Occupy UC Davis Antirepression Crew Media
oucd-antirepression-media@googlegroups.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

What: Call-In to Oppose Prosecution of the 12 UCD Protesters
Contact: Yolo County District Attorney at (530) 666-8180 or Fax: (530)666-8423
Support: Come to the Arraignment on Friday, April 27th, 8:30am at the Yolo County Superior Court, Dept. 9, 213, Third Street, Woodland, CA, 95695

11 UC DAVIS STUDENTS, PROFESSOR, CHARGED FOR U.S. BANK BLOCKADE

Accused May Face up to Eleven Years in Prison

Just months after UC Davis police pepper sprayed seated students in the face during a protest against university privatization and police brutality, Chancellor Linda Katehi’s administration is trying to send some of the same students to prison for their alleged role in protests that led to the closure of a US Bank branch on campus.

On 29 March, weeks after an anti-privatization action against US Bank ended with the closure of the bank’s campus branch, 11 UC Davis students and one professor received orders to appear at Yolo County Superior Court. District Attorney Jeff Reisig is charging campus protesters with 20 counts each of obstructing movement in a public place, and one count of conspiracy. If convicted, the protesters could face up to 11 years each in prison, and $1 million in damages.

The charges were brought at the request of the UC Davis administration, which had recently received a termination letter from US Bank holding the university responsible for all costs, claiming they were “constructively evicted” because the university had not responded by arresting the “illegal gathering.” Protesters point out that the charges against them serve to position the university favorably in a potential litigation with US Bank.

Three of the protesters had received summons from UCD Student Judicial Affairs in mid-February, and it was only after US Bank announced that it had permanently closed its doors that the UCD administration requested that the DA bring criminal charges against the 12. Supporters argue that the university is targeting the dozen in order to limit its liability to US Bank and that the university is effectively using public funds (through the DA’s office) to protect a private corporation’s right to profit from increasingly indebted students at an increasingly expensive public university.

Among the 12 are some of the protesters pepper sprayed by campus police during the infamous November incident. But whereas the District Attorney declined to file charges against protesters then, this less publicized prosecution seems to be an attempt to punish the dissenting students, perhaps in retaliation for their pending ACLU lawsuit against the university. “We might not think of this as violence, because there aren’t broken bones or pepper spray or guns—it’s not as explicit—but sending someone to jail, holding them for a day, let alone 11 years, is violence,” said Andrew Higgins, a graduate student in History and representative of the UC graduate student union.

Supporters are requesting that the public contact the Yolo County District Attorney at (530) 666-8180 and voice their opposition to this prosecution. Supporters also request public attendance on the day of their arraignment, Friday, April 27th, 8:30am at the Yolo County Superior Court, Dept. 9, 213 Third Street, Woodland, CA, 95695. The website in support of the 12 accused is http://www.davisdozen.org.

via Press

Speakers at a Thursday rally accused the UC Davis administration of taking revenge and trying to punish bank protesters out of the public eye in order to silence dissent.

“We will not be intimidated,” said Sophia Kamran, one of 11 students due to be arraigned April 27 for their role in a blockade that led U.S. Bank to close its campus branch and sever a deal with the university.

“That’s their goal (with) these retroactive measures, to intimidate us.”

The students and one professor face one count each of conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail, plus up to 20 counts of obstructing movement in a public place, a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail.

About 250 people listened to speakers outside the Memorial Union. Later, a march led to the lobby of the main administration building, Mrak Hall, where about 20 protesters remained inside at 6 p.m.

Speakers said the public outcry last fall over protesters being jabbed with batons at UC Berkeley and pepper-sprayed at UCD has forced administrators to change tactics.

Andrew Higgins, a graduate student in history and a representative of the UC-wide graduate student union, drew parallels to how police responded during a five-month strike 1968 and 1969 at then-San Francisco State College that resulted in the creation of that institution’s black studies program.

Students leaders there were singled out and arrested, causing some to drop out of the movement.

“I think of the words of (UC Irvine) Professor Rei Terada, who said that the administration is not likely to engage in ‘the type of violence that you can photograph,’ and that’s what we’re seeing right now,” Higgins said.

“We might not think of this as violence because there aren’t broken bones or pepper spray or guns — it’s not as explicit — but sending someone to jail, holding them for a day, let alone 11 years, is violence.”

The English professor facing charges for taking part in the blockade, Joshua Clover, called the charges “an overreach” and “a sign of panic” on the part of campus leaders.

He said UC administrators had rejected the notion that places of higher education were a “special place,” “autonomous from the logic of the billy clubs, the Bastille and the bottom line.”

