The Israel-Hamas conflict has triggered a reckoning for college campuses across the country — including at UC Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College — where tensions over free speech and academic freedom have simmered for years until boiling over in the past month, challenging students, faculty and administrators alike.
Cabrillo College
Posted inEducation
Cabrillo College governing board censures trustee Steve Trujillo after offensive social media posts
In a 6-1 vote Monday, with Steve Trujillo as the lone dissent, Cabrillo College trustees registered their disapproval of Trujillo’s Facebook posts and found that the posts violated policy; Trujillo reiterated his defense that the account had been hacked. The formal censure also prohibits Trujillo from serving as an officer of the board for three years.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I am the first male, openly trans person elected to public office in our state; this is my coming-out story
Nov. 13-19 is national Transgender Awareness Week, and in a Community Voices opinion piece, Adam Spickler, a Cabrillo College trustee and one of only four openly transgender people to hold elected office in all of California, shares their coming-out story. Adam wishes when they were growing up in the 1980s and 1990s that they had transgender role models.
Posted inEducation
Cabrillo College probe recommends against censuring trustee Steve Trujillo over offensive Facebook posts
A Cabrillo College committee investigating complaints of inappropriate and offensive language on trustee Steve Trujillo’s Facebook found that the posts do exist on his page, but could not verify Trujillo’s claim that his account had been hacked. The governing board will decide Monday whether Trujillo violated the school’s code of ethics, but said policies that would allow the board to censure a trustee over social media posts didn’t exist until recently.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruzans organize vigils, respond to Israel-Hamas war
Santa Cruz County residents with ties to Palestine and Israel say they’re stunned and saddened by the violence in the region. Two organizations are scheduled to host vigils this week to mourn those lost in the violence.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Cabrillo College name needs to change, trustee Steve Trujillo writes — it’s the right thing to do
School leaders have put off a vote on the Cabrillo College name change until at least 2028. But Steve Trujillo, a trustee, thinks this is a mistake and wants the name removed. “To say Cabrillo was merely exploring is laughable,” he writes.
Posted inEducation
Cabrillo College trustees say they were targets of homophobic, transphobic attacks amid name-change debate
Two Cabrillo College trustees say they experienced incidents of harassment because of their support for changing the name of the college. Adam Spickler says he was the subject of a transphobic petition. Steve Trujillo says he has been the target of homophobic emails, and that Watsonville Police Chief Jorge Zamora told him to carry pepper spray and had officers escort him home from dinner because of a tip that someone was following him.
Posted inEducation
624-bed joint Cabrillo-UCSC housing project closer to reality as state financial fix heads to Newsom
After months of uncertainty about funding, Cabrillo College and UC Santa Cruz say they’re ready to move forward with a 624-bed student housing project on Cabrillo’s Aptos campus. If all goes as planned, officials say they’ll start construction in September 2024 and students could move in by fall 2026.
Posted inEducation
Both sides of Cabrillo College name-change debate disappointed after board votes to delay renaming until 2028
Some who support renaming Cabrillo College say they feel the governing board’s 6-1 vote Monday to delay the name change until at least 2028 is a sign trustees are caving to threats made by donors to take their funding away if the school changes its name. Meanwhile, some name-change opponents say they think the board should have instead voted to scrap the renaming process entirely.
Posted inEducation
In tense meeting, Cabrillo College votes to put off renaming until at least 2028
After a lengthy and heated discussion Monday night, Cabrillo College’s governing board voted 6-1 to delay any talk of renaming the college until at least 2028.