UC Santa Cruz resumes in-person teaching for final week of instruction after police-protesters standoff (2024)

UC Santa Cruz resumed in-person classes Monday for the final week of instruction of the spring quarter, days after police arrested dozens of protesters and cleared a pro-Palestine encampment at the base of campus.

Both entrances to campus were open as of Monday, while members of the graduate student union continued to picket and hold a rally calling for amnesty for all the protesters charged and arrested.

Overnight Thursday and into Friday, more than 100 police officers from agencies as far away as Truckee assisted local police to disband the encampment and arrest protesters. The confrontation between protesters and police lasted for 16 hours, with at least one protester treated in a hospital for injuries sustained during the arrests.

The police raid came days before UCSC instruction for the spring quarter is set to end this Friday ahead of final exams next Monday through Thursday. Commencement ceremonies are scheduled for June 14 to 17.

Initially, the university said about 80 people were arrested. On Monday, UCSC spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason told Lookout the school’s estimates on the number of arrests had risen to at least 100, though it has yet to finalize the total.

A media liaison for the encampment, who declined to provide their name, told Lookout that they have recorded at least 108 arrests, the vast majority of them UCSC students. Most were given a court date for July 2, the media liaison said.

On Monday, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Ashley Keehn declined to confirm the number of people who were arrested or how many of those were charged. She told Lookout that the majority of the people arrested were charged with refusal to disperse or resisting an officer. Hernandez-Jason said some people faced additional charges, including battery on a peace officer and use of threats, force or violence against a peace officer.

County sheriff’s arrest logs from Friday show 27 arrests from the scene of the standoff. Among those, eight are listed as students. Others arrested were listed as student representative, food service, events team, and tutor. Either the California Highway Patrol or UCSC Police Department are listed as the arresting agencies on all of them.

The university also disciplined students involved in the protests by issuing notices under California Penal Code 626.4 – called 626.4 notices – that prohibit them from accessing campus in person for up to 14 days. Hernandez-Jason told Lookout on Saturday that he did not know how many students had received notices, and did not respond to another Monday request by publication time.

The notices also state that a person who enters the campus after being prohibited is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Hernandez-Jason said he didn’t have finalized numbers for how many students and faculty had received 626.4 notices prohibiting them from campus. He also didn’t respond to questions about whether any students had been expelled and how many faculty and staff had also been arrested.

“We are finalizing all the information and I will share more soon,” he wrote.

The media liaison for the encampment said all of the students who were arrested were also given a 626.4 notice temporarily banning them from campus. All students who lived on campuses were told they had to find other housing.

The liaison added that the police raid and clearing of the encampment won’t stop their protest activities. “If [administrators] want to just try to wipe out the encampment and the movement until summer and hope it goes away, then that’s going to be a severe mistake,” they said. “Because again, divestment is how this is going to end.”

Several faculty members were arrested as part of the police crackdown on the protests. Marisol LeBrón, an associate professor in feminist studies and critical race and ethnic studies, wrote on X – formally Twitter – that she had been arrested. Another faculty member, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, told Lookout that she was charged with refusal to disperse. She said in addition to her, one lecturer and two faculty total were arrested.

The faculty member said her hands were purple and blue from the police officers grabbing her during the arrest. She said she, along with others who had been arrested, was held on a bus for more than three hours Friday morning before being transported for processing at the UCSC Genomics Institute at 2300 Delaware Ave. on the lower Westside.

The media liaison for the encampment told Lookout that students were still compiling a list of the number of injuries, arrests and details of the incident which they’ll share publicly soon. They added that the police raid and clearing of the encampment won’t stop their protest activities.

Rebecca Gross, UCSC unit chair for graduate student workers striking as part of a labor action that has spread to several UC campuses, said at least six members of the United Auto Workers 4811 union were arrested in the raid. They include two undergraduate students who work as readers or tutors, three graduate student workers who work as teaching assistants and one course assistant.

Gross said the student workers faced a mix of charges, including refusal to disperse or unlawful assembly. She added it’s not clear why some, but not all, of the UAW members received 626.4 notices.

UCSC’s graduate student workers have been on strike since May 20 over what they say is unfair treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters across UC campuses.

Striking activities are still going on as planned, Gross said. During a peak of attendance Monday at the picket line at the base of campus, she said about 300 people were there to rally and support the strike.

The strike is authorized to go through June 30. After tallying up the number of UAW members on strike and the faculty who have pledged to not take up struck work at UCSC, Gross said that more than 10,000 final grades for courses could be withheld if the strike continues past the June 18 deadline to submit those grades. Another 3,000 to 5,000 are still being accounted for as it’s unclear if faculty will try to give those final grades, she added.

Gross said that during a union meeting Monday, she learned about more UAW members walking off the job from several departments at UCSC, including computer science and math.

“This is an amazing indication that our strike is continuing to grow, that there isn’t fatigue at this point,” she said. “And that, even though it’s Week 10, it’s finals week and then into the grading period, I think workers seem like they really want to stay on strike.”

Among UAW 4811’s demands to end the strike is that the UC systemwide drop all charges against protesters and to divest from war and the occupation in Palestine.

– Max Chun contributed to this report.

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