Dear, God!!! I have met and talked to some of those students!

What in God's name were the administration, police and city officials (??) thinking!?! This is ABSOLUTELY DESPICABLE!!

Who was being hurt by these students? No one.
Who was being bothered by these students? No one. (If they were, then maybe the cops could give them a warning for "disturbing the peace.")
Why can the cows spend the night out in the field and the paying students CAN'T? Aren't they animals too?
Who were they threatening? No one.
Why did they use VIOLENCE when there was no threat?
The University of California seems to be entrenched in a complex web of violence, from the way it deals with difficult students to its incestuous relationship with weapons developers, producers and (ab)users.

The oppression represented on this footage demonstates far better than any words as to why something like a student-led, direct democracy experiment such as Tent University is SO NECESSARY.

The cops were well within their rights in doing this. If the students did not persist past the curfew this would not have happened. This is not an example of brutality. This is a group of students acting stupidly. You have no undersanding of what brutality actually is. Santa Cruz students need to grow up and respect the law, not antagonise it. You Piss me off.

i disagree

what player will play the video?

Graham:

We need to thank these students. NOW WE CAN SEE WHAT KIND OF HORROR THE HOMELESS FACE!

P.S. -- The next time I see you jaywalking, I'll be sure to put you in a chokehold. Citizen's Arrest --- RESPECT THE LAW, right?

In response to Graham, First of all the the State is not respecting the Law by refusing to fund propisition 98. Second this absolutly falls under the guidelines of "free speech" witch is in no way defined by curfew (UCSC is State Land).Third, Universitys are granted academic freedom. Your anger is misguided.

the player for the video is automatic and working just fine when I tried it just now.

what automatic player mine trys to download then open in windows media and comes up with an error message

OMG! I am completely speechless! I can not believe what I just saw...I am not crying just because I don't want to ruin my night. I pray to God that those students that where hurt are ok. The police abused their power, and the university should definitely do something about this!
I was so proud of being a UCSC student because of how much I have learned here and of how open minded UCSC was, but after this video I am ashamed of being a UCSC student...I can not believe that in about 7 weeks I will be a graduate of a University that accepts violence as a solution to peaceful protest!.... :(

Could you please release the pictures in an OPEN non proprietary format?
Thank you so much

Quicktime plays the video

One of my really good friends at SC forwarded me this link. Non-violent protest is the best way for stifling war and brutal action in the modern world (check out the new copy of adbusters www.adbusters.org). I've already written lots of newspapers and congress wo/men regarding this event. Let's create awareness. Violence can never be tolerated, especially against the passive resolve of students trying to incite a positive, peaceful change. This is not acceptable; do not allow yourself to justify harm against others. Our generation has to start setting foundations for a better tomorrow rather than simply abiding by the rules set by the generations before. This is our world too, and now it's our time.
Spread the word, get passionate, change the world.
Namaste'

A PLACE OF HIGHER LEARNING SHOULD BE ASHAMED.
regardless of whether these students werre right or wrong or stupid or whatever the fact that DENTON had cops IN RIOT GEAR sent in is disgusting.
what is the administration so afraid of? that a bunch of hippies at the base of campus for a week are going to make a difference?
the most inspiring thing to me is that the administration IS afraid... they know that they've been exploiting everyone, from the underpaid workers to the students taking out loans who have had to deal with fee increases every year. the UCs KNOW that they've been fucking over the students, and Denton's decision on monday night to take PHYSICAL ACTION against students who are on to the scheming ways of this administration proves that all have TOO MUCH POWER.
i hope for her sake that denton feels shame for wishing this trauma against her own students.

hey everyone, thanks a lot for all the support, but as a result my site has been shut down. SO, here is a new link to the same info.

dmedia.ucsc.edu/~afrojas/TU/story.html

THANKS!

Has anyone contacted an attorney to bring suit
against the police/security that brutalized the
students. Call me at 479-8872 and I will recommend
an attorney for you. Emily Maloney

I just watched the video and saw police using pain and maybe some form of restricting blood/oxygen flow on the protesters and am disgusted. Not only this, but the police were destroying tents. To me this looks like the police were basically trying to intimidate and forcibly remove the protesters. I think that the more people that see this video, the more hostility to the police there will be. It was a bad move on their part to come in prepared for battle at a peaceful protest. What I really want is a complete video that shows what happened before, during, and after the protest. This video is choppy and concentrates mostly on the police when they were already there. Is there anything that shows them just arriving and if they gave warnings, etc?

I'm a staff person at McHenry library and I think you are all very brave for doing this. Thank you for also standing by UC staff and workers last week during our strike! I've been working here 8 years. I'm in my 40s now and I've watched time and time again how UC has made the business of education more important than the education itself.
I'm sorry that you have had to face abuse and arrest by police. However, it actually serves your cause much better in terms of media coverage and getting your message out.
I noticed twice as many media vans on Tuesday night at 8:00 pm than I did on Monday night.
The media is always going to distort your message. I've been in the newspaper 3 times and it always amazes me how inaccurately the reporter conveyed my message or how they edit what you say down to a sterilized version, taking the meat of the message right out.
I'm so happy that you didn't resort to violence like the police. The administration should have known better than to send police in riot gear. What are they thinking?.. Did I say thinking?...no they were not thinking...not critically thinking anyway.
Keep up the peace, keep protesting. Ignore the cruel comments and uninformed messages, even if they are from grad students. Take it from me, having a bunch of degrees does not necessarily make you smarter.

I dont know if anyone has ever been by or seen the chancellor's house near the music center, but its got a pretty nice lawn, one that might make a nice campground... You're only pissing off locals at the base of campus, take the protest to the ones who need to hear your message.

I am a participant at the Tent State on the campus of Rutgers University. I couldn't even watch the rest of the video, it has horrible. We are not having those problems on our campus. What is the deal with the police using force against non-violent protest. I really hope they let you continue the event. Good luck to all and keep fighting.

Dear friends and community members,

I am compiling a list of students who were hurt, in any way, by officers on Monday evening at the base of the UCSC campus. Please forward my contact information to anyone in the community who might have been hurt on Monday night. I have the names and/or badge numbers of all police officers who were at the base of campus on Monday night, and I also began documenting incidents in which officers were unneccesarily agressive or abusive to civilians in the vicinity of the large tent structure. This list includes everything from agressive prods to incidents of tackling, hiting, and kicking. I am sure that the list is incomplete. If you were knocked over, kicked, or tackled, I may have the name of the officer who hurt you. Some of the officers were much more agressive than others and already have been indicated in hurting numerous students.

I would like to get an estimate of how many people were hurt by police officers during this non-violent event. I WILL NOT GIVE OUT YOUR NAME WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT. I believe that this is essential to documentation of events on this campus, and revealing the nature of what really happened.

I am also curious about WHO SUGGESTED AND APPROVED THESE TACTICS? Students were arrested by police officers, but taken to the county jail in one university bus.

