Alex Darocy Photography

While reflecting on a long year of labor struggles at UC Santa Cruz, students looking to the future continued to call for the resignation of UC president Janet Napolitano at the 'No 2 Napolitano' May Day rally held at the university on Thursday. The opposition of Napolitano is central to their fight for justice for workers, especially those who are undocumented. "Janet Napolitano comes from the federal government as the head of the Department of Homeland Security. She has not only deported two million people but she has also separated many families and brought fear into undocumented communities," an event announcement for the rally read. In addition to calling for Napolitano's resignation, students also called for the university to settle a fair contract with UAW 2865, the labor union that represents Graduate Student Workers, and for all charges against the UCSC 22 to be dropped. May Day is International Workers Rights Day. Since 2006, the workers holiday an...

Two different political demonstrations were held during the first day of Alumni Weekend at UC Santa Cruz on April 25. Members of Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs protested an appearance by former CIA director and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who spoke at 'Launch', an exhibition of various student projects at the university. At the same time as the Panetta protest, students in support of the UCSC 22 demonstrated at another Alumni weekend event, the Graduate Alumni Cocktail Hour, which was held at the Graduate Student Commons. Panetta Protest At the Panetta protest, individuals held signs with the statements, "Jail Panetta", "What about the drones, Leon?", "Panetta Supports Torture", "Panetta is a War Criminal", and "Drone War is A Crime." Issues highlighted in literature distributed outside of the event included Panetta's involvement with drone warfare as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2009 to ...

During both days of the April 2-3 UAW Graduate Student Workers strike at UC Santa Cruz, riot police were outfitted and deployed at the west entrance of campus. Graduate and undergraduate student demonstrators at UC Santa Cruz continued to face what they call intimidation while attempting to maintain a peaceful picket line across the university's two entrances during the Unfair Labor Practices strike. Additionally, the university continued to video tape legal strike activities. UAW Local 2865, the labor union that represents Graduate Student Workers and Teaching Assistants, said in a press release that the measures the university took were, "simply an attempt to intimidate individuals involved in lawful conduct." On the first day of the strike 20 students were arrested by police. The first arrested was union organizer Josh Brahisnky, who according to eyewitness reports was forced to the ground by a group of police who "crowded" him and forcefully handcuff...