. 13 different banners were displayed for aproxiamately 45 minutes right in the middle of rush hour.
A participant and YCSC member dubbed "Katfish" had this to say, "I wanted to try to make the world a less bleak and depressing place by discussing these bleak and sometimes depressing issues in an uplifting way. I want to see reality for what it is; not only are the banners things that "normal" people don't normally think about, they're also things that people sometimes try not to think about beacuse they are so difficult. If people don't communicate feelings or important ideas than things won't progress and might even regress. We want to stop things from getting worse." Read More and View Photos
8,500 University of California workers represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) initiated a five-day strike at UC’s ten campuses and five medical centers. The strike, which began on July 14th, concluded on July 18th. At issue are poverty wages as low as $10 per hour. Many employees work 2-3 jobs and qualify for public assistance to meet their families’ basic needs.
Free Skool Santa Cruz is a completely grassroots effort, a bunch of individuals deciding to act collectively and autonomously to create a skill-sharing network beyond institutional control. Classes are informal, egalitarian, and are held in homes, social spaces and parks. Some of the classes offered this summer include DIY Parenting Circle, Upper Campus Forest Walk, Revenge of the Grammas, Ju-Jitsu
and more... Read More
On Tuesday June 18th, Judge Barbara Miller upheld a temporary injunction preventing U.C. Berkeley from developing an athletic center in the Memorial Oak Grove. Celebrations broke out among protesters as the news was announced. The University says they will continue taking down tree-sits and it is not clear how long the Oaks will be safe.
During summer break, the UCSC tree-sit is on high-alert of a possible attack. In Berkeley this week, police, professional tree climbers, and cherry pickers were used to cut the climb and supply lines of tree-sitters. Similar techniques could be used in Santa Cruz to remove protesters who've been in the trees since November 7, 2007.
June 19th Update: Treesitter and Indybay reporter Cricket, came down Thursday night after 3 days of fighting. He made a deal that resulted in his pictures being handed off to others who could post them to Indybay.
On Tuesday, June 17th, at least five hired contract workers arrived at 6:30am and climbed into the branches of the oak trees to take down tree-sit platforms.
Around 5pm, one woman tree-sitter was taken down from a tree and arrested.
Contract workers continued to take down parts of the tree-sit Wednesday and 3 protesters were arrested.
The University of California's superior work in nuclear weaponry is only the most blatant program of a university that has hired itself out to the US empire's dominant social, political, and economic institutions for nearly 140 years. Whether it is creating increasingly destructive war technologies, developing modern forms of monocrop and GMO agriculture, or producing ideologies that justify conquest and torture, the UC has collaborated with the world's premier corporate and military interests since its inception.
On June 2nd, the Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP) class at UC Santa Cruz hosted an evening entitled "The University is Unsustainable: militarism, nuclearism, corporatism and the UC." Student researchers Jono and Leah presented on UCSC's Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) while UCSC alumni Will Parrish and Darwin BondGraham focused on the University of California from 1868 to 2008, from the genocide of Indigenous Nations, the Spanish American War and the Manhattan Project, through to the present: a time of renewed nuclear-militarism and increasing corporatization and privatization of the University.  Read More and Listen to Audio
The UC Santa Cruz administration officially accepted a joint proposal of the Graduate Student Association, UAW and STIHC (Students for Trans-Inclusive Healthcare) for GSHIP (Graduate Student Health Insurance Plan) and USHIP (Undergraduate Student Health Insurance Plan) benefits. Effective this fall, GSHIP and USHIP will include a $75,000 lifetime benefit for transgender healthcare.
On June 6th, George Blumenthal was inaugurated as the 10th Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz during a ceremony on the East Field overlooking the Monterey Bay. Students and workers, organized through the Student and Worker Coalition for Justice (SWCJ) and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), rallied at UCSC, marched to the Chancellor's Inauguration and blocked California Highway One during a 10-hour day of action to end poverty wages at the University of California.
UC Santa Cruz Athletic Director Linda Spradley has been faced with budget cuts and has made an executive decision to cut both men's and women's water polo. The players have been given one chance to argue against the cut and they are asking for "all of our athletic programs, friends, families, just about anybody to come rally with us." A meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, June 4th at 5pm in Social Sciences 1, room #110.
A supporter states, "As we now know, it is not the lack of funds but priorities with these funds that is the problem. Water Polo is such an important aspect to many members of the UCSC community that we must come to this meeting in solidarity with their fight to save it." Read More
AFSCME Local 3299's strike, planned for June 4 - 5, has been postponed indefinitely. UC hired the infamous anti-union law firm Littler Mendelson, a firm that boasts on their website about their expertise in avoiding unionization and busting unions. Suddenly, UC Executives claimed to have new proposals for AFSCME and asked for negotiations to resume -- even though they already gave AFSCME their "last, best, and final proposal." In the eyes of a Republican-dominated state labor board, these alleged new proposals were enough to overturn AFSCME's right to strike.
University of California patient care and service staff announced the results of a statewide strike vote that took place between May 17th and May 22nd. Results were tabulated at midnight on May 22nd, and an overwhelming majority of voters voted to authorize the strike. The workers gave UC Executives notice that a strike could begin as soon as June 4th for the 20,000 workers at the University's five hospital/ten campus system.
anarchists write, "Over the last week, we took out six surveillance cameras from the exteriors of four different buildings on the University of California in Santa Cruz campus. This was an act of rebellion to the social control in our daily lives. These cameras are the eyes of the police. This task was easy to accomplish, and would be easy for anyone to reproduce."
3PM Wednesday Oct 15
Forest Walk!
6:15PM Tuesday Oct 21
Brower Youth Awards
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