I urge you all to express your concerns about the nature of this incident to the police departments, the administration (especially Chancellor Denton and Jean Marie Scott), and the students of Tent University.

much peace,
Alissa White

acwhite (at) ucsc.edu 831-454-0343

What I don't understand is how one can protest a raise in tuition and low wages for UC workers. Where do you think the workers get their salaries?

The question is, where does Denton's pay raise come from, along with the newly created salary of her life mate?

I found this video to be most disturbing, but not for the more obvious reasons. I am (was?) a supporter of Tent University, but the impression I got from viewing this video (and conversing with some of Tent University’s organizers) is that students were intent on getting arrested in order to make the UCSC administration/police/anyone who represents “the man� out to be the worst kind of enemy. Don’t get me wrong--my overall feelings towards Chancellor Denton and the UCSC administration are not exactly positive. I dislike many of their bargaining tactics and I detest the new Chancellor’s use of rhetoric: it pits security against free speech in a manner I find, for lack of a better word, icky. It’s the worst kind of political spin and it upsets me to no end. That said, whoever “edited� that video is involved in a similar kind of spin. Granted I wasn’t there for the entire incident, but it seems pretty apparent that the video was cut in such a way as to include only the most upsetting images. For instance, where was the footage of the police warning students to disperse? Where were the images of the police slowly but surely gathering their forces? It’s not that these things didn’t happen. The editor just doesn’t want you to see it.

As I understand it, the aim of Tent University was to provide an alternative environment for education in a way that symbolically represented the displacement of learning. However, as UCSC offers very few classes after 8:00 PM, that seemed to me a perfectly reasonable curfew for protesting. What does hanging around and chanting into the wee hours of the morning prove? Students don’t camp when they take classes at UCSC. Why should they camp at Tent University? What does this accomplish? If Tent University organizers were clearer on their principles, perhaps this unfortunate incident could have been avoided.

After all is said and done, I wonder how much of the resistance was truly motivated by the desire to peacefully protest, and how much of it was motivated by a youthful and/or liberal need to be extreme. As a diehard Democrat, this kind of behavior irks me for it gives conservatives exactly the kind of ammunition they need to group and attack all liberals alike. After spending years as a union member and an employee for a government bureaucracy, I have learned that getting things changed and making a statement don’t always coincide. I ask the participants of Tent University to consider what is most important to them.

Still, I only observed the first few minutes of the debacle. I’m sure this argument would be more valid coming from someone who witnessed the entire thing. I also applaud people who are willing to fight for what they believe in, for it takes bravery and dedication. The aforementioned protesters exhibited these traits last night. I just think their energy and decisions were misguided.

>What I don't understand is how one
>can protest a raise in tuition and
>low wages for UC workers. Where do
>you think the workers get their salaries?

Yeah, that *might* be an interesting point if they didn't already have a $750 million budget surplus.

Try researching the issue before you criticize others as though you know what you're talking about.

It's really sad to see people saying things like,
"Why don't you just obey? Do what they tell you and everything will be fine. I'm a Democrat and you're just spoiling it for us love-the-system middle-class droids."

Civil disobedience always elicits the same sort of whiny bulshit from timid, status quo liberals... Until you win. Then you've done something historic.

Free Speech Movement

Civil Rights Movement

Anti-(Vietnam)War Movement

All of these movements used CD extensively and those actions are remembered as having been brave and significant acts that served to shape history. Whether Tent U rises to the level of these historic movements is irrelevant. The point is that non-violent Civil Disobedience can be an effective tactic in almost any campaign for social/economic justice.

Peace.

It's a dangerous thing to allow yourself to believe that violence can ever be justified; it leads to a tangled web of determining circumstance and culpability. Why not instead work towards a world where all violence is frowned upon?
The first step is rising against violent action inflicted upon the passive and non-violent. How can violence ever be justified in instances where the victims are eternally compassionate and docile?
'Grad' and 'Intelligent'- Simply accepting the current state of affairs and working within its corruption is no way to fulfill positive change. You complain that we're giving conservatives fodder; i defy their very notions of what is right and wrong. The neo-cons set the standards, and the liberals believe that they must abide. I say that we re-define what is right and wrong according to our needs and concerns rather than trying to work within a system that undermines non-violent protest and progressive change from its beginning. 'MLK' is completely right; this situation echoes other great movements in which non-violence protest was utilized even if the scale is smaller. It is acceptable to stand up for what you believe in even if you're forced to suffer at the hands of the powers at be. I think that we can all agree that hurting non-violent students is unacceptable (being choked is painful and frightening) and for us to succumb and concede that perhaps the police were right to use force is to accept banality and to abide by the rules of a system which is already unfair and inherently violent. For the students to have abandoned TU at eight would have been to abandon their cause prior to its success. True reform can only come from passionate dedication and action. Do not accept the notion that it's alright for one person to harm another; we all deserve love. Create a better system.
Namaste'

People that disagree with what the students did and those whom think that we were stupid were not there. If you had been there and learned what we were standig up for then you would understand. This was a victory, one that can not be described with words.

For soem reason either my posts are getting deleted or are just no showing up. I keep coming here and the post is there for a second then gone.

So I will make this fourth attempt even shorter. I dont' agree Joe, I TentU was not speaking out against violence or civil rights. They had no cause to resist the police and their requests. They resisted arrest and didn't comply with the police therefore the police had the right to detain them with force. Locking hands and getting together in groups is making it harder for the police to arrest someone without force, next time do what the cops say. I didn't see anyone getting beaten with a baton nor a group of cops harrasing a student who was walking away peacefully.

Don't insult great people from our past like Martin Luther king Jr or Gandhi by trying to say you guys were doing the same thing they were doing. MLKJR and Gandhi where great men trying to free their people and gain equal rights, TentU was not doing the same thing by any means. They could have easily got up and left and came back the next day. TentU leaving for the night and returning the next day would have had the same effect on their "cause" then if they had stayed the night.

I bet you guys are the same people who complain when you get in trouble with RA, why can't you respect people doing their jobs?

UCSC is blocking our abilities to see this horrendous video from campus computers. I have tried over and over and it says the site is forbidden and then it shuts off the website. Please fix this so we can all witness what has happened.

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /~afrojas/TU/To Protect and Serve Modem.mp4 on this server.

Apache/1.3.33 Server at dmedia.ucsc.edu Port 80

---

Alternate Links for "To Protect and Serve"

johnnaked.com/movies/To_Protect_and_Serve_Broad.mp4

submediatv.com/movies/To%20Protect%20and%20Serve%20Broad.mov

www.lostfilmfest.org/video/tent_state_ucsc_policeattack.mp4

---

Anyone know of more URLs the UC Regents wishs were "forbidden"

" The question is, where does Denton's pay raise come from, along with the newly created salary of her life mate?" Denton's partner's position was not newly created, it already existed! and her paycheck does not come from the students in any way! i hope that answers you question!

Porterite is correct, the job was not merely created. It has always existed, and any time the university has a husband/wife come for a job, and they are both qualified they try to give BOTH people a job. The position his wife holds receives that amount of pay regardless, and the position would exist even if his wife were not employed by the university.

