On January 12th, two University of California police officers used pepper spray to disperse about 15 people gathered below an occupied redwood tree on Science Hill at UC Santa Cruz. One of the officers proclaimed that the group was trespassing and then both officers began pepper spraying people in their faces. Read More and View Photos

In response to this incident, an alumnus of UCSC and current staff member sent a letter to Jim Burns, the Director of UCSC's Public Information Office, asking him the following questions: "Is this a new UC policy that anyone who tries to help kids up in the trees is subject to pepper spray? Will the campus start pepper spraying and arresting anyone, faculty, staff, and students if they express support for the protest? Is legitimate protest such a threat to this institution that UC police have to crack down with excessive force on dissent? I thought protest was a long accepted UCSC tradition, or is that only when it is ineffective and not a threat to the UC status quo?" Read the Full Letter

Let's recall the issues... QB3, privatization of the university, etc.
Ike S. comments, "QB3 is the university institution behind the push for a 'biomedical sciences' building, and it's surprising that this has gone undiscussed - which is precisely what the university administration wants. Essentially, what this program does is to allow private industry to use the university as their private research park - thanks to the Bayh-Dole patent laws that allow corporations to patent scientific discoveries generated with taxpayer funds. This has created a corporate culture in university research departments and in the administration, in which the open exchange of information has been replaced by a new focus on generating profitable patents." Read More