Occupation at UCSC similar to TBNYU's

by Richa Naik

Published September 28, 2009

Last Thursday, Occupy California, an activist group at the University of California, Santa Cruz tweeted about a "dance party" on campus.

Kimmel occupation

A look back at the Take Back NYU protests at the Kimmel Center from February 2009.

But attendees of the "dance" were not there for a party — they organized, then marched with approximately 45 students to the school's commons area and began an occupation there around 5 p.m. PST.

For NYU students, the concept may seem familiar.

Last February, Take Back NYU, an activist group at NYU, encouraged students to attend a "dance party" at the Kimmel Center that eventually turned into a three-day student occupation.

The UCSC students occupied to protest graduate student job cuts, forced faculty furloughs and a tuition increase of over 30 percent midway through the year. The occupation follows a campus walkout initiated by faculty on Sept. 24.

Although Occupy California has no formal relationship with TBNYU, OC spokesperson Christopher Barkan said his group was influenced by the Kimmel occupation.

"We are working within the same logic," he said. "They are in solidarity with us."

TBNYU posted on its website, "Take Back NYU! stands in ecstatic solidarity with the occupiers at UC Santa Cruz. Take back your school! OCCUPY EVERYTHING!"

Barkan said that some people from OC know students from TBNYU. But Emily Stainkamp, a spokesperson for TBNYU, said she doesn't know anyone from OC.

Regardless, Stainkamp said she was happy to see another group of students protest at a large university.

"I think that the kind of financial necessity that so many students have going into higher education and the impending debt that's associated with it is really relevant everywhere," she said. "It's really heartening to see that students are moving to action."

As of press time, OC has announced three dance parties and barricaded itself in the commons area for more than 48 hours. Some UCSC students not occupying the room have coordinated food drives to deliver food to the protesters.

Barkan said: "We want students to know that having fun is a way of protesting."

Richa Naik is city/state editor.

1 discussion

occupy california

Sep 30, 2009
5:12 a.m.

Just a few corrections:

FIRST, People were not drawn to the occupation by a "tweet" about a dance party. There was a one-day walkout/strike to protest the destruction of public education in California, which is happening hard and fast on account of the fiscal crisis of the state of CA. People marched from the base of campus, where the picket was, on to the campus itself. The march happened to end at the "quarry", a commercial/student space at the university, where the occupation took place. The occupiers, as is clear from their statement, did not believe a one-day event would change anything at the University of California. Their belief has been borne out by the facts: UC President Mark Yudof did not so much as acknowledge the walkout. UC students, faculty and staff will have to undertake much more abrasive direct-action if anything is to change at all. Nothing will change, however, unless everything changes, which is why the students at Santa Cruz occupied without demands, refusing to turn over the building in exchange for paltry concessions.

SECOND, Occupy California is not a group of activists. In fact, it is not a group at all, at least in the usual sense. Of course, there are some activists in the building, but in the opinion of this commentator, they have fully transcended their status as activists. The occupation was not a publicity stunt, nor a single-issue action, nor even an arrest action. The space was taken and then transformed into a social center for the organization of further actions on campus. The dance party was one such action (and a political one, since the occupiers have an uncommon notion of the political). As for group status, "Occupy California" is only the name of the website. The occupiers have no name. They have control over a door, and so the composition of the group of people inside is constantly changing. There are no leaders, no committees, no meetings except those called, with whoever is in the space, making decisions to be implemented immediately.

Thanks much,
another autonomous committee inside the occupation

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