UCSC has fined 36 students $944 each for the role they played in the occupation of Kerr Hall last November during the student strike on campus. The occupation of the building is said to have resulted in $34,000 in damages. Additionally, seven of the students were either dismissed or placed on probation for their participation in the event.
The fines and probations are considered draconian by many of the faculty members who supported the students during the strike. Feminist Studies professor Bettina Aptheker said that, “Reckless, inaccurate, inadequately supported and unjustified claims by the university continue to plague this process.” At least one of her students, Timothy Clark, is among those who were fined by the disciplinary board.
The university defended its decision, saying that, “A protest to call attention to the increase in student fees is more than understandable. But a protest that terrifies workers, displaces nearly 150 of them for days, and degrades into vandalism and leaves the campus with a $34,000 bill is not.”
Read More at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
