Feature Archives

November 20th: UC Berkeley has completed the construction of a second barbed-wire fence around the Memorial Oak Grove, costing $80,000, enclosing approximately ten tree-sitters inside, and can fine or arrest anyone acting "in concert" with the tree-sitters. Oak supporters are calling for an 11am Thanksgiving Day gathering at the Grove. A group of mothers will bring holiday pies to feed the sitters, and a “Thanksgiving Turkey” will walk up to the grove with food for the tree defenders as well.

On November 14, a routine CIA information and recruitment session was suddenly disrupted on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara when a small group of student protesters walked in and lead a man with bound hands to the front of the room, where he was laid on a table and (voluntarily*) tortured with a CIA-approved technique used to simulate drowning, known as water-boarding. The CIA speakers were struggling to speak over the "torture victim's" coughs and cries for help, while potential CIA recruits looked on with bewilderment at the grotesquely real portrayal of torture.

The people of Santa Cruz continue to show their support for activists who have taken to the trees in opposition of UCSC's Long Range Development Plan. Santa Cruz community members have come to observe, to bring supplies and to thank the tree-sitters for taking a stand against UCSC's plan to add 4,500 new students and destroy 120 acres of forest. Among the visitors were Mayor Emily Reilly, who called the site "inspirational," and said that she would donate food from her bakery to the activists.

josh sonnenfeld writes, "The following timeline was included as part of my senior thesis for Feminist Studies, Spring 2007. The timeline starts with the founding of the University in 1965 and ends in November of 2006. There are many holes and gaps (hence it being 'incomplete'), but it's a compilation of much of the resources I could find and will hopefully help all of you to better understand UCSC and our activist tradition."

On the night of November 8th, police attempted to spy on the UCSC tree-sit and were foiled when protesters learned of their plans. A student saw a man in his early 20's get out of a police car and get on a bike heading towards the tree-sit. The student then called friends at the tree-sit, who confronted the man and asked him to leave.

Students at Fresno City College held a Free Speech celebration today. They are fighting for the right to hand out flyers to their fellow students, read poetry that is not censored, and to hold a banner for whatever cause they believe in.

Early in the morning of Wednesday, November 7th, activists opposed to UC Santa Cruz's Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) launched a tree-sit in redwoods near Science Hill. UCSC plans to develop the occupied site into a new Biomedical Sciences Facility. The facility would be the first project under the University's plan to develop 120 acres of forest in order to accommodate 4,500 new students.