F*ck the UC: No cops, no firings, no layoffs

Students and workers across the UC system are joining together for an evening of collective action to celebrate the end to Janet Napolitano's reign as the UC president, and to make our position known to new President Michael Drake.

We have three demands:
1. Reinstate and drop student discipline charges against all fired graduate students from UC Santa Cruz.
2. Keep all workers on payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite holding over $5B in reserve liquidity, UC began laying off AFSCME workers at UCSD on July 1st. We demand job security guarantees for workers and reappointment rights for lecturers. If austerity cuts are to be made, they must begin at the top!
3. The abolition of all UC police, the barring of ICE from campus, the divestment from all ICE contractors, and the protection of any UC student with an F-1 or M-1 visa from deportation.

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As the former Secretary of Homeland Security under the Obama administration, Napolitano developed the Secure Communities (S-COMM) program, which led to the deportations of a record number of people - 2.5 million - and created new, federally mandated operational ties between local police stations and ICE. In recent weeks, Napolitano has repeatedly met UC community pleas - including the systemwide Academic Senate - to defund the UC police departments with expressions of reluctance, if not outright refusal, to entertain these demands seriously.

While Janet Napolitano's salary as UC president was an egregious $570,000, the new UC president Michael Drake was announced on July 7th to receive a starting salary of $890,000. We condemn the continuation of bloated UC administrative salaries while new COVID-19 austerity measures are implemented which endanger the livelihoods of its students and workers. The UC's pandemic response has only amplified the need for us to demonstrate a united antiracist and abolitionist front.

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Come on July 25th at 4pm for a rally and march beginning at the UC Office of the President in downtown Oakland, followed by music, food, and dancing at another location. Our route will be wheelchair-accessible. ASL interpreters and Spanish translator available upon request (please message us). Please wear a mask and socially distance when possible.