Feature Archives

May 7th marks the 6th month anniversary of the tree-sit on Science Hill at UC Santa Cruz, and of the two-month ground occupation which was born in torn fencing and broken police lines. There will be a gathering at 8pm underneath the tree-sit for an open-ended collective celebration. The tree-sit has been a continuous act of resistance against the University's expansion plans, including a Biomedical Sciences Facility at the site of the tree-sit and the development of over 120 acres of Upper Campus' redwood and chaparral.

Thirty-eight years ago, on May 4, 2008, at Ohio’s Kent State University, the National Guard opened fire on students protesting the US war in Vietnam. The students were shot from distances of 275 to 400 feet, giving lie to claims that the students posed a threat to the Guardsmen. Four students were murdered and nine were injured. Nobody ever did time for those murders.

The Movement for Immigrant Rights Alliance (M.I.R.A.) called for a rally at UCSC and march to Santa Cruz on May 1st, May Day, to demand the DREAM Act be passed in the U.S., a stop to ICE raids, the construction of a day laborer center in Santa Cruz, a fair contract for AFSCME workers and an end to the militarization of borders. Hundreds of families, students and workers participated in May Day activities in Watsonville which included free legal consultations, a rally in the plaza with speakers, musicians, face painting and a brinkolin (jump house) for kids.

Over 600 SFSU students walked out of their classes and blocked traffic May 1st to protest further cuts to California's education system. The students protested a proposed increase to next semester's fee increase, which is an increase of 113 percent since 2002. The proposed increase of student fees are a part of a $14.65 million cut to next year's SFSU budget and part of a larger $4.8 billion budget cut to California's education system. As a result essential services will have to be cut, people will lose their jobs, students will have fewer classes and be forced to pay more for less.

The All-Alumni Reunion Luncheon held in the College 9/10 multipurpose room at UC Santa Cruz on April 26th was interrupted when students marched in demanding fair contracts for UCSC's underpaid service workers. The luncheon was part of the annual UCSC Reunion Weekend where alumni were invited back to campus to "learn how innovation is going global, sip wine, tour new facilities on campus, explore the "unnatural" history of UCSC, and more..." The brief interruption was widely supported by alumni who clapped, smiled, listened, and took souvenir photos as students passed out flyers, chanted and spoke on stage to inform alumni about the contract campaign for UC service workers.

On April 22nd, Students Against War organized a counter-recruitment action against the presence of military recruiters at UCSC's "Last Chance Job & Internship Fair." Outside the career fair, students demonstrated with banners, flyers, zines, photos from Iraq, theatre of tortured detainees, juggling and more. Meanwhile on the inside, student protestors were dancing, questioning military and FBI recruiters, chanting and otherwise disrupting the recruiting efforts of the FBI, Army, Marines and Police.

Thousands of students from around the Monterey and San Francisco Bay Areas participated in a "Four Twenty" celebration in Porter Meadow at UC Santa Cruz on April 20th, 2008. Four Twenty (420) is a time of day when people, often a group of friends, smoke cannabis together or eat foods cooked with it. For that reason, April 20th has evolved into a counterculture holiday where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis.