Two days after dozens of UC Santa Cruz students first set up an encampment in support of Palestine in Quarry Plaza, the number of campers has nearly tripled to more than 100, according to organizers. Student organizers say they won’t leave until their demands are met.
Israel-Hamas war
Posted inLatest News
UC’s president had a plan to deescalate protests. How did we get a night of violence at UCLA?
The University of California’s campus safety plan was designed to calm protests by limiting law enforcement. Yet as tensions grew to violence against a UCLA student encampment erected in protest over the war in Gaza, many are criticizing law enforcement’s lack of intervention.
Posted inEducation
Amid crackdowns on student protests nationwide, UCSC sprouts a homegrown, peaceful pro-Palestine encampment
Police arrested pro-Palestinian demonstrators on college campuses across the U.S. on Wednesday. It was a jarring contrast to the civil scene at UC Santa Cruz, where hundreds of students and faculty marched in a dense yet orderly phalanx across campus and into Quarry Plaza, where about 50 to 60 protesters set up a tent encampment.
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Hundreds march at UC Santa Cruz in Gaza protest, set up Quarry Plaza encampment
With a May Day march and rally Wednesday, UCSC joins dozens of campuses across the country that have been the site of marches and encampments by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. The clashes have turned violent at some schools, but Wednesday’s gathering at UCSC remained largely peaceful as school officials kept a watchful eye.
Posted inEducation
Steve Garvey calls pro-Palestinian student protesters ‘terrorists’
Steve Garvey, the Republican contender for California’s U.S. Senate seat in November’s election, criticized USC student encampments as acts of terrorism. Nearly 100 demonstrators were arrested on trespassing charges.
Posted inEducation
New PVUSD superintendent will ‘listen and learn’ before deciding on ethnic studies contract controversy
Incoming Pajaro Valley Unified School District superintendent Heather Contreras says she plans to do her due diligence on whether the district should reconsider a controversial decision not to renew its contract with a consultant who helped guide the creation of its ethnic studies curriculum. Many students and teachers say the district has taken too long to reconsider that decision.
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Tensions reemerge on UCSC campus as dozens of pro-Israel, pro-Palestine students stage dueling rallies
Dozens of pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters met on the UC Santa Cruz campus Thursday afternoon in a tense but largely peaceful confrontation that illustrates how university campuses continue to be roiled by violence in the Middle East.
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‘How do we eradicate hate?’: UCSC receives $500K to tackle Islamophobia, antisemitism and hate speech
UC Santa Cruz officials received $500,000 as part of a UC-wide initiative to eliminate hate and bias on its campuses amid escalating tensions stemming from the crisis in Israel and Gaza. Vice Chancellor of Diversity Anju Reejhsinghani hopes this will bring some much-needed healing to the campus.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Santa Cruz mayor receives verbal apology from teen who made anonymous death threat following cease-fire vote
Fallout from the Santa Cruz City Council’s decision Jan. 10 to reject a cease-fire resolution escalated to an anonymous death threat made against Mayor Fred Keeley, one police said they found credible. This week, the maker of the threat was identified.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
In aftermath of Santa Cruz’s failed cease-fire vote: Criticism, death threats and a community divided
Unnecessary division was a reason local governments wanted to avoid resolutions calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Yet, division is precisely where Santa Cruz has landed following a a tense city council vote last week.