Feature Archives

Oakland, Ca - Bill Shiebler, who is the President of the University of California Student Association (UCSA), released a statement in response to the recent police brutality against students at the UC and the Police Brutality Resolution that was passed at the UCSA Board on November 18th, 2006. On October 18th, 2006 during a demonstration at UC Santa Cruz, the police used batons and pepper sprays indiscriminately and without warning against students. On November 14th, 2006 UCLA Campus Police officers used their tasers several times against UCLA student Mostafa Tabatabainejad at the Powell Library.

On October 23, 2006, the administration of UC Santa Cruz spent tens of thousands of dollars bussing in at least three dozen police officers (from UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSC and possibly UCSF) to guard a Graduate & Professional School Fair from the student population. The plan worked magnificently - a solid steel fence was erected outside the fair (located at College 8), with cops surrounding the entire perimeter. Riot helmets sat on a nearby table, and half a dozen high-profile administrators stood ready for action. Within hours, the building had been transformed into a fortress, impenetrable to the hordes of violent, black-clad anarchists. Except, there was one thing the administrators hadn't planned for... there was no protest at all!

On November 14th, a student at UCLA who objected to showing his ID was repeatedly given electrical shocks with a Taser and then dragged from the campus library. Video posted to LA Indymedia and YouTube confirm witnesses reports of police brutality so extreme that some are describing it as torture. Video On November 17th, 500 students took part in a rally and march to campus police station.

On Thursday, November 16, nine DeNuke activists were forcefully dragged from the UC Regents meeting at UCLA after they informed the Regents that they would not allow the board to convene its committee in charge of UC’s nuclear weapons research, design, and manufacturing labs in Los Alamos, New Mexico and Livermore, California. The protesters argue that the resumption of manufacturing of plutonium bomb pits at the Los Alamos Lab has created a crisis situation in which they feel it is their responsibility to do whatever they can to prevent the UC Regents from facilitating nuclear militarism. Read more on LA-IMC.

On December 7th, Bay Area United Against War will celebrate the recent victory over JROTC with a potluck dinner at Compañeros del Barrio, at 474 Valencia St in San Francisco. The San Francisco Board of Education voted on Tuesday, November 14th to phase out its JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) program over a two-year period. It is believed that this is the first time any school district has eliminated an existing JROTC program. The Board of Ed members who voted in favor of eliminating JROTC from San Francisco’s schools are Dr. Dan Kelly, Sarah Lipson, Eric Mar, and Mark Sanchez.

At noon on October 18th, 2006, members of AFSCME 3299 and their supporters marched from the Bay Tree Plaza to the base of campus, where a roving picket line was held, followed by a rally. The workers have been engaged in a year-long struggle to receive wages similiar to those of neighboring colleges and universities where people can make up to 30% more for the same (or less) work. Over the summer, the California State Assembly passed legislation funding these wage increases, yet UC President Dynes has been holding the money hostage as a way of forcing union concessions over pension issues. Photos: 1 | 2

UC Santa Cruz students and workers held a protest against various UC policies and practices when the Regents visited the campus on October 18th, 2006. Their two central demands were the democratization of the UC system and that UCSC fix a series of core problems before considering expansion. After a standoff lasting hours, police targeted three activists, using their batons and pepper-spray against the crowd as they dragged the three into the building. Eventually, a deal was struck and the 3 students were charged and released, only after the Regents exited the building. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5