Art intervention at Bancroft and Telegraph, one of the main entrances to the UC Berkeley campus
(UPDATED 6/22/12: 1) Center for Artistic Activism’s Actipedia site; 2) Radio Interview)
On Tuesday, May 8, in the midst of final exam week, a group of female students performed a public art action at UC Berkeley to call attention to the UC Regents’ privatization of what was once the premier public university in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
From Resistance Social:
*please call, and please distribute this email widely. put it on
blogs, facebook, etc*On April 9th – 11th, we’re calling District Attorney Nancy O’Malley and asking that she drop the charges on the Sproul 13. Please join us! It only takes a few minutes… Read the rest of this entry »
(UPDATED 3/13/12, see below)
November 9, 2011 was the the first Day of Action at Occupy Cal, when University of California police made national headlines by violently beating peaceful protesters at UC Berkeley.
Since then UC President Mark Yudof has publicly announced:
I intend to do everything in my power as president of this university to protect the rights of our students, faculty and staff to engage in non-violent protest.
UC Berkeley chancellor Robert Birgeneau has publicly stated:
I sincerely apologize for the events of November 9 at UC Berkeley and extend my sympathies to any of you who suffered an injury during these protests. As chancellor, I take full responsibility for these events and will do my very best to ensure that this does not happen again.
Yet in spite of these public proclamations, per Reclaim UC:
Professor Celeste Langan and 10 students have been formally charged by Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley in connection with the protests on November 9th. Crucially, those charged are not limited to those who were arrested that day, and there is reason to believe that those singled out within this category were chosen for their prominent roles in the movement to restore public education.
In the face of this legal repression, Yudof and Birgeneau have remained deadly silent.
This is how the administration “protects” the rights to engage in peaceful protest: first, a violent beatdown; now followed by criminal charges of the victims, and no meaningful investigation of police misconduct nor any transparency around administrative culpability.
Recall that on November 9, Professor Langan offered her wrists to police while asking to be arrested but was instead dragged by her hair. Read Langan’s account here. Graduate student Shane Boyle, who sustained a broken rib during the incident, has also been summoned.
Analyses of the protests and police conduct that day have been submitted to the UC Police Review Board by three professors: Judith Butler and law professor Jonathan Simon, and Langan herself.
Pickets against legal repression are taking place daily at noon in front of California Hall.
Please Sign this Petition
Remaking the University has posted a petition calling on UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau to follow UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi in asking his county’s DA to withdraw these charges (sign here).
The Berkeley Faculty Association has a petition for signing by members of the UC Berkeley community.
UPDATE (3/13/12)
Birgeneau announces he is stepping down in December.
Berkeley Faculty Association calls on Birgeneau to condemn Alameda DA’s decision to charge November 9th protesters.
It turns out that the UCB Tang Center shared information with UCPD on those protesters who suffered injuries on November 9th.
California Scholars for Academic Freedom protest President Yudof’s recent statement linking protest to hate speech.
Davis Faculty Association points to some problems in UCD’s recent policies on protest.
Occupychallenges administrators in new ways.
Stafford Loan interest rates are about to double.
Increased scrutiny of big for-profit colleges is causing a decline in enrollment.
Colorado considers law that would make it easier to offer lecturers and adjuncts multi-year, enforceable contracts.
UPDATE: Linda Lye of the ACLUanalyzes the implications of the prosecution of the November 19th Protesters. And the ACLU has issued a new PRA request to see what role the University may have played in the decision to prosecute.
UPDATE 2: (3/17/12)
Occupy Cal Protesters to be Arraigned: More than a dozen Occupy protesters are scheduled to be arraigned on charges connected to a clash with police last year.
NBC Bay Area 3/16/12More than a dozen people charged in connection with Occupy Cal protests are set to be arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court this week and next.
University of California at Berkeley Professor Celeste Langan pleaded not guilty today to charges connected to a Nov. 9, 2011 clash between police and protestors, according to attorneys for By Any Means Necessary, a group working with protestors.
Langan is charged with one count of resisting arrest and one count of blocking the sidewalk, both misdemeanors, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. She is scheduled to return to court April 5.
Twelve other people are scheduled to appear for arraignment next week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on similar charges in connection with the protests, district attorney’s office spokeswoman Teresa Drenick said.
At least four of those being prosecuted are also involved in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco in November alleging that police used excessive force during the protest.
Attorneys for By Any Means Necessary, the group filing the lawsuit, say that they expect to add allegations of retaliatory prosecution to the lawsuit in light of the criminal charges, which were filed after the lawsuit.