Instead of jumping to random conclusions and hopping on the band-wagon, try investigating things more thouroughly.

From CBS 5: The arrests took place after repeated warnings that the crowd was growing too large and that the noise was becoming disruptive to neighbors, said UC Santa Cruz Associate Vice Chancellor of Communications Liz Irwin. Yeah, sounds like no warning at all /sarcasm

What kind of intelligent UC student are you if you don't know your history? Would you agree that the anti-segregation sit-ins performed by brave souls in the sixties were disruptive? well according to a lot of people, they were. Would you also agree that, since they were disruptive, they should have been violently broken up? well... they were. May i inquire... what is the difference? If the sit-ins and anti-segregation protests of the sixties were not valiently supported by many, through fates much worse than choking, we would still live in a segregated country.
God forbid someone's sleep should be interrupted in order to help and support a good cause.

to Rosa: don't be ashamed to be a UCSC student. It helps to keep in mind the vast difference between the student body and the administration. I too am outraged, disgusted, and saddened by the events of monday night. and in response to Graham: the police were nowhere within their rights to respond to peaceful actions with violence. Your response seems to be from the point of view of someone who has not really researched the issue. If you hear some of the testimonials, you will find that some students not participating in the lockdown (also known as "innocent bystanders") were batoned (sp?) in the stomach. That is not enforcement of the law. that is unjustified brutality. I hope you will learn to at least listen to the arguments of both sides before you make such harsh comments.

What is going on? The point of this protest was lost on me; what was your message? Your propaganda video of "police brutality" looked like police helping up students who had intentionally gone limp. "What would jesus do?" Who are you people? Thank the lord I go to Berkeley.

i am deeply concerned about what is happening right now at ucsc. while i appreciate the efforts and intentions behind a tent u, the students monday abused the situation completely.

if the idea is getting the school to listen to you, they did when they were FORCED to compromise and allow tent u to take place. the only limitation, which is very reasonable, was that because we are in a residential area, nothing can happen past 8 pm. if nothing else, i am disappointed in my fellow students for not considering the lives of families surrounding UCSC who cannot help what happens at our school, but have kids to take care of and get to bed. you probably don't remember, but elementary school aged children typically have bed times of 7:30 or 8 pm- well before all of these events had to take place.

for the most part i have been frustrated with the way the police have been handling the recent affairs. last week when i went to deliver 5 cases of water from costco at 2 pm to the strikers, they would not move the barricade so that i could drive the water up. instead i had to carry each case one at a time from the 7-11. fortunately, i came across some other supportive students who assisted me in getting this water to the strikers, but the manner in which the police treated me was very demeaning.

monday's events, however, are not like that of last thursday. there were limits set and the students decided to break them for no real gain. now we sit like irresponsible children who were given a privilege and a chance to be heard, but instead pushed their freedom and lost the respect and trust of those who need to be hearing us. now not only does the administration have the right to say "we gave you a chance and you ruined it," but i wouldn't be surprised to find out that neighbors of UCSC see the students and their cause in a negative light now, too.

it's a shame that all these upper-middle class kids come to college and suddenly think they have all the answers on how to change the world. the rebellion you never took on your parents is now being put on the university's shoulders. this isn't about fighting "the man;" that attitude is played out and doesn't work. if you want to make real change then read a goddamned book, get out in the city, meet people and figure out what they need.

There are a lot of opinions both ways on this issue, so as someone who was there, I'm just going to point out a couple things which seem to have been misrepresented. The first is that the police arrived about twenty or thirty minutes after "quiet hours" began at Tent University, which means no music or loud discussion was to happen for the rest of the night to avoid disturbing the surrounding neighborhood. Many people seem to think that Tent University was disturbing the peace and that everyone was chanting loudly before the police came, but actually, people were just discussing quietly and getting ready to go to sleep, and nobody was in the street. At that point, the event was hardly 'disruptive.' What the police stated when they came, and what the arrested students were actually charged with, was "unlawful assembly," even though that area is a free speech and assembly zone according to the official campus rule book. The question of whether students should have nonviolently resisted arrest in defense of their First Amendment rights is up to you.

Here is a link to the video.
submediatv.com/movies/To%20Protect%20and%20Serve%20Broad.mov

Folks, if you can mirror additional ones on your serverspace, save the flie then upload it, and post the link around.

Regarding what a poster said earlier about the order to disperse being edited out, there was no order to disperse by the police.

To PORTERITE and BIG JOE:

You are both WRONG (visit the link to the Sentinel article to read more). Especially BIG JOE, who claims the chancellor is a man, and that the job was given to his wife. Rather, the job was CREATED for Chancellor's PARTNER.

"The University of California created a $192,000-a-year job for the partner of the new UC Santa Cruz chancellor."
From the Sentinel
(www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/January/21/local/stories/03local.htm)

The job did not exist before, it was CREATED. UC Chancellor Denton is a WOMAN. $190,000 is a RIDICULOUS AMOUNT for a salary, when service workers are not making liveable wages. In response to the claim that students do not pay for the new job: students make checks out to the regents who pay 2/3 of all UC workers salaries. So yes, we are paying for most of Chancellor Denton's partner's salary. And all of the salary is money that should be spent elsewhere (higher worker wages, more money for classes, and lowering tuition).
This isn't hidden knowledge either. I'm really curious to see how you thought otherwise.

to the Anonymous Poster who wrote:

"From CBS 5: The arrests took place after repeated warnings that the crowd was growing too large and that the noise was becoming disruptive to neighbors, said UC Santa Cruz Associate Vice Chancellor of Communications Liz Irwin. Yeah, sounds like no warning at all /sarcasm"

Liz Irwin has already been proven to have lied before to news sources (regarding the use of force by police. She was quoted as saying police didn't not have/use batons. There are pictures clearly showing otherwise).

I was at Tent University from 6:00 on and DID NOT HEAR ONCE that noise was disturbing neighbors (at least up until the police started using pain tactics). I was specifically listening to warnings from the police and administration, but that was NOT brought up.

However, students started being loud once the police began using pain coercion techniques on protestors. I think that it's understandable that people were yelling when their friends were being choked.

This is wrong. Neither the school or the police have any respect for human integrity. I hopt this new chancellor suffers at the hands of others.
To the cops: you guys are nothing more than a federalized gang. You were supposed to protect the communities not be hit-men for the wealthy and powerful.

...where up is down, right is wrong, and the Free Speech Zone closes at 8.

