Feature Archives

On February 25th, a banner was placed on the Humanities 2 building at UC Santa Cruz displaying support for the upcoming March 4th strike. The banner reads "Strike March 4. Stop Privatization!" and criticizes the trend the UC has taken of prioritizing building construction over student instruction. The action also serves to mobilize protestors for March 4th, the statewide day of action against the privatization of public education.

A National DREAM Week of Action kicked off on February 22nd and will last until Friday, February 26th. Students across California and 16 other states are organizing in support of the DREAM Act, a piece of federal legislation that would provide a pathway to legalization for undocumented students educated in the U.S. Every year, 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools, but these students face serious barriers to higher education.

On Monday through Thursday, February 8-11, UCSC staff and students will hold demonstrations at a different dinning hall for each of the four days, from 11:30am-1:30pm to protest the rising cost of student fees while student services are being slashed; major cuts to labor time while forcing workers to perform more labor; and workers, being rushed through their shifts, aren’t able to thoroughly clean dining halls, resulting in unsanitary eating commons and an unsafe working environment.

The Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), a collective providing cannabis under California’s 1996 Compassionate Use Act (Prop. 215), along with the city and county of Santa Cruz, have reached a settlement in their unprecedented lawsuit against the federal government. WAMM's case was prompted by the US Drug Enforcement Administration's raid of their medicinal garden in Davenport on September 5, 2002, in which armed agents terrorized residents and patients, and seized more than 160 cannabis plants.

The first annual Earth First! California Roadshow will be traveling through the state this month to build connections between bioregions and different ecological resistance groups, and to promote the upcoming Organizers' Conference and Winter Rendezvous in Santa Barbara. About a dozen events are scheduled, including stops in Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and Fresno.

The Santa Cruz Planning Commission passed a new medical marijuana dispensary ban recommendation in mid-November, essentially rubber-stamping the staff's proposal. It mirrors the 'Reefer Madness' hysteria of other cities, eager to demonize and limit marijuana sales.

On December 14th, Teachers for Class War interviewed Linda Nathan. She's the author of "The Hardest Questions Aren’t on the Test: Lessons from an Innovative Urban School," about her experience as founding headmaster of Boston's only public high school for the visual and performing arts, the Boston Arts Academy.