Protesters blockade UCSC entrances as classes head back online through Thursday

Several hundred UC Santa Cruz students and supporters took to the streets again on Tuesday to protest Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, blocking both the main and west entrances of UC Santa Cruz.

At the main entrance, about 100 pro-Palestine protesters picketed with UCSC graduate student workers, members of the United Auto Workers 4811 who continued to strike over the University of California’s treatment of protesters. At around 1 p.m., the demonstrators blocked the entrance and wrote messages of solidarity in the street with chalk.

At the west entrance, the blockade was more intense. More than 100 demonstrators gathered outside Family Student Housing holding a large banner reading “Palestine will be free.” They set up signs with names of Palestinian youth killed in the war and splattered and spread red paint across the road and on university signage. They tossed rocks onto the street heading into campus to further prevent entry. Supporters lined the sides of the street and crowded the overpass above the road as organizers led chants.

The group confronted UC campus police, telling the officers to leave, and that they were not welcome nor needed. As a police truck was turning to leave, it lightly struck one of the protests, though the person wasn’t injured. The police soon left the immediate vicinity, but stayed to direct traffic along High Street and watch from down the road.

In a campuswide message late Tuesday, Chancellor Cynthia Larive condemned the actions of demonstrators, describing the blockades as an “extremely dangerous effort to cause intentional harm.”

Many students, staff and faculty were unable to get through to leave campus in the afternoon, she said, while some motorists tried to drive around the protesters. The university closed its two libraries early and reduced service at its dining halls.

“Unfortunately, the actions that we witnessed today were extremely harmful to others in our community,” Larive said. “Those who took part should be aware that their actions carry with them severe penalties — penalties that they should be prepared to face.”

UCSC initially planned to bring back in-person instruction starting Tuesday, but announced in the evening that classes would remain online-only through at least Wednesday and Thursday. Campus spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason did not say how many classes have been canceled.

The blockades came days after a state labor board rejected the UC’s request for an injunction against its graduate student union to order it to stop striking last Thursday. On Tuesday, the labor action spread to two new campuses, UCLA and UC Davis, meaning as many as a third of the University of California academic and graduate student workers are now on strike.

UC Santa Cruz UAW 4811 unit chair Rebecca Gross told Lookout that the union wasn’t surprised that the UC’s request for an injunction was denied but said she was still happy for confirmation that the movement can continue. Gross said strikers have no plans to change their strategy: “Withholding labor is our best tactic.”

Gross said she thinks it will take some time for the university to feel the loss of the worker strike. “We’ve only been out for one week, but it takes longer than that for the UC to feel it,” she said. “Staying out for an extended period will make those effects stronger.”

The Gaza solidarity encampment, now heading into its fourth week, moved last week to the base of campus next to the Hay Barn, where it remains. Campers joined the picket lines at the main entrance Tuesday morning.

A post on the UCSC Students for Justice in Palestine Instagram page said that the demonstrators planned to be there all day, or until the police leave. 

A media liaison for the encampment, who did not give their name, said that it’s “pretty beautiful” to see other campuses joining in the demonstrations and strike. They described the encampment and the worker strike as parallel to each other.

“We moved down here [to the base of campus] and are supporting them, and they are supporting us,” they said. “More power is being generated and more pressure is being put on.”

The UC and the union are also still awaiting findings by the state labor board on unfair labor practice charges each has filed against the other. The Public Employment Relations Board has so far said it found evidence to support a charge by the UC accusing the union of conducting an illegal strike because the union’s contract includes a no-strike clause.

The labor board issued a complaint related to the charge, which means it will be formally heard before an administrative law judge in a quasi-judicial trial at the PERB office. 

The labor board’s legal counsel, J. Felix De La Torre, previously told Lookout that the first day of a trial could be in about three weeks at the earliest and about six weeks at the latest. He added that unfair labor practice charges the union filed against the UC are still pending. The UC has until Friday to file a response to those charges. After that, a board agent will review the charges and determine if it meets the criteria to be sent to trial.

De La Torre said it is possible that because the charges the UC and the union have filed are similar, a judge could consolidate them into one case since the board would need to hear the union’s defense in order to determine whether or not to deem the student worker strike illegal.

“The UAW’s defense to the allegations that the strike is unlawful is that UC committed an unfair practice charge significantly serious enough to provoke a strike and to excuse it from a no-strike clause from the contract,” he said. “And that’s what UAW’s charge is effectively alleging. So it’s going to be their defense to the allegation that their strike is unlawful.”

– Hillary Ojeda contributed to this report.

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