While I don't think anyone should be beat up by cops, what I see in that video is a pretty common manuever used to get people off the ground. I've used it and been the recipient of it. The fingers are hooked just under the jaw, about right below the ear. It HURTS and whether you like it or not, you're moving. But, I can attest that aside from some temporary soreness, there's no lasting damage. It's a viable non-lethal control method. Now there's the question of why do this when you can just drag them away on their asses, that I don't know, I wasn't there. I think it's safe to suggest that maybe these officers were a little "trigger-happy" to try out a control method on a subject but it's also very true that some people just don't listen when you ask nicely and they need physical motivation, in which case those officers did a hell off a better job using that technique than other things they could do, like hitting them.

i had to stop watching the video it was too painful and sad to watch

but honestly i don't understand what is happening. the police are repeatedly choking the students, trying to lift them up by the soft spot under their throats, and inflicting pain behind their jawbones, but the students are just sitting there. honestly i don't even know what's happening, are the students partly unconscious from pain or are they just good at peaceful resistance? i don't understand how somebody can resist those tactics and just sit there

we are all in trouble. the police will only get even bolder in the future. even the idea of a "free speech zone" is disturbing, aside from the violent show of force against a peaceful group of people (who only became loud seeing people attacked, choked, and tortured--i don't know what other word to use for trying to dominate somebody with a maneuver designed to cause maximum pain and submission)

actually i think Andres Rojas's response is pretty tame: "the actions taken should not be allowed to go on without consequence and honest dialogue"

look at the place we're at: we're forced to endure violent punishment, completly unjustly, with quietude and composure while a bunch of heavily armored stormtroopers attack our friends. without provocation.

and americans outside of the actual sphere won't even know about it. and sometimes even when they do know about it they'll support the police

i'm actually dizzy thinking about what it was like to be choked and attacked, smothered by a mob of police. and seriously the police must not have been applying the appalling pain techniques properly, unless hte student were half or fully unconscious from the pain. it makes me think of monks immolating themselves. in a way the police damn themselves by acting this way but they walk with impunity. absolute impunity. just look at it.

and the guy who posted above me, daveb

think about what you're saying. we're in a position as people when we have to applaud a violent show of force and infliction of maximum pain on a peaceful group of people, just because the techniques don't leave lasting marks, and just because it "could have been worse" if the police just starting beating everyone

it's the same thing. it's control, force, and physical punishment. how can you rest easy even considering that police can be trigger-happy to try out new control techniques?

the police are out of control, totally out of control, except when a crowd VASTLY outnumbers them.

i've never seen a police response to a group/crowd situation where the police had any concern whatsoever to serve and protect ANYBODY. anybody except an administration scared of losing their 6-figure salaries, and that sort of people.

the police aren't on your side and someday you'll be getting dragged away, beaten, or chokeholded. or maybe they'll just rub mace or pepperspray in your eyes.

it's sickening. and anybody who thinks that anything the police did was somehow consummate or appropriate considering what was happening is out of their mind.

so a group of people are being loud-- let's choke them, mace them, and gouge their pressure points?

that's sick, and the society is sick.

Please note the incredible restraint of the officers under repeated antagonistic taunting of the surrounding protestors. While the use of the nerve pinch is not as effective as other non-lethal means of subject control, we commend the men and women of the police force for attempting to maintain order with a minimum of surrounding outbreaks in violence and disobedience.

Please note the complete allowance of video camera's that allow the public to properly document the incident. The camera's were not confiscated and filming was allowed continue unless the camera operator interfered with the duties of the police officers.

We appreciate that our officers were able to go home to their families at the end of their watch.

i cant believe some people still cant see that something needs to be done... these cops dont even have enough education and ethics...some are racists ignorants...people that defend this kind of behavior should open their eyes.

"spit on (and in these days of HIV infections, not something to be taken lightly)"

You can't contract HIV from saliva.

"All this whining is pathetic."

Yeah, X isn't as bad as Y isn't as bad as Z. Sure, the police at Tent U weren't as bad as the police at Kent State aren't as bad as the tanks in Tieneman Square... but that's not relevant. It's a fallacy to believe that the more severe brutality of one party excuses the brutality of another.

Does anyone have a link showing the UC budget breakdown and the figures showing the "$750 million budget surplus"? I just want to make sure that I am clear about the facts.

"Does anyone have a link showing the UC budget breakdown and the figures showing the "$750 million budget surplus"? I just want to make sure that I am clear about the facts."

UC Administrators Rolling in Money - the PROJECT March 2005
santacruz.indymedia.org/feature/display/17063/index.php

Official Report Finds: UC Regents Suck
santacruz.indymedia.org/newswire/display/17168/index.php

Making Sense of the UCSC Crisis
santacruz.indymedia.org/newswire/display/17262/index.php

Graham: it's an old saw that police actions are reasonable because someone is "stupid". Beware of making this claim ever again in the future. Stupidity is not illegal.

The only time it is reasonable for a Citizen to use violence is when someone is threatened with bodily harm. Police have a little bit more leeway in resorting to violence, but it doesn't look like it was in any way justified here. Most likely far from justified. Beyond "shouting FIRE in a crowded theatre", etc, Free Speech and the right to Free Assembly is absolute.

Whoever this chump that calls himself "SC grad student" is nothing but a shill. How you can claim it is "spin" to edit an online video? Give me a break. What are they supposed to do? Post 30 minutes of video? That anyone can post any excuse or accusation saying these people were "extreme" or "aggressive", is a complete moonbat.

Dear SC Police (poster above), are you saying that because people were allowed to take pictures makes the incident OK. If someone taunts me enough, is it then reasonable for me to pinch him, If it happens at work, do I need to wait for my boss to tell me to do it ? And if my boss tells me to pinch someone, do I have to do it ?

Look, this is silly. The U has never given a flying you-know-what about the binge-drinking student parties that make my neighborhood a riot zone many weekend nights (and quite a few week nights) out of the year. The U has never cared how many residents' sleep is ruined by student partying.

And the cops don't care all that much about falling-down-drunk undergrads driving cars (way over the speed limit) through my n'hood during and after these giant parties. They can't waste valuable police time on it. They have more important stuff to do. Call them AFTER there's a crash and/or injury, that's their take.

Yet all of a sudden they get all bent out of shape about Tent U and claim it is about "disturbing the neighbors"? oh, someone give me a chair before I fall on my ass laughing. The neighbors were a convenient excuse for "disciplining" the kids -- because for once they were actually doing something political and constructive, instead of just getting idiotically sozzled and throwing up in public.

Guess that tells us what kind of "civility" really matters to the admins. Screw the neighbors, just don't challenge the State.

I plan to post the mp4's of the arrest on my course website (and archive the video), if I can get the mp4 files to play.

I applaud the efforts of the students to effect change, or at least awareness. The thing I find worst these days, even nauseating, is the complacency of this country for all the nonsense that is going on. It's very refreshing to see this.

So much for "laid back UCSC", now one sees the true behavior of the campus rent-a-cops (who are paid more than many faculty) and their chronies on Monday night. You probably know already the close connection of the campus cops and the local and state police. An attack on campers??? I agree with the earlier comment that grazing cows on campus have more rights than students, staff and faculty. To "Graham" et al., don't give me that shit that this attack was warranted. On Tuesday, I only saw the blanket e-mail from the new Chancellor, with a typical administration line of, "we did all we could", yet they still attacked unprovoked. I note they just placed that "no camping" sign at Bay and High. Someone should cut that down.

Good luck tonight on the last day of this.

In response to: Santa Cruz PD, who wrote
"...the use of the nerve pinch is not as effective as other non-lethal means of subject control..."

