Feature Archives

On Wednesday, July 8th, the Radical Teachers Alliance will host Jeff Duncan-Andrade from 5-7pm at UC Santa Cruz. The event is open to students, educators, and community members and will engage in ideas of critical pedagogy, student identity and education in urban settings. This is an opportunity to discuss ideas of theory connecting with actual classroom practices -- educators taking action to work towards equitable and empowering educational spaces.

On June 24, nearly five months after opening an investigation of University of California sociology professor William I. Robinson for alleged faculty misconduct, university officials abruptly announced that they have dismissed all charges and terminated the case. Robinson has been targeted by the Anti-Defamation League for forwarding images that made a historical comparison to the state violence of the Israeli military actions in Gaza with that of German Nazi Wehrmacht in Warsaw.

On June 17th, community members, organized by the newly formed Alliance Against Gang Enhancements, rallied and handed out flyers on the steps of the Santa Cruz County Courthouse and the corner of Ocean and Water to educate the public about the realities of gang enhanced sentences. Organizers say that the sentencing "enhancements" [sic] broadly criminalize youth and do not deter future gang crimes. Rather, they result in huge costs passed on to taxpayers and overcriminalize youth in marginalized communities.

For 30 years, Life Lab Science Program has been helping educators and students bring learning to life in the garden. Based in Santa Cruz, Life Lab has been a leader in the garden-based learning movement locally and across the nation. On May 30th, Life Lab celebrated its 30-year history with a birthday party in and around the Garden Classroom, located on the UC Santa Cruz Farm.

On May 28th, students, staff, workers, and faculty rallied at the base of the UC Santa Cruz campus to protest the UC administration’s decision to cut Community Studies department staff, Latin American Latina/o Studies professors, and director positions at the American Indian Resource Center and the Women’s Center. The rally was organized by the New UC coalition to ensure universal access to education, and to promote freedom of thought in the university.

At the May 16th ceremony for UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall law school graduates, World Can't Wait protested against Boalt Hall Law Professor and author of U.S. torture memos, John Yoo. The protest against torture called on graduates to demand that the UC law school not tolerate torture and those who are apologists for torture policies.

The Rock n' Roll On the Knoll Benefit Concert scheduled to occur on the UC Santa Cruz campus on Sunday, May 17th has been canceled. This was announced with very short notice on the afternoon of May 14th. Apparently, UCSC had to export some of it's police force to a graduation ceremony at UC Merced where Mrs. Obama will be speaking.