UC Santa Cruz Letter of Solidarity To SFSU Students Against War

Please sign the open letter on-line

Campus Antiwar Network website

An Open Letter of Solidarity…

To San Francisco State University Students Against War:

In spite of the pouring rain and attempts by the
administration to stifle students’ free speech, UCSC
Students Against War (SAW) organized over 150 students to
march from the center of campus to the career fair, where
they nonviolently prevented access to military recruiters
through sit-ins and other measures. Despite the
protesters’ manifest commitment to non-violence, both
police and top UC administrators physically assaulted
three female protesters. Nonetheless, students
responsibly deescalated the situation. After about an
hour and a half of negotiations and students’ refusal to
back down, military recruiters left the job fair.

In the wake of this effective action members of UCSC SAW
have faced severe backlash. Rightwing extremists reacted
to our success with hundreds of threatening telephone
calls and e-mails to SAW members and their families.
Following their lead, UCSC Chancellor Denton and Campus
Provost Kliger released an administrative message
condemning the action. They mischaracterized our action
as violent, hypocritically neglecting to mention the
violence mobilized against us by administrators, police
and Rightwing extremists.

Unfortunately, the reaction of our administration is not
isolated. Three days after our action SFSU SAW
nonviolently confronted military recruiters at their
career fair. Immediately, police surrounded the students
and issued them citations, barring them from their campus
for fourteen days. The extreme reaction of police and
administrators was an unwarranted response to the
non-threatening student demonstration; clearly, it served
only to suppress dissent and was not motivated by a desire
to protect students or anyone else. As national student
movements gain strength, school administrators have
repeatedly joined forces with police to protect the
interests of militarization, profit and exploitation.

As allies in the struggle against war and militarization,
students from different campuses are standing together.
We, as UCSC Students Against War, support SFSU SAW in
their current struggle against administrative repression.
We unite our efforts in order that we may strengthen them;
only through solidarity will the movement against war
realize its vision.

We forge this vision in spite of those who would silence
us because we know what it is they protect. As
administrators privilege the maintenance of order over the
legal expression of dissent, they reinforce apathy and
blindness over the critical search for truth they claim to
support. We will serve the purposes they only profess to
by exposing the mutual dependence between our universities
and the military-industrial complex. We will not allow
the violence and destruction of unjust wars to remain
invisible.

In Solidarity,

UC Santa Cruz Students Against War
April 16, 2006
[UCSC SAW is a chapter of the Campus Antiwar Network]