Many are trying to resume their normal schedules in the couple of weeks that have passed since the violent arrests of 19 students and community members at UC Santa Cruz. Last week, a group of involved students, members of the community, faculty, and administration sat down to talk about what happened on the night of April 18th. Chancellor Denise Denton apologized to those involved for the excessive "pain compliance" tactics used on peaceful demonstrators. The platform as a list of demands was also given to the administration.

The Tent U community believes that the police repression that night constitutes a violation of free speech and a glaring contradiction to the supposed educational mission of the UC system.

The rally on Friday the 13th was given to the Chancellor as an opportunity to respond to the demands on the Tent U platform, which include banning the use of pain compliance measures on peaceful student protesters, a democratic forum for student's concerns with the administration, reinstatement of the journalism department as well as the allocation of hard funds for humanities, and free speech 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A full list of demands is posted at ucsc.tentstate.com. The rally honored Pat True, UCSC worker and member of the local clerical union (CUE) who went on a hunger strike to demand information be released on who ordered the excessive force on the 18th.

The rally was held at the Baytree plaza at 1pm, during normal free speech hours. Chancellor Denton was invited but did not RSVP and failed to show up.

Audio: TUSC Rally on 5/13: Taking Back Democracy!

Photos: 1 | 2

Video from April 18: Resist and Unite: TUSC

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