Feature Archives

Anti-war protesters celebrated on February 13th after having forced the US Army's Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB) to cancel the second day of its annual conference at UC Santa Barbara. The day prior, over 500 UCSB students and Santa Barbara community members disrupted the conference to demand an end to UC complicity in weapons research designed to kill Iraqis in an illegal war. The ICB is a $50 million Army-funded research institute hosted by UCSB, with sub-contracts at MIT and Caltech.

On February 4th, lawyers representing Jennifer Charles requested that the University of California's lawsuit attempting to stifle her free speech be dismissed. Charles, a UC Santa Cruz alumnus, has been acting as the media contact for tree sitters at UCSC protesting the University's plan to destroy 120 acres of forest. The tree sitters have been protecting groves of redwoods since November 7th, when hundreds of people rallied in opposition to the increased University construction.

From February 4th through the 8th, Students for Justice in Palestine held a series of protests and teach-in as part of Israeli Apartheid Week at UC Berkeley. On February 6th there was a rally on Sproul Plaza with Barbara Lubin from Middle East Children's Alliance and other community leaders.

The 7th annual Campus Earth Summit was held on January 31st at UC Santa Cruz. The well-attended event was organized by the Student Environmental Center and the Sustainability Office at UCSC and featured local speakers, a 'low carbon' lunch sourced from local organic farms, workshops on reducing 'carbon footprints' and conversations about environmental sustainability at UCSC. The summit was held in conjunction with Focus the Nation, a nationwide climate change teach-in happening simultaneously at over 1,000 colleges and universities across the USA.

February 3rd marked the first night of Kinetic Poetics Project, a five day poetry and spoken word festival at UCSC's Porter College Theater. Each night, the Kinetic Poetics Project provides a space for local and student poets to showcase their work for the community and highlights an established poet. As a supplement to the featured poets' performances, the Kinetic Poetics Project has arranged free poetry and writing workshops facilitated by the poets themselves.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299 contract with the University of California (UC) expired on January 31st. AFSCME members (custodians, food service workers, gardeners, maintenance workers, shuttle drivers, and medical center workers), students, teachers, and community allies rallied at UCSC's Baytree Plaza on January 31st, then marched to the Chancellor's Office at Kerr Hall to demand justice for UC's lowest wage workers.

On Friday, February 1st, UC Berkeley's "Activism Right There" festival will culminate with an event that aims to catalyze a student community dedicated to cross-cultural organizing, political engagement and service. The festival will involve over thirty different student organizations and communities, as well as youth and community organizations from throughout the Bay Area.