Clover said the administration will continue to meet resistance for its “unfair, unjust and unnecessary” policies:

“Even the students and staff and faculty who are disinclined to protest, who just want a decent education, a decent job, don’t like the fee hikes, the furloughs, the firings, the for-profits and the fear-mongering — and especially the debt: the exact place of intersection, of collaboration, between the university and the bank.

“If a dozen of us all go down for 11 years, you all will still be paying off your debt to the bank and the university when we get out.”

The protesters, loosely affiliated with Occupy UC Davis, began holding daily sit-ins in front of the U.S. Bank branch in January, resulting in its staff closing up early day after day.

U.S. Bank notified its 2,500 campus account holders of the branch’s closure March 12. The bank’s 10-year deal, signed in 2009, was to have brought in upwards of $3 million for student services.

English professor Nathan Brown called the closure “a major victory” made possible by the police response to protests in the fall.

“The situation of the UC struggle had become such that it was possible for students to win …,” he said. “It was possible to actually materially defend public education against privatization by directly impeding the mechanisms of privatization.

“This is what the administration, above all, cannot afford. … They have to now take revenge, retroactively, upon protesters who have proved their capacity to win concrete victories.”

UCD spokesman Barry Shiller rejected that characterization. “This notion of retroactivity — it’s novel, but it’s not supported by the facts,” he said.

Campus officials met with demonstrators beginning Jan. 11, he said. They later provided notices about possible violations of the student code of conduct and the law.

“The idea that this was retroactive implies surprise or that this is some sort of ‘gotcha.’ That’s just not so,” Shiller said.

He added that had students spoken out at an outside rally, as they did Thursday, without “obstructing the rights of others,” they would not have run afoul of the law.

UCD and U.S. Bank remain in talks about the severing of the contract. Neither side has filed suit, despite accusing the other of violating terms of the agreement by failing to better deal with the protests.

“UC certainly prefers to avoid litigation at this point,” Shiller said. “We’d love to preserve the relationship.”

Via Press/April 6 2012

Several dozen UC Davis students are protesting the upcoming court date of the “Bankers’ Dozen,” the 12 students linked to demonstrations in January and February that shuttered an on-campus U.S. Bank branch.

About 400 students rallied Thursday afternoon at the university’s Memorial Union to speak out against allegations of conspiracy and blocking access filed against the dozen in late March by Yolo County prosecutors. The event was peaceful and no incidents were reported.

Students and supporters then marched across campus to Mrak Hall, chanting “Drop all charges,” occupying stairwells and the building’s lobby. Some students quickly set up tents and tarps planning to bed down for the night.

“We don’t know what might be planned,” university spokesman Barry Shiller said. “But, we’ll be patient, monitor the situation this evening and plan that the building will be open for business when people return in the morning.”

However, Claudia Morain, a campus spokesperson, said this morning that the students had been cleared out by 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

The dozen protesters cited in March face an April 27 court date in Yolo Superior Court connected to blocking the entrance to the on-campus bank branch.

The conspiracy allegation carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail. Each of the 20 access allegations filed carries a maximum six-month jail term.

Minnesota-based U.S. Bank closed its University Union branch Feb. 28, potentially severing an agreement with UC Davis that gave the campus its first bank branch.

Bank officials later cited Occupy protests and the university’s refusal to disperse demonstrators as reason for the closure.

Following strongly worded exchanges last month, UC Davis and U.S. Bank continue to work to repair their rift over the bank’s decision.

Shiller this week described the university’s talks with the lender as “cordial conversations.”

“We’d love the relationship to be salvaged,” Shiller said, adding that UC Davis students would lose out if the bank branch remained closed.

But students say the protests center on the bank’s presence on campus, its relationship with the university and what they see as the continuing privatization of the university.

Many students declined to identify themselves Thursday, afraid that university authorities would retaliate. But some carried placards that read “Fighting privatization is not a crime.”

Others, including history graduate student Andrew Higgins, said the university is using county prosecutors as cover to appease U.S. Bank, avoid a repeat of the public relations firestorm that erupted after last year’s pepper-spraying of UC Davis students by campus police, and to quash free speech.

“This administration is relying upon the state to deal with the protests. Because of the bad PR, they feel they can’t address that,” Higgins said.

UC Davis’ Shiller denied the assertions, saying the Thursday rally was “a great demonstration of protected, expressive free speech. Had the bank protest been similar, we’d have no issues here.”

The dozen, he said, “are accused of well beyond that.