Thursday, March 6, 2014

Students at UC Santa Cruz occupy university building, demanding a democratic university

Autonomous Students UCSC [facebook.com/AutonomousStudentsUCSC]: Join Us! Come to Hahn and join the students who are transforming the space of the Registrar & Cashier offices! A live stream in the Hahn building will be running all night: [www.ustream.tv/channel/ucsc-no-to-napolitano-sleepover] (Invite and links posted 2014-03-05)

Solidarity from a Retired Union Worker: "A positive event. Free college education with a stipend for expenses. Worker, Student, and Faculty control of the university. Link up with the trade unions and supportive community groups to defend and advance your demands. At present power is in the hands of the corporations and needs to be in the hands of the working class and all producers of the world's wealth. Victory to the UCSC Student Occupation!"

Comment from a UCSC student: "Berkeley activists were at the UCSC occupation. Berkeley students spoke at UCSC during the Hahn occupation. Likewise, UCSC students traveled to Berkeley for the Blum Center occupation."

Call to action from Ergoat, a Student Power organizer:
"Want to communicate/collaborate? It's nice that everyone managed to de-occupy without UCPD using batons or pepperspray. But no demands were met either. From a 50 hour Anthropology Library Occupation during Occupy Cal 1/21/12 that saw the UC admins give in to ALL of our demands: [ergoat.blogspot.com/2012/01/victory.html]. Let's talk about tactics, RE: getting rid of Napolitano, the Regents, and Fuck Privatization!"

"UCSC Students Shut Down Registrar, Occupy Hahn Building"
2014-03-05 by Alex Darocy [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/03/05/18752052.php]:
Students at UC Santa Cruz marched to Hahn Student Services Building this afternoon and are currently occupying the Office of the Registrar, which was shut down shortly after students arrived. They are calling for the resignation of Janet Napolitano and for all UC worker demands to be met. [Top photo: Students arrived at the Hahn Building shortly after 3pm]

35 students are currently in the front area of the first floor of the building, having a discussion in front of the Registrar's counter where students normally pay their tuition. They are deciding if they will stay the night.
Down the hallway in the back of the building, two community safety officers and one campus police officer are sitting and eating. They say they will be staying in the building all night for the "safety of the students."
Students have listed their demands as follows (a modified set of the demands students issued around the time of the Blum Center occupation in Berkeley):
1. We demand the resignation or impeachment of Janet Napolitano as UC President immediately.
2. We demand that next and all future UC presidents be someone who
a) is elected by students and faculty
b) has an extensive and positive background in education
c) works towards completely eliminating student debt through full subsidization
d) comes from and has worked with communities in California
e) supports all programs/resources that serve underrepresented communities;
3. The appointment of Napolitano exposes the undemocratic process by which the UC system makes decisions. In order to address this structural problem we demand a restructuring  of this process which includes:
a) a campus wide election for all future UC regents; this includes having the ability to nominate, endorse, and campaign for candidates
b) the power to impeach both UC presidents and regents
c) a general democratization of the regents to include true participation by students and faculty in the central decision making processes of the University.
UC Santa Cruz students added that they want all UC worker demands to be met.
---
2014-03-05 update by Alex Darocy: Students decide to stay the night at Hahn!
Students have decided to stay the night at the Hahn building and are currently discussing their options for the evening.

Union Solidarity Song (recorded by Alex Darocy)

Singing in the Hahn building (recorded by Alex Darocy)


