Feature Archives

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

On August 8th, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was un-welcomed to Salinas High School by members of the American Federation of Teachers, Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, Watsonville Brown Berets and other demonstrators. With an escort of police in cruisers and on motorcycles, Schwarzenegger's vehicle drove past a group of protesters and into a back entrance of Salinas High. Police quickly locked out the people who, in the theory of US Democracy, are supposed to be represented by the Governor.

The Federal Department of Homeland Security provided the Pentagon with information on anti-war protests at UC campuses last year, according to the most recent government documents released to the ACLU of Northern California. This disclosure includes two previously redacted reports on student protests at UC Berkeley and Santa Cruz. Following an administrative appeal, that information was released. Both bulletins indicate that the source of the information was "a special agent of the federal protective service, U.S. Department of Homeland Security."

Josh Sonnenfeld writes: As I read through the articles, stories and remembrances of former UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Denice D. Denton, I feel like I’m meeting her for the first time. I’m meeting the role model and mentor of women in science and engineering. I’m meeting the first openly queer woman to lead a major research university. I’m meeting the person who publicly challenged Harvard’s sexist President. I’m meeting the woman I, and most in the Santa Cruz community, never got the chance to know.

On June 7th, UC Santa Cruz students concerned about their missing journalism program asked questions of Bill Ladusaw, UCSC’s Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education. Ladusaw seemed to place blame on UCSC’s faculty for the loss of the journalism program, while dodging questions about the misappropriation of funds at the administrative level.