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Administrative Message

April 13, 2006

To: UC Santa Cruz Community

From: Denice D. Denton, Chancellor, and David S. Kliger, Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor

Re: Protest on April 11

On April 11, at the UC Santa Cruz Career Fair, a small group of individuals violated the principles they claimed to embrace – those of peaceful assembly and freedom of speech. In using threatening and aggressive tactics to prevent interested students from contacting military recruiters, these protesters infringed on the rights of others and acted with intimidation, intolerance and disrespect. Many did so with their faces covered, unwilling to take public responsibility for their actions.

The university, like any public body, has established guidelines that protect rights of freedom of speech, expression and assembly. Moreover, this campus provides in its Principles of Community a clear statement of standards for behavior that it expects of all its members, including the expectation that reasoned discourse includes a free exchange of ideas with mutual respect and consideration of differences.

Despite repeated efforts to engage with the Students Against War group, to discuss the time, place, and manner in which their protest could occur safely, the group declined to communicate further. A letter to them on March 27 reiterated the desire to collaborate, but there was no response from the group.

We are extremely concerned by the behaviors of the approximately 75 protesters, whose actions are not consistent with the values of our campus community, including 15,000 students. We apologize on behalf of the campus to those whose rights were violated, and we will take appropriate disciplinary action against students who are found to have been in violation of campus policies.

In contrast to the disrespectful and sometimes dangerous behavior of the protesters, true character was demonstrated by the nearly 800 students who attended the career fair for its intended purpose and by the many faculty and staff who encountered the protesters with composure and self-control.

Our primary concern at the Career Fair was ensuring the safety of our students, faculty, staff and visitors. We also held the goal of protecting the rights of our students to have access to the 90 employers attending the event, including the military recruiters.

Although the situation was extremely volatile, staff, faculty, and military recruiters used admirable restraint to prevent a serious situation from escalating to a point where public safety would have been further jeopardized.

We thank all those students, staff and faculty who made the best of a difficult situation, and we appreciate the vast majority of our campus community who demonstrate the ideals of our democracy by respecting the rights of all individuals.

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