One with police/martial art training can see that the "nerve pinch" was not the only technique used. By "nerve pinch," I believe you're referring to the pressure point underneath the jawbone, which can cause immense pain, although it doesn't leave lasting damage.

In both the video and the photographs, the police can also be clearly seen utilizing chokes (you can see this technique when the police are pressing about midway down the neck, on either side). Police are shown applying pressure to the carotid artery, effectively cutting off blood and oxygen flow the brain. This results in unconciousness within a few seconds.

I'm sure you are aware that this technique has caused several deaths when used by police officers in the past. I'm sure you also know that the potential of death has led to a ban on choking in some law enforcement jurisdictions.

Regardless of the legality of chokes as coercion techniques, using chokes at the protest was completely irresposible and shows horrid judgement on the part of the law enforcement officers. The protestors were completely peaceful and nonviolent.

There should be an exceptionally good reason to use chokes, given their potential of death. I don't believe 50 students in non-violent protest, endorsing justice, democracy, peace, and creativity constitutes an exceptional reason. Your police were concerned with demonstrating their skills in pain coercion in order to make your "Excellent police training film," with complete disregard to the appropriateness/morality of their actions.

sincerely,
jim

SOURCES
www.fightingarts.com/content01/judo_choke.shtml
judoinfo.com/chokes5.htm

" Please note the incredible restraint of the officers under repeated antagonistic taunting of the surrounding protestors."

Please note the incredible restraint of the PROTESTORS and THEIR FRIENDS. You were choking them. They yelled back. I think that's understandable, unlike the your actions.

(THE UC SHOULD BE CONCERNED WITH EXPANDING STUDENTS' BRAINS, NOT CUTTING OFF THE BLOOD FLOW TO THEM)

http://www.merovingian.org/bloodline/ucsc_police_VS_students_4-2005.mov

Here's my opinion: the protest was a good thing, but expecting the police to be non-violent was not necessarily a good thing. I don't think that the protestors would have left if the police had asked them nicely. I'm not saying that what the police did was right, I'm saying that they were just doing their job.

On the topic of student fees I think it's important to remind everyone that the state constitution doesn't allow the UC to charge tuition ($ per unit) because higher education is meant to be free. We pay thousands in REGISTRATION FEES, which were never supposed to cover the costs of the education (only registering). A UC education is supposed to be paid for by the state.

"On the topic of student fees I think it's important to remind everyone that the state constitution doesn't allow the UC to charge tuition ($ per unit) because higher education is meant to be free. We pay thousands in REGISTRATION FEES, which were never supposed to cover the costs of the education (only registering). A UC education is supposed to be paid for by the state."

And that would in turn be funded by higher taxes...

...Or inferior institutions, such as one can see in Europe.

In addition, having to pay for your education provides an impetus to complete it, in Holland they finally started charging not for funding, but because people simply didn't leave college, it was too nice!

The actions of these men in uniform were clearly unnecessarily cruel. This should should weigh heavily on their own consciences, and on those of the school officials who apparently condone those actions.

I've mirrored the movie here: http://weblog.timoregan.com/video/To_Protect_And_Serve_Broad.mp4

I think what the police have done here is horrible and unnecessary. They're just a bunch of hippies doing a little protest. What's the harm? Of course the police have to swagger in and show their power. It's disgusting. This is America; peaceful protest is specifically protected. It doesn't matter if it inconveniences somebody; that's the point! The university says it wants a dialogue, but that's a lie. They just want the students to shut up and pay up.

i did some research into what the cops appeared to be doing from what I can see. I reposted the articles I found here. Neck Hold Techniques: A Cop's Perspective Part I Neck Hold Techniques: A Cop's Perspective Part II Neck Hold Techniques: A Cop's Perspective Part III (There are inherit lethal risks with this maneuver, esp if done incorrectly)

What did we learn about Kent State ?

Just label them all Terrorist and then shoot em all
And then hold them in prison for life in Guantanamo Bay.

Legitimizing violence and torture on our own citizens against non violence
Real Smart!

Chief of Police of Santa Cruz, Howard Skerry
Mayor of Santa Cruz, Mike Rotkin and Vice Mayor, Cynthia Mathews
University of California of Santa Cruz, Chancellor, Denice D. Denton and Public Affairs department

TO: -- hskerry (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us; cmcmahon (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us ; PD_CommServ (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us ; mrotkin (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us ; cmathews (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us ; denton (at) ucsc.edu ; pioweb (at) ucsc.edu

CC: -- hskerry (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us; cmcmahon (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us; PD_CommServ (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us; mrotkin (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us; cmathews (at) ci.santa-cruz.ca.us; denton (at) ucsc.edu; pioweb (at) ucsc.edu

I can not express my utter disgust with a video I seen that shown police office + after police officer + after police officer + after police officer + after police officer hurting innocent defenseless kids. I saw countless choking and neck grabbing for lengthily amounts of time. It looked to me like it was torture. I am appalled and wonder what crime they did that would warrant hurting kids like that. I would turn you in for what I seen but then you are supposed to be the law that protects us against bad people that want to hurt us. I ask again what did those kids do, to deserve the pain and torture that I seen on video being done to them. Is the way your city (police) treats innocent defenseless people, which you don’t like what they are doing, in spite of their actions being trivial and nonviolent? If you have any kind of explanation about your EXTREME use and abuse of pain on those kids I seen being inflicted, I would love to hear it. Meanwhile I now, will know, what to expect from the law enforcement in your fine friendly city. Peace be with you. I beg you to not hurt the people of your city. They looked to me like they were not fighting back and were only sitting there refusing to move. In my “peaceful opinion� you could of solved the problem in a much more human and professional way. Not to mention the unnecessary use of force to justify the no sleeping law is insane and the ways do not justify the means. I would be curious if it can be explained differently and justifiably and with the people’s best interest. Enclosed is the link to abuse that I witnessed.  dmedia.ucsc.edu/~afrojas/TU/
I don’t live in your city and thankful too especially if police use of force like this is used on kids in your community.


Thank You for your time to hear my Grave Concerns
Michael T.

*new* the video of police using force on peaceful UCSC students at Tent University:

high-res (43mb .mov)
democratize.ucsc.edu/To_Serve_and_Protect_big.mov

or low-res (5mb .mp4)
democratize.ucsc.edu/To_Serve_and_Protect_small.mp4

new mirror for Tent U video
democratize.ucsc.edu

resisting can be done in two ways
and so can arresting tactics
peaceful protest = peaceful arrests

im no expert in motivating the masses
but hurting and using violence doesnt work Vern!
the police become monsters and unleash violence on their passive citizens (yes they are rsissting I remember)the civil unrest multiplies and spreads HATE

this is not smart community policing Vern
this is very barbaric and uncivilized

I wonder if instead of strangling them and shoving fingers into the necks that maybe they should slam a screwdriver in the back of the neck right at the base of the sholders ... that might get them to move along so we can get some peace at night in the neighborhood.I mean they were told to move or else Hitler was coming through right?

