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Campus PeriodicalsResources for ReportersSelected Administrative OfficesCalendarsMaintained by pioweb@ucsc.edu |
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Administrative Message January 9, 2006 To: UC Santa Cruz Colleagues From: Denice D. Denton, Chancellor (chancellor@ucsc.edu); David S. Kliger, Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Re: Pentagon monitoring: Message from Chancellor and EVCAs we begin a new year and new academic quarter, we want to welcome you back to campus and send our best wishes for pleasant and productive days ahead. Since the end of last quarter, there has been news worthy of your attention. We invite you to review Currents Online for stories about notable faculty achievements, upcoming events involving our distinguished alumni, and other topics. Among the news since mid-December was the revelation by NBC News that the demonstration at the UCSC Career Fair last April was classified by the Pentagon as a "credible threat." We sent a campus message on the subject on December 28, and have taken several actions since then. Links to this message and additional relevant materials are listed below. The Chancellor's Office contacted our elected officials: California Assembly Member John Laird; Congress Members Sam Farr, Mike Honda, Zoe Lofgren, Anna Eshoo; U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. We asked the members of Congress to request a definition of "credible threat;" to determine why the April 5 demonstration was classified as one; to learn how the information was gathered; and to address our concern that future monitoring could have a chilling effect on the exercise of free speech on our campus. All of the officials contacted acknowledged our concern and expressed interest. Congress Member Lofgren issued a public statement on December 30, calling for an investigation into the Defense Department's surveillance of U.S. citizens. Earlier, Congress Member Farr was quoted in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, saying he was "shocked and appalled" by news reports of the Pentagon spying on students at UC Santa Cruz and other college campuses, and promised to question Defense Department officials on the matter when their budget comes up for review. In addition, several relevant articles on the issue featuring UC Santa Cruz have been published since December 28 -- three in the San Jose Mercury News, one in the Sentinel, and one in Inside Higher Education. Again, see the relevant web links below. Because we want all members of the campus community to be fully informed, we want to let you know that: * UC Santa Cruz has not provided any federal agency with information about the event in April, nor did we receive a request for such information. To reiterate and underscore a point made in our December message, we are committed to a learning environment in which each member of our community can engage in free exploration of the full spectrum of ideas, while expressing her/his opinions in an atmosphere that is open, peaceful, and respectful of differing views. We do not tolerate violence. We do insist upon the rights of peaceful assembly as integral to the political freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. We will do everything in our power to protect those rights for all. We will continue to consult with students, staff, and faculty on this matter. We are considering an electronic forum as an additional mechanism to share views. We recognize the many different perspectives on this issue, and we encourage their expression. WEB LINKS TO ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MSNBC article Dec. 28, 2005 Campus message Congressmember Zoe Lofgren statement Santa Cruz Sentinel article, Dec. 17, 2005 Mercury News article, Dec. 29, 2005 Mercury News article, Dec. 30, 2005 Mercury News article, Jan. 3, 2006 Sentinel article, Dec. 30, 2005 Inside Higher Education article, Dec. 30, 2005
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