Santa Cruz Native,
I'm trying to understand your concerns, so please correct me if I misinterpret them. You claim that it is hypocritical to attend a UC while protesting the labs that are under its control, and that attending the UC means supporting the arms development it takes part in.

However, I can only think of one way that a student in Santa Cruz directly supports the Los Alamos labs just by being a student, which is their tuition fees that may partially support the labs. But if it is hypocritical to indirectly fund weapons when you are morally opposed to them, then all US taxpayers fall under that judgement. It is a person's choice whether or not they pay taxes to support a government they may or may not agree with, just as it is a person's choice whether or not to attend a University whose policies they may not agree with. As far as attending a university that dabbles in nuclear warfare, I’m sure a lot of people would like to go to an “ideologically pure� college that doesn’t have its hands in any dirty money or military research, but I’m not aware of any such places, and most people don’t have the luxury of choosing a college based on ethical principles anyways.

However, what really seems to be bothering you is that UC students don’t seem to realize their place in the immoral practices of the University, that the “blood is on their hands,� so to speak. Certainly, most are complicit to these injustices, and many don’t even recognize their own privilege within the system. But the key words are “most� and “many;� a great deal of UCSC students do recognize what’s wrong with the University and take active measures to voice their discontent and mobilize change around these issues.

You mentioned many times that UC students are finger-pointers, but you’re also pointing the finger yourself – and the point I think you were partially getting at is that placing blame and arguing who’s at fault does nothing in the end: it’s what actions you take to create positive change in your community that really matters. The SAW kids didn’t put a gun to anybody’s head, didn’t exploit anyone for profit, and certainly didn’t build any bombs; what they did was to peacefully protest nuclear arms.