students at BERKELEY arrested for non-violent demonstration

really loud bells should be going off in everyone's heads if kids at berkeley are getting arrested for protests. if they're being arrested up there, we'll probably be bludgeoned to death here at usc....


Tuesday, 11 April, 18 students at the University of California-Berkeley were arrested for participating in a non-violent civil disobedience demanding that their university adopt a policy ensuring that university apparel and uniforms are produced in factories in which workers are represented by a democratic union and earn a living wage.

If you have a moment, please consider sending a message to the President of the University, Robert Dynes, and Chancellor Birgeneau urging them to refrain from further disciplinary moves, be it university or police action, against these and other students. Students have a right to speak their minds and have their voices heard in peaceful protest, and our universities must understand that we will not tolerate any abridgement of these rights.

More related stories:
- 18 sweatshop protesters arrested in sit-in at California Hall, UC Berkeley
- Living wage sit-in results in one arrest: Police arrest Prof. Wende E. Marshall; students plan to continue sit-in indefinately, University of Virginia
- 10 Students Cited for Trespasssing, UC Riverside


Potential mail, email, or fax text:

Dear ______________,

I am extemely disappointed to hear that, instead of entering into a dialogue with students engaged in a peaceful civil disobedience, the university has attempted to silence their voices through police intimidation. The University of California, as one of the leading public institutions in the world, has an obligation to set an example for the rest of the university community to follow. By choosing to arrest students for taking a principled stand on an issue that, to be quite honest, the university ought to have resolved long ago, the University of California is sending the message that they will stop at nothing, even if it means resorting to police intimidation, to silence the voices of its students. I would strongly urge the University of California, for its own sake, to ensure that these students are immediately released, that all charges are dropped, and that there is no further action taken against any of the students in question. The community at large takes the University of California's actions so far to be a direct assault on our most basic right to free speech, and will not stand idly by while the university punishes students for doing what is right.

If you prefer to call in, here is a potential script:

Hello, my name is ____________ and I am a _______________ at the University of ______________. The University of California, by arresting students for engaging in a peaceful civil disobedience aimed at ensuring the protection of workers' rights, has shamefully attempted to silence the voices of students through police intimidation. I am appalled that the university would resort to such tactics, and demand that all students be released, that all charges be dropped, that no further disciplinary action be taken, and that the demands of the students be met immediately. What's at stake: Students at the University of California have, for the past six months, been pressuring their university to adopt the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP). This policy, once adopted, woud ensure that university apparel and uniforms were produced in factories in which workers are represented by a democratic union and earn a living wage. Unfortunately, even though all possible avenues have been pursued, the university has, up until now, refused to make a good faith effort towards meeting these demands. Students, therefore, were given no choice but to engage in a civil disobedience aimed at persuading the university to adopt a policy that, clearly, was not going to be accepted through any other means. Instead of listening to the demands of students, however, the University of California has responded by arresting students engaged in a non-violent sit-in in the office of their chancellor and threatening them with criminal and academic charges. This attempt to use police and university intimidation to silence the voices of students is unacceptable, and threatens the right of dissent upon which efforts aimed at creating social change depend. We as a community cannot stand idly by and allow institutions like the University of California to use such means to put down dissent. The students participating in this sit-in must immediately be released, all charges must be dropped, the university must committ to not pursuing any form of disciplinary action, and the Designated Suppliers Program must be adopted immediately.

Robert Dynes, President of the University of California
Phone number: 510-987-9074
Fax number: 510-987-9086
Email: Robert.dynes@ucop.edu

Chancellor France Cordova at UC Riverside: 951-827-5201
email: france.cordova@ucr.edu
fax: 951-827-3866

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau at UC Berkeley: 510-642-7464
email: chancellor@berkeley.edu
fax: 510-643-5499