They noted that some of those being prosecuted were not among the more than three dozen people arrested during the actual protest but were among those reporting injuries and taking part in the lawsuit.
FORCE: The UC Policy
March 12 and runs through March 23rd
Memorial Union Art Lounge, 2nd Floor
UC Davis
Opening reception: Wed, March 14th between 3-6pm at King Lounge
Between 4:30-5:30pm: panel discussion on the militarization of the campus police
with Professor Joshua Clover and art history graduate student Geoffrey Wildanger.
AHI 401 will present FORCE: The UC Policy, an exhibition that addresses the question of whether the UC campus police and the UC administration are upholding their stated missions to “prevent violence and protect student rights.” The exhibition focuses on three recent campus protests at UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis between 2005-2011. Through a display of photographs, text, and other documentation, the exhibition exposes a disconnect between the mission of the UC campus police and recent brutal actions against student protestors as in the pepper-spraying incident at UCD on November 18, 2011. The exhibition highlights how the UC Administration and UCPD perceive the sustained student efforts to fight against the privatization of public higher education as hostile and antagonistic rather than expressive of an informed and responsive student population. By underlining the role, responsibilities, and necessity of the campus police, FORCE: The UC Policy invites viewers to examine and question the shift in attitudes towards student demonstrations and the use of force to control them.
FORCE: The UC Policy is co-curated by the students of AHI 401: Giana Belardi, Liz Church, Ashleigh Crocker, Maizy Enck, Susan Fanire, Megan Friel, Cindy Gieng, Bianca Hua, Lizzy Joelson, Mitzi Mathews, Monica Mercado, Bryant Pereyra, Kyle Taylor, Jennifer Urrutia, Ariana Young & Kevin Zhou. AHI 401 is a course on curatorial methods taught by Professor Susette Min
Sacramento, March 5, 2012
This is what democracy looks like! RT: @sanginaem twitter.com/#!/sanginaem/s…—
Aaron Bady (@zunguzungu) March 06, 2012
there was easily 10K there today. RT @BenDoernberg: @salmonsoir ok cool, @OakFoSho estimated 10k+ but that seemed very high—
Spencer: For Hire (@OakFoSho) March 06, 2012
David Solnit gives nonviolent direct action training #occupyeducation #occupysf #m5 #occupythecapital flic.kr/p/bAPVsB—
Steve Rhodes (@tigerbeat) March 06, 2012
Harvard now cheaper than UC system for middle income students. Gutting of great state university systems/ mercurynews.com/breaking-news/…—
Katrina vandenHeuvel (@KatrinaNation) March 06, 2012
photos + video of March on the Capitol coming soon . . .
“Student Protests Seek to Breathe New Life Into Occupy,” Josh Harkinson, MoJo, Mar. 1, 2012.
Art on UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza on March 1, National Day of Action.
SF Chronicle: “Students shut down UC regents meeting“
Hundreds of students and faculty members temporarily shut down a University of California Board of Regents meeting being held simultaneously today at campuses in San Francisco, Davis, Merced and Los Angeles by standing in the conference rooms and chanting slogans so loudly the regents could no longer conduct business. . . Read the rest of this entry »
UC Regent Richard Blum and the University of California itself are heavily invested in private for-profit colleges which benefit from cutbacks in public education.
From Spot.Us, community-funded reporting:
“The Investors’ Club: How the University of California Regents Spin Public Money into Private Profit,” an 8-part investigation by Peter Byrne
Experts identify multiple conflicts of interest among an elite group that oversees investments for the University of California.Last fall, amid an unprecedented state budget crisis, the University of California Board of Regents took extraordinary measures to cut costs and generate revenue. Lecturers were laid off, classes eliminated. The board reduced admissions for in-state students, while increasing the admission of out-of-state students, who pay higher fees than state residents. And to the consternation of tens of thousands of students, undergraduate tuition was raised by 32 percent, with more hikes to come.
It now costs about $30,000 per year to attend the University of California (UC) as an undergraduate, including tuition and expenses. Even with student aid, it’s a sum beyond the means of many students and their families.
While education took a beating, the regents authorized $3 million in bonuses to a handful of top administrators, and reduced the salaries of janitorial staff. The regents approved new construction projects, including a sports stadium. They assured Wall Street bond underwriters that periodic tuition increases would help pay off hundreds of millions of dollars in new construction loans. Read the rest of this entry »
From the Sacramento Bee “Interactive: The rising cost of a UC, CSU education” (via Katehiville News)
Since 1966, fees at both systems have increased about six times faster than inflation.
At the same time, students are taking on much more debt. The chart below shows federal student loans disbursed to UC and CSU students over the last decade.
www.asiansart.org
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