Feature Archives

Outraged over the undemocratic nature of the University of California Board of Regents and the Regents’ continued management of the national nuclear weapon labs, on March 19th, students from the Coalition to Free the UC took nonviolent direct action at the UC Regents meeting at UCSF Mission Bay campus in an attempt to obstruct their ability to meet. Over 100 students from five UC campuses participated in the day of action as part of March 19th Direct Action to Stop the War.

Maestra writes, "The Pajaro Valley Unified School District board of trustees voted to send pink slips to 201 teachers, nurses, and school support staff. In a desperate move to balance a budget and save their own jobs, the administrators of PVUSD have decided not to trim the fat from the top of the pyramid, rather preserving their high salary positions while instead removing a possible 130 teachers from the classroom. What does this look like for students? Larger class size, for one."

Teachers at the San Francisco Institute of English will go on strike starting Monday, March 17 at 8:30 am to demand livable wages and the return of health care benefits. The English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers have not had a cost-of-living adjustment in 12 years and have been without health care benefits since 2004. The strikers are asking for community support on the picket line and for their strike fund.

On March 11th, hundreds of protesters gathered in San Francisco, calling for the state to prioritize California's children and their education and demanding job security for educators. Governor Schwarzenegger's 2008-09 budget proposes a $4.8 billion cut in state education funds. Preparing for this eventuality, the San Francisco Board of Education sent out 535 pink slips to teachers and administrators this week.

Cruz Molina, one of two UCSC freshman targeted for supporting anti-expansion protests, was scheduled to have a student hearing on March 13th at the UCSC Inn in Santa Cruz. Supporters of Cruz say he is being scapegoated and that the UC is trying to hold him responsible for all past, present and future actions of the tree-sit protest. Without explanation, UCSC canceled the hearing.

As the longest running festival of its kind, the UCSC Women of Color Film and Video Festival has sparked dialogue across communities – locally, nationally, and trans-nationally – by providing a platform for critical explorations at the intersections of race, nation, class, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality. The festival took place March 14th and 15th at UC Santa Cruz along with spoken word and hip-hop on Friday night at the Hide Gallery in Santa Cruz.

On March 10th, Judge Paul Burdick of the Santa Cruz County Superior Court ruled that the University of California's lawsuit was an attack on the first amendment rights of at least two tree sit supporters. A motion to strike from the lawsuit tree sit Media Support person Jennifer Charles and tree sit supporter Oliver Schmid was granted. Because the case involved the first amendment, the University will be asked to pay Charles' and Schmid's lawyers fees, on top of the money spent serving the injunction and on the University's own lawyers.