"March 5-6 UCSC Hahn Occupation Statement"
2014-03-06 by Autonomous Students [indybay.org/newsitems/2014/03/06/18752148.php]:
This past week has demonstrated that students and workers have tremendous power. We have shown that we have the capacity to pursue collective action and have our demands met. The threat of a five-day strike by AFSCME prompted the UC to concede to their demands, and on Tuesday, the UAW was likewise able to receive full concessions for their grievances in response to their own threatened strike.
Last night about fifty students occupied the Hahn Student Services building for eighteen hours, demanding the resignation of recently appointed UC president Janet Napolitano. The occupation was in response to a call for solidarity by the UC Berkeley Students of Color Solidarity Coalition, following their occupation of the Blum Center on the occasion of President Napolitano’s visit to the campus.
We stand in opposition to Janet Napolitano for many reasons. For one, she has no past experience as an educator, nor does she have knowledge of the issues that are specific to California. Additionally, as the head of the Department of Homeland Security, our new UC president was responsible for the deportation of 1.6 million people, causing immense suffering for countless families and loved ones.
At the University of California she is continuing this role, imposing the logic of crisis management, one that has been unfolding since the financial crisis several years ago when budget cuts and fee hikes were unilaterally passed without any student approval. Her record is an index of repressing the self-organization of students and workers combatting increasingly precarious working and living conditions – of using fear, force, and violence to further the exploitation of labor.
Starting at 2:30 PM yesterday, students gathered for a rally at which it was made clear that the AFSCME and UAW victories should not be accepted piecemeal but should be a part of a longer struggle. After a march to McHenry Library, more than a hundred-strong, students went to the Hahn Student Services building and subsequently occupied it. Speakers from a number of organizations such as MEChA, Students Informing Now (SIN), Committee for Justice in Palestine (CJP) and Youth Immigrant Coalition spoke at the occupied space and discussion groups were spontaneously formed, allowing students to talk about their future, both inside and outside the university.
Hahn was transformed into a site for students to meet and have face-to-face conversations, talking about various issues that they are unable to have in the normal everyday activities of university life. For a temporary period of time, this building truly belonged to the students, as a place to gather forces. And this is only the beginning. We call on other campuses to take up the fight, to continue escalating this struggle, just as we call for others on our campus to join us in reflection and action.
[signed] - Autonomous Students


"Students End Hahn Occupation"
2014-03-06 by Alex Darocy [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/03/06/18752138.php]:
Students at UC Santa Cruz left the Hahn student services building today after occupying it for nearly 18 hours. Approximately 30 students decided as a group to leave; all of them were undergraduates. Before exiting the building they cleaned the area they occupied and then sang songs of solidarity and protest. The occupation was in support of UC workers and in continued opposition to the appointment of Janet Napolitano as president of the University of California system.

At 6am, approximately eleven police officers arrived on the scene. All but two of them left, however, as students spent some time deciding how to proceed with the occupation. The earliest public counters in the student services building open at 8am, and though workers arrived and entered the offices, they didn't unlock the doors that open out to the Registrar's counters. Students were never told by the administration to leave, or that they were trespassing, but at 6:30am a UC administrator informed them that they were in the building at a time when it was not open to the "public".
After some discussions, students decided to leave Hahn on their own terms. As they were leaving, shortly before 9am, they chanted "We'll be back!"
All the group left at the protest location were modest paper signs placed on the restroom doors which re-designated the spaces as gender neutral.
Within minutes of the students' departure, a unionized AFSCME worker arrived to do some light cleaning in the wake of the occupation. When asked if he supported their demonstration, he replied warmly, "Of course I do!"


"UCSC Students Shut Down Registrar, Occupy Hahn Building (part 2)"
2014-03-06 photos and text by Alex Darocy [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/03/06/18752080.php]:
On March 5, students at UC Santa Cruz rallied in support of UC workers and in continued opposition to the appointment of Janet Napolitano as president of the University of California system. After a short rally at Quarry Plaza, students eventually marched to the Hahn student services building, which they decided to occupy indefinitely.

Quarry Plaza

Quarry Plaza

Quarry Plaza

Quarry Plaza

 UC Office of the President 510-987-9074

Marching to McHenry Library

End the Neoliberalization of Public Education

Marching to the Hahn Building

Students Occupy Hahn Building

Students break into groups in the Hahn Building

How are fee hikes and budget cuts related to worker exploitation?

Sharing what the groups discussed

Hahn Building

Cashier

UC Berkeley student speaks: A UC Berkeley student who participated in the recent "No 2 Napolitano" demonstration at UCB speaks. For more information about that demonstration and occupation, see: "UC Berkeley Students Occupy Blum Center" [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/02/14/18750926.php]

Student Housing Services

Long Live the Bolivarian Revolution & Michoacan

Food Supplies

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