Quick Take
Though there were no graduate student picketers Monday at UC Santa Cruz, eight protesters were arrested after a group of more than 20 occupied the unused University House on campus. Meanwhile, UCSC leaders of the union representing grad student workers are polling members to decide on next steps after a restraining order Friday stopped their strike.
For the first time since May 20, on Monday, the UC Santa Cruz campus was relatively quiet. No graduate student workers were picketing at the entrances of campus, due to a court granting the University of California a temporary restraining order, issued on Friday, to stop the students’ strike.
The quiet was short-lived.
Later in the afternoon, more than 20 people briefly occupied University House in the middle of campus. University House was formerly the home of UCSC chancellors, but it had been condemned and has been largely empty and unused. The protestors, who claimed in an Instagram post to not be part of any organized group, demanded that the university divest from Israel and named University House after a Palestinian family.
UC Santa Cruz Police Officer Jim Watson told Lookout that eight people were arrested and charged with trespassing, with the rest of the protesters leaving.
“Eight people were arrested Monday night on suspicion of trespassing after four entered a locked university building that is permanently closed because of seismic and other building code deficiencies,” campus spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason said Monday evening.
“Four of the eight face an additional charge of refusing a directive to disperse. Earlier in the day, UC Santa Cruz also prevented demonstrators from trying to reestablish encampments on campus. Later on, individuals on bikes dumped paint at the intersection of Bay and High streets,” he added.
Meanwhile, leaders of UCSC’s graduate student workers said they are still deciding how to move forward in response to the court order halting the strike. Unit chair Rebecca Gross told Lookout on Monday that UCSC members of United Auto Workers 4811 are participating in a poll to decide what, if any, next steps they’ll take. She said she doesn’t know how long they’ll keep the poll open.
“The poll is to, hopefully as soon as possible, get a sense of how workers on our campus are feeling and what they want to do next,” she said. “It’s not out of the question that the people would want to stay on strike.”
Gross said that the poll is specifically for UCSC workers and not UC systemwide.
The events around the strike – in protest of how the University of California sent police to clear pro-Palestine encampments and arrest protesters at multiple campuses – have been fast-moving.
UAW 4811, the union representing 48,000 graduate student workers at 10 UC campuses and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, started striking last month.
On June 4, the UC filed a lawsuit in the Orange County Superior Court against the union for breach of contract. Days later the court granted the restraining order. The temporary restraining order prohibits union members from all strike activity, including withholding their labor.
Gross noted that the restraining order is effective for 20 days, ending on June 27, when the court has scheduled a hearing on the case.
Prior to the restraining order, the union said it would keep striking until the university meets its demands, including the UC granting amnesty for all protesters charged. In early May, union members voted to authorize the strike through June 30.
UAW 4811’s strike began just weeks before the end of the school year. At UCSC, students are taking final exams this week and commencement ceremonies are scheduled to take place from Friday through Monday. The deadline for submitting grades for courses is June 18.
Lookout sought comment from Hernandez-Jason about how the university is preparing for commencement this year as protests have interrupted campuses, including at UC Berkeley. He declined to respond to what additional measures, if any, the campus was taking.
“We are focused on providing the best experience for our students and their guests,” he wrote via email.
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