We can assume that many administrators had meetings regarding what to do about tent U. Obviously there were meetings as to what the University was going to allow and at what point they would stop activities by calling in the police. Typically there would be plans as to how many police would be called up and what kind of response would be used. The people involved in these kind of discussions would be Chanc. Denton, VC Hernandez, and the two women seen present at the protest,and seen issuing written warnings, Jean Marie Scott and Gail Heit. These are the very people who should be questioned as to whether or not they approved, authorized, endorse the tactics used by the police in shutting down the tent U camping Monday night. Direct questions should be posed...do you mr. herandez endorse such techniques? Get them to answer and be accountable for their actions, or inaction in these circumstances. Yes, the police were the individual actors in this event, but someone authorized this, or someone disobeyed orders and it's imporant to find out who is okaying violence against non-violent offenders. Secondly, reading about the need to shutdown the event because of "noise" complaints is a joke. Anyone who lives on the westside of santa cruz knows that the university could care less about the impact on neighbors...and if you doubt this look to see the impact of students on local parking, look to see how little the university or SC PD cares about off campus drunken parties (talk about noise!), look to see the impact of excessive traffic on bay, high, mission, etc due to University traffic. So WHAT that there would be a 4 day violation of a camping ban, its not like students would abandon living in the dorms permanently...or maybe that's part of the concern. In any event, this video is hard to watch because what you are viewing is institutional violence. And what makes it harder to see and understand is that there are people who make a living pushing papers and hiding behind "policy" who probably sleep very well at night even though their decisions resulted in the choking and in some cases baton jabbing of unarmed students who had the audacity to question the status quo!

I live in a subdivision near Tent City, and it wasn't bothering me. I'm not sure who it could have been bothering, since it was surrounded by open, nontenanted land on three sides and a walled subdivision across the street. The closest neighbors who could have possibly heard any noise coming from Tent City live in the gated community cattycorner from it across a wide, busy intersection.

Free speech doesn't do any good if it has to be tucked away in a secret, deserted location just in case it bothers someone. I suspect that one or two of my neighbors, who seem to spend their lives with sticks permanently installed up their butts, complained because they think anything out of the ordinary near their homes will put a ding in the ever-mounting appreciation of their precious property values.

Mish, I am did not insult your intellegents so don't try to insult mine. But since you did, I am obviously more intellegent then you are. I know my history better then you think you do. During the anti-segregation sit-ins the protestors were fight off oppression by going to places they were not legally able to go because of thier race. They where then beat upon by polices with acts of actual burtality (you didn't have dogs attacking you, hoses turned on your or beaten to a bloody pulp). Because they were peacfully opposing the police and segragation, it brought national attention to these unjustices that most people didn't agree with in the frist place. Those brave souls were heros and changed history for the better. TentU is not even in the same universe at those people. First off you were fighting a great injustic that required you to be there overnight. You didn't go to a place were people like you weren't allowed there because of your race, color or creed. The police didn't use burtality instead they used force. So don't you dare try to compare yourselfs to the people who faught segragation and ruin their images. Those were great people, you guys are just portesting to be rebels. Ya being disrutive back them helped their cause a great deal and brought attention to themselves because it was nessary. Being disruptive in a neighbor that has nothing to do with your cause, is not nessary and by doing it, you are being jerks and not helping any cause. The campus was closed at 8, so the people you are trying to convince. wouldn't even hear it. So what good does that do? Respect your community, during the day when the school is running feel free to do it and get attention to your cause it is a good time to do that. but when it is closed let the freaken neighborhood, who you are not protesting against sleep. Read my full posts next time before attacking. I talked about how MLKJR and Gandhi where fight to free their people from segragation and how that was why they were being disruptive not because they wanted to get certain unions to paid more money or lower tution or whatever else reasons you guys where protesting for.

Concerning "An Intelligent UCSC Student once again" comments about how "MLKJR and Gandhi where fighting to free their people from segregation and how that was why they were being disruptive" concept and the fact that the protesters didn’t have a cause worthwhile or deemed worthy enough to expect not to have FORCE used on them?!
I ~ We NOW do have a cause to rally behind and to stand within your "Gandhi Protest Criteria" The Police were using abusive FORCE that is not necessary nor called for, which now gives me by your standards the right to protest louder and longer and with more backing and support. First it was the right to stay out all night!
Now it’s about police violence. Good try on downplaying the civil rights points. That went out the window with respect and their oaths to serve and protect were relinquished to the Higher Authorities of the campus

In Kent State they just shot at them kids.
Obviously you haven’t watched the abuse video Intelligent UCSC Student or you wouldn’t condone the misuse of Police-Power by inflicting PAIN just to move someone out of the way because Hitler said so.
The screwdriver stabbed in the back of neck would of worked better beings that all the choking and thumbs in the neck just caused them kids to take the abuse and notice (not fight back) so the pain affliction was for what ???? exercise I guess?
Hell National Guard Guns or screwdrivers work better on unarmed college kids.
This stupid desscion to use FORCE is gonna wake up and roll across the whole country …

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The video that was taken down from UCSC servers was not a result of censorship. After speaking with the staff of the Film and Digital Media department, it became apparent that the main reason for the removal was due to immense traffic to the site. There was a healthy amount of miscommunication and assumptions made by everyone involved, but again, the basis for the removal of the video was not an attempt to censor the material.

I'd like to give many many thanks to Sharon Daniels for her assistance in this. As well as Shelly Arington and Brian Moffet.

To Protect and Serve (9.13MB)
dmedia.ucsc.edu/~afrojas/TU/ToProtectAndServe.mov

dmedia.ucsc.edu/~afrojas/TU/

As we have seen for the past ten years the power elite in this country will use any method possible to keep the citizens of this country in their place; good consumers whose function is to consume without question. it is tactics like this that gave the police the well-earned nick-name in the 60's of "pig". Unfortunately that was insulting to the animal and not an accurate description.
They are fascist thugs, engaging in crimes against humanity and the rights of citizens of this country.
They are on the same level morally and legally as the Nazi gestapo. The militarization of the police forces of this country is not accidental nor acceptable. We are rapidly becoming a fascist dictatorship that will be better organized, more dangerous, and more pervasive than the Nazi's ever invisioned. It is the worst nightmare of those committed to using technology to improve life on earth. The power elite is using technology to tighten the controls over the average citizen.
It is hard to convey the amount of disgust, loathing, and anger that watching these images provokes. The students of today are learning first hand what confronted the students of the 60's and early 70's.
The campus at UCSC should be subjected to a general strike. Of course, finals are beginning, and people still haven't learned the lesson well enough; injustice is everyone's business, as well as fighting for everyone's rights, and the price of liberty is self-sacrifice.
I wonder how bad it has to get?

It is the administration that should be ashamed. It ordered the police to remove the students. The police did so using force, which was required in order to carry out the demands of the admiistration, and did so in a disturbingly professional manner. Clearly it was a show of power. I'm not sure just what the University thinks it stood to gain by such a shameful and unnecessary use of force against its own students.

There is a break in the link and it is not possible to view the video.

