Nonviolent Students Brutalized at UC Santa Cruz
The peaceable assembly of nonviolent students was attacked by brutal police force

by Becky Johnson
I
n  the wee hours  of April   19, University of California at Santa Cruz officials sent 30 cops to strangle, drag, and arrest nonviolent Tent University students for unlawful assembly. After 19 students were arrested, Elizabeth Irwin, the public relations representative for the UCSC administration, tried to explain the actions of university officials by saying: "We care about the safety of our students very much."
The arrest of 19 protesters at Tent University Santa Cruz occurred after 90 students sat down together in a terit, linked arms and refused to leave after the 8 p.m. "free speech" time had ended.
Police ripped down several tents which had been assembled, including one with two small children still inside. UCSC students were shocked by the show of force and institutionalized violence as a response to their setting up of tents.
"A very tiny percentage of our 1500-plus student body were involved," commented Liz Irwin. "So I'd hate to think that this occasion actually characterizes our campus. In fact, it is the opposite. We're accustomed to challenging debate." Nearby Tent U students and faculty guffawed and smirked at these comments. Many organizers had been negotiating for months with the administration trying to arrange a tiny tent city at the base of the campus for four nights and five days. Every effort had been akin to speaking to a brick wall.

May 3005