TREE SIT MEDIA REPRESENTATIVE RESPONDS TO UNIVERSITY'S ATTEMPT TO STIFLE FREE SPEECH

Last Monday, lawyers representing Jennifer Charles requested that the University of California's lawsuit attempting to stifle her free speech be dismissed. Charles, a UCSC alumnus, has been acting as the media contact for tree sitters preventing the University from beginning their plan to destroy 120 acres of forest. The tree sitters have been protecting groves of redwoods since Nov. 7, when over 500 people rallied in opposition to the increased University construction.

The UC Regent's lawsuit, filed on Dec. 14, requests that Charles and anyone else who might support the tree sit be banned from any trees on campus. Charles, who is not a tree sitter, apparently is named because of her work to publicize the issues raised by the tree sitters. "I trust that the courts are going to uphold my First Amendment rights to speak out against the University's planned destruction of unique ecosystems," said Charles.

The Santa Cruz campus is the richest and most ecologically diverse of all the schools in the UC system. Precious watershed regions, unique manzanita groves and hundred-year old redwood forests will be destroyed by the University's unfettered construction. 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.

The tree sit is necessary at this time because of the University's failure to meaningfully address the concerns of Santa Cruz city and county officials, community members, environmentalists and UCSC faculty and students. Instead of acting upon the concerns of the thousands of people who have voiced opposition to increased University construction, UCSC has poured their resources into suing people for providing humanitarian aid and media support to the tree sitters.

Ms. Charles' attorney, Dana Scruggs, said "The Regents' lawsuit against Ms. Charles is nothing more than a political lawsuit designed to stop political expression, the exact opposite of what our University system should be promoting. The Regents should be ashamed of themselves, wasting taxpayer dollars hiring lawyers in a futile attempt to silence one of their own alumni."

Email LRDPaction.media [at] gmail.com to request digital copies of the legal motions filed on Charles' behalf.