As we have seen for the past ten years the power elite in this country will use any method possible to keep the citizens of this country in their place; good consumers whose function is to consume without question. it is tactics like this that gave the police the well-earned nick-name in the 60's of "pig". Unfortunately that was insulting to the animal and not an accurate description.
They are fascist thugs, engaging in crimes against humanity and the rights of citizens of this country.
They are on the same level morally and legally as the Nazi gestapo. The militarization of the police forces of this country is not accidental nor acceptable. We are rapidly becoming a fascist dictatorship that will be better organized, more dangerous, and more pervasive than the Nazi's ever invisioned. It is the worst nightmare of those committed to using technology to improve life on earth. The power elite is using technology to tighten the controls over the average citizen.
It is hard to convey the amount of disgust, loathing, and anger that watching these images provokes. The students of today are learning first hand what confronted the students of the 60's and early 70's.
The campus at UCSC should be subjected to a general strike. Of course, finals are beginning, and people still haven't learned the lesson well enough; injustice is everyone's business, as well as fighting for everyone's rights, and the price of liberty is self-sacrifice.
I wonder how bad it has to get?

The source of all conflict is misunderstanding - no, the police are not "on the same level morally and legally as the Nazi gestapo" as Jody claims. Anyone who has an open mind, or has known a police officer as a friend, who has been helped by a police officer or even, like me, detained and searched by one, will be aware that Jody's hateful comment is as much a part of the problem as the police.
Just drop the hate, and don't lose sight of your goals - your actual specific political objectives. Protesting can be fun, its possible to get swept up in a swirl of self-justification and righteousness, its inevitable with fun protests, but remember to keep aiming for the political goals your trying to achieve.

I am interested in a video (vhs, svhs, dvd, mini-dv) of this to air on local public access television in Charlotte, NC. Can you help me?
Thanks
Phil

There are two people (Martin and Andres) that made this video. Their contact info is listed on Andres's website. You should try to email them with specific questions and requests.

dmedia.ucsc.edu/~afrojas/TU/

Andres Rojas (afrojas (at) gmail.com)
Martin Shulman (martshu (at) yahoo.com)

-----

Does anyone have a link to a bit torrent file for this video? If so, please post it here as a comment.

-----

If you play this video for people in your community, post a comment here so we all know about it. thanks!

The first time I heard about this story and watched the video of the incident I really sympathized with the students. It a campus that is become increasingly apathetic, it was encouraging to see some of you hanging in there and trying to retain some of UCSC's unique character (instead of allowing it to just become another massive engineering school). The overbearing response to the gathering of students was just ridiculous. The tearing down of the tents was messed up and mean-spirited. However, there is so much that is not shown in this video, and what is shown is clearly quite biased to maximize the feel of student victimization. Do I believe the response was excessive? Yes. However, the impact of the video lessens for me with every message I read where somebody blows this bad episode out of proportion. I always thought that being arrested was sort of a civil-disobedience badge of honor--did these students expect not to get touched by the police when they were clearly resisting arrest? I personally believe that the organizers of this event were expecting this to happen. It was an excessive response, but by calling it 'torture' I believe it is being aggrandized and this makes it harder for others to sympathize.

Personally, I feel the responsibility for the outcome of this event lies not only on the shoulders of the higher level administration and whoever authorized that level of response at the SCPD, but also the organizers of this event. I believe if they had handled things in a different way (and I don't mean making concessions to the administration) these students might not have been treated the way they were.

It was horrid they were grabbing people by the earlobes and doing some kind of crazy back of the head smacking. I was about to go back to my tent, but what's another night in Jail? You know!
The subversive taste of our dictatorship that we pay must be purported to some other facist regime.

In an ironic twist of fate, my previous comment was deleted (censored).

My previous comment was three points:

1. Cooperate with law enforcement. Especially when law enforcement is trying to remove people from a location, if the people refuse and "go cripple" or resist, how are they supposed to remove them?

2. This is not a violation of free speech. The students were allowed protests during the day until a certain hour. Comparing this to landmark civil rights protests dulls the original meaningful civil rights protests. The university, like the rest of the education system, is a big corporation (concepts from the Middle Ages), and therefore has the potential to become corrupt. If students feel the university has become corrupted, they are not being coerced to keep attending. Make the big demonstration where it hurts them - by transferring to another university and giving them your reason.

3. (I suspect the reason my last post was deleted) Continue your education, find a position at a university, vote to give yourself kickbacks, then watch as the cycle repeats itself when the students protest.

My third point is just my messed up sense of humor, but I believe the first two points are valid. Please do not delete my post!

never question the system. Be a good little person get a job make money and spend it on all the lovely items you see around you daily. Stay in school and get good grades. now you can pay off all those student loans the government is about to rape you on with interest. never question the system. just be happy you are allowed to go outside of your house with out presenting papers.

Cooperating with law enforcement does not imply you are in agreement with them. On the other hand, resist law enforcement and how do you expect to be treated?

I did watch the video, more then once even and yes the police did use force, but they had to resist arrest. What on earth are you talking about, TentU was not protesting staying up all night out side of the campus. That had nothing to do with their goals, maybe you say that now but when TentU orginally went out there they were protesting against the schools "corruption". When the school is closed, who are you protesting against? the neighborhood that has nothing to do with the way the school is run?

You guys didn't get shot at, so why are you even bringing that up? Please, stop making assumptions about what I do or do not know or see. Also next time you guys protest and after business hours the police ask you to leave, do that and come back the next day. Or better yet, go to another school and stop giving "the currupt UCSC" your money, thay will hit home with them, no money, no students, best type of protest.

Just because you won’t Move
Does not give the POLICE the right or reason to hurt you
Resisting in a “violent way� ...Yes trouble is yours for sure!
Resist in a nonviolent PEACEFUL way is not asking for the POLICE to HURT you.
Now “You� may want to HURT those that wont obey you
BUT I will be damned if the POLICE who should be PEACEkeepers have a right to .....--> get ready.....this is the clincher..... HURT me or abuse NON-VIOLENT PASSIVE CITIZENS.
Once again that may be how you treat people but it is barbaric and uncalled for & civilly wrong.
Do you get that? If you don’t like it(?) doesn’t mean you can use FORCE or HURT others.
Is that part clear? It is wrong to ATTACK people that are PASSIVE! Simple enough!
Did you not get any education on using violence when you were younger I wonder?
That is the MAIN REASON the cops were WRONG. It was an unjustified use of FORCE.
No one was shot ... HA ! then who would of thought the National Guard was going to fire on the kids at Kent State?? Maybe they will give us a warning first ????
I don’t assume what you say .....I listen your rants and it becomes very obvious you haven’t seen the video *or* you are endorsing Police\State Violence and acknowledge that using pain on peaceful people is ok!! Furthermore you ignorance on having a Police Approved Protests is ludicrous? Get real!
The reference to staying up all night was in context to being arrested after 8 due to causing an evening disturbance in the neighborhood = thus the comment that all this because we stayed up all night.....which seems to be the legal basis of the need to evict the Tent protesters.
If I resist by going limp does that give you the right to beat me to my feet?
If I decide I want to Protest should if be within a certain pre-authorized time slot approved by the corrupt ones that turn out to be the ones that administer punishment if I don’t follow their pre-approved violent outcomes?
Give me a break
Leave the protesting to those that have a reason worth fighting for.
And you POLICE supporters that approve of violence on the innocent, continue pushing your POLICE/STATE Agenda within your social circles of injustice and leave the protesters to their agenda.
Thanks for you idiotic suggestions and stupid backing of corruption your lovely people to socialize with.

