On October 18th, hundreds of students marched and rallied at UC Santa Cruz to protest the presence of military recruiters at the campus career fair.

A Queer Kiss-in was staged in front of recruiters' tables during the march and rally. From inside the fair, kissers were able to effectively block access to military recruiters without shutting down the entire career fair.

The military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" hiring practices are in violation of the UC system's non-discrimination policy. Protesters demanded that the UC adhere to its own policies by protecting all students from discrimination and securing UCSC as a hate-free zone.

Currently, the Solomon Amendment states that any university which denies military recruiters "equal access" to students will lose federal funding. The Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights (FAIR) is challenging the constitutionality of the Solomon amendment in a Supreme Court case, FAIR v Rumsfeld, which will be heard in December. Protesters on Tuesday urged the University of California to become the thirty-ninth school in the country to join FAIR.

SAW Press Release: Students Greet Military with Rally and Queer Kiss-In

Audio: FRSC: Military Off UCSC - March & Rally Radio Coverage || FSRN: UC Students Against War

Photos: UCSC shuts down recruiters || Recruiters Shut Down at UCSC, Rally Photos || Military Recruiting Protested During UCSC's Career Fair || Photos of the Queer Kiss-In Against Military Recruitment at UCSC || Discrimination Is Unacceptable to Students Against War || Oct. 18 Counter-Recruitment Events - Photos by Bob Fitch || Photos from Oct. 18 SAW Rally

blog coverage: Evan Branigan’s Blog

protest announcement: Military Off UCSC - March & Rally Tuesday!

Bring 5 friends and show up at 10am, Baytree Plaza

On Tuesday, multiple branches of the u.s. military will be recruiting at UCSC for the first time this year. In April - the last time the military was here - recruiters were kicked off campus by hundreds of students. On Tuesday, students will be holding a large march and rally to re-affirm that UCSC is a campus opposed to discrimination, opposed to war, and opposed to recruiters' lies.

While our Career Center requires that all groups coming to our job fairs affirm that they are Equal Opportunity Employers, the military is the ONLY institution that is granted an exception. Through the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, queers are officially banned from any position. This is in addition to the military's official ban on women serving combat positions.

see also: Military Recruiters Shut Down in San Diego: Protests Planned in Santa Cruz || UC Santa Cruz Students to March Against Discriminatory Military Recruitment

April 5, 2005: UCSC Students Kick Military Recruiters Off Campus

Deja vu.

Local Santa Cruz night club, The Catalyst, is bringing another reggae singer to town who advocates for violence against queer people. In October 2004, Capelton was scheduled to perform and was eventually cancelled due to community protest. Now, Sizzla, a self-professed murderer of gay men, is supposed to perform on Septemeber 11th at the club.

The GLBT Alliance is asking the community to exercise their collective consumer voice and tell the Catalyst management to cancel this hate-filled show.

See also: Fight Homophobia at the Catalyst

Photos: Protest Against Catalyst and Sizzla's Hatred

Take Back the Night is an international rally and march that is organized in local communities with the purpose of unifying women, men, and children in an awareness of violence against women, children and families. The event is a collaboration of community and campus and other interested persons who are ready to take a stand against violence and make the night safe for everyone.

Women are often told to be extra careful and take precautions when going out at night. In some parts of the world, even today, women are not allowed out at night. So when women struggle for freedom, we must start at the beginning by fighting for freedom of movement, which we have not had and do not now have. We must recognize that freedom of movement is a precondition for anything else. It comes before freedom of speech in importance because without it freedom of speech cannot in fact exist.

Audio interview with three of the organizers: Download the mp3 (9:20 minutes / 8.5 MB)

Photos and Report Backs from Take Back the Night 2005 at UCSC

From the open publishing newswire: More than 125 people marched through UCSC Campus Thursday night, participating in 2005's Take Back the Night and demanding that UCSC address safety issues on campus.

The evening began with a rally at UCSC's Baytree Plaza, where students gathered to hear poetry and presentations, and to get information from campus and community organizations dedicated to helping survivors of sexual violence and ending rape and sexual assault. More words and photos...

From the open publishing newswire: On the night of Thursday, May 19, the UCSC community 'Took Back the Night' from various forms of violence, especially violence against women.

This year's march had a different feel than in previous years due to the wheelchair friendly route, the inclusion of men, and the continued expansion of the definition of 'violence'. More words and photos...

The Project Collective has put together a little primer on the upcoming strike by service (represented by the AFSCME union) and clerical (the CUE union) workers on April 14th. We hope this paper helps to clarify the issues faced by the workers and the ways in which these issues are connected to student concerns.

As members of the UCSC community, we are concerned and upset when some among us are denied the means to achieve reasonable living standards, and continually treated with disrespect by their high-profile employer. The mistreatment of CUE and AFSCME workers is an offense to the values we hold as a community: gender and racial justice, and wages that enable everyone to live with dignity. Supporting service and clerical workers in their fight for fair contracts is a crucial part of realizing these values.

Moreover, we recognize that the same skewed budget priorities resulting in poverty wages for campus clerical and service workers are also responsible for our diminished funding opportunities. Graduate students, campus workers, undergraduates, and faculty all have a common concern: UC’s undemocratic budgetary process and the gross mal-distribution that results. Behind the crass injunction to ‘fuck the regents’ is stealth analytic accuracy.

In this issue: STRIKE 101: basic facts you should know | CUE: The Coalition of University Employees (i.e. The Clerical Union) | AFSCME: American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (i.e. The Service Worker Union) | University of California: non-profit or corporate money maker? | Statewide Day Of Action April 20th | Map of UCSC Strike Zone for April 14th

See also: Making Sense of the UCSC Crisis | Student Speakout @ The Strike | FuckTheRegents.com

This Latin woman-girl-child could as easily be from Asia, India, the Middle East or Africa. Born into her economic and sexual caste. No way out. At most a baby-machine, and not a very good one at that.

"October 18th, 2005 - UCSC Students Against War (SAW) organized a nonviolent rally and Queer Kiss-in against the presence of military recruiters on the UC Santa Cruz campus.

About forty students participated in a Queer Kiss-in in protest of the military’s discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell� policy. The Queer Kiss-in was staged in front of the military’s tables during the march and rally. From inside the fair, kissers were able to effectively block access to military recruiters without shutting down the entire career fair."

santacruz.indymedia.org/newswire/display/18812/index.php

The following photos are from the rally outside and from when students involved in the Queer Kiss-In jubilantly emerged from the job fair.

"On October 18th, hundreds of students marched and rallied at UC Santa Cruz to protest the presence of military recruiters at the campus career fair.

A Queer Kiss-in was staged in front of recruiters' tables during the march and rally. From inside the fair, kissers were able to effectively block access to military recruiters without shutting down the entire career fair."

santacruz.indymedia.org/newswire/display/18797/index.php

All photos copyright Bob Fitch Photo.