I gotta say this, all this glowing talk of Martin Luther King Jr and Gandhi is funny. In the day, for those of us old enough to actually remember, MLK was known as a commie, a rabble rouser, someone trying to bring down the US government, a criminal. That's what the media then said about him, that's what the average joe on the street thought about him. 40 years later, he is celebrated, but at the time, MOST of america and americans suggested that black people (and frequently a different word was used then) quit complaining and whining and breaking the law by protesting and having sit-ins. Most people then, like now, feel comfortable with the status quo, even if it doesn't serve them. I think this has a large part to do with the nature of humans, the value we as a society put on a system based on law vs justice and basically how unempowered we feel as citizens. Look around, most people feel very comfortable working their life away, living for the weekend and avoiding making waves. When I saw the video and then felt compelled to read other threads, I kept asking myself who are the people behind the scenes. Okay I know there are students who organized tent U and they chose to conduct it at the base of campus. And that seems to have violated some University rule. What I want to know is why the people who run the university decided that the level of force that was used would be needed. And how come certain officers with reputations as enforcers were brought in from UC Berkeley and downtown SC? I see certain names again and again. Of course the Chancellor and the PR mouthpiece Irwin. But I also see people who seem to be in charge of student dealings....and I want to know how they can hope to be trusted by students again when they had a part in turning attack dog police on non-violent kids?

To the 'free' people out there that night:

I find it hilarious and somewhat stomach churning that police will come out in droves to antagonize participants in a peaceful assembly, despite their encroachment of a 'curfew' (which also denies civil rights).

Meanwhile, according to the City of Santa Cruz crime statistics from March 2005: (www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/pd/statistics/2005monthly/MAR2005.pdf)
- about one aggravated asssault happens per day
- well over one burglary happens per day
- almost 6 larceny cases happen per day
- there's just under one auto theft per day

Just by extrapolating those statistics means approximately 9 KNOWN crimes on an average day, with about one KNOWN crime happening every 3 hours, and anyone involved in the public service field knows, there are about 3 calls for assistance for every one proven, solid crime or emergency.

Now, for my questions:

What about the time those police wasted screwing around with a bunch of college folks who just wanted to camp in a field to promote democracy?

What could have been done in this time? If I estimated the whole conflagaration taking only 3 hours, there was one REAL crime, and probably 3 other requests for police assistance in the community. Couldn't this time have been better spent?

What about the (at least) one crime that occurred in the community while the police were focused on dispersing this assembly?

Did this extra police presence limit the street patrols or neighborhood assistance during this time?

Were extra taxpayer's dollars spent to call in these extra police forces?

What about delayed responses to REAL emergencies on this evening?

Is this really serving the public? Fuck no.

I wonder, and you should too, especially if you live in Santa Cruz, what the cost to the community was in all this. Sure, some will claim that the 'assembly' ultimately caused the cost, but what would the cost to the community have been had the police not forcefully dispersed the crowd, or not even showed up at all? I bet the worst would have been a few angry families who lived near the site (and that's only IF the noise was really loud).

A few angry families sounds like a small price to pay, compared to the huge scene that ensued.

I feel sorry for the students and the community of Santa Cruz, who are being disrespected and abused by their local police force.

Is it really practical to spend thousands of dollars on extra police as well as reduce the community's protection from real crime, just to break up a peaceful assembly that may have elicited a few noise complaints?

Really, who thinks that's OK?

All I see in the video is police trying to take people into custody. I don't see tasers, batons, pepper spray, rubber bullets, or live rounds being used.

If the non-violent resisters were being injured in any way, they could have simply stood up on their own power and allowed themselves to be led away.

To Serve and Protect: 6 minute video

low-res (4 mb)
ucsc.tentstate.com/To_Serve_and_Protect_small.mp4

hi-res (43 mb)
ucsc.tentstate.com/To_Serve_and_Protect_big.mov

Just watched the video today...

So many comments I read above by people validating this catastrophy with phrases like "the police were just doing their job," "Cooperate with the law," and "protesting is allowed until 8pm."

Is that REALLY the kind of society we want for ourselves? Do you want to live under a system where police can forcibly drag away students by their necks just for sleeping in the grass outside their OWN campus? This is OK to you? Yes, maybe the law provides that the police were acting legally, but that doesn't make it right. If the law indeed allows police to act this way, then the point is that IT SHOULDN'T, and the law should be CHANGED.

And this BS about protesting between certain hours in certain areas is completely ludicrous. Free speech does not come with curfews. If it were YOUR agenda that YOU felt strongly about, you wouldn't politely go home when the law told you to do so. You obviously fall back on this curfew rule because you support the law.

This is the same kind of ideology that supports these "Free Speech Zones" now being erected at political hot spots such as GOP conventions, WTO summits, etc. The point of protesting the establishment is not to do it with the establishment's permission. A government permit to protest "at this location, in this way, between these times" is NOT the same as free speech and right to assemble peacefully. This kind of ideology reeks of the very totalitarian regimes we have criticized. Communist China permits free speech too, as long as you do it within their guidelines. Stalin permitted free speech as well, if you were doing it in the appropriate way that supported The Party.

Seems to me like some people need to read up on their rights and figure out whether they truly support freedom, or just freedom within their own guidelines.

Quicktime will play it

We start to share the shimmers,
galloping like glimmers,
to our harvest home.

They can’t steel our soul,
We’re rhyming to a different roll,
in our harvest home.

If this crowd did indeed pose a threat to anybody, the handful of police officers would have maintained a safe distance from the 'threat' until the crowd could be dispersed. So obviously, the officers did not feel threatened by the crowd, otherwise they would not put themselves in a position where they could easily be stabbed by any number of 'perps'.

So that leads me to believe there is much more going on here than meets the eye. Perhaps the so-called 'administration' went so far as to maliciously disperse the crowd as a 'lesson' to future crowds with similar ambition. This would seem like the most obvious.

Or perhaps the police officers saw a perfect opportunity to try out some 'new moves' on a peaceful crowd. Or maybe they were trying to get the crowd to turn violent so they could score some 'kills'.

Where is our country going to?

I watched the video. From all appearance, whether or not it was a lawful protest, it was a peaceful protest. It is clear that chokeholds were deliberately used on protesters who were offering only passive resistance - chokeholds are extremely dangerous and there is no excuse for using them in a situation like this. The violence used by the uniformed persons in the video appeared unnecessary, way out of proportion to the resistance offered, and just plain wrong. Santa Cruz University and the Santa Cruz police (if the uniformed persons were police) can count themselves lucky if they are not sued over this.