SAW to protest Military Recruiters on April 11

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2006

Students to Protest Military Recruiters at April 11th Career Fair
UC Santa Cruz Administration Fails to Protect Right to Protest

Santa Cruz, CA – UC Santa Cruz Students Against War (SAW) is planning a peaceful, yet significant, protest of military recruiters’ presence at an April 11th Job Fair on the UCSC campus. A march will begin the day’s actions at 9:00a.m. at the McHenry Library.

As reported in the March 15, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle, SAW presented the UCSC Administration with proposed guidelines to ensure minimal interference with the rest of the Career Fair while allowing students a safe environment for expression at the same time.

These reasonable suggestions included the following: Accommodating a floor plan whereby students can protest the recruiters directly and not affect the rest of the event; Allowing media access to the event; Commitment to not collect student identification, or employ excessive police force, both of which serve to intimidate students interested in peaceful free expression.

SAW regrets that the University Administration has failed to commit to upholding its own stated policy of protecting free speech and free assembly. In doing so, the Administration has lost a real opportunity to de-escalate any potential points of conflict in the coming days.

SAW has approached the administration for over a month to assure peaceful conditions for peaceful expression, free from excessive force or intimidation. But these efforts have been so far fruitless, as the Administration has adopted stalling tactics and has so far refused to seriously consider any of SAW's suggestions or supply any solutions of its own. On the contrary, there are reports that additional police from an out-of-town police department will be brought in at a great cost (rumored to be over $10,000) to the University.

On April 5, 2005, Students Against War organized over 300 students to successfully kick military recruiters out of a campus job fair. On October 18, 2005, SAW held a Queer Kiss-In that effectively prevented the military’s ability to recruit. April 11, the next visit by the military to a campus job fair, will mark more than a year since they have been able to effectively recruit at UC Santa Cruz. April 11 also marks the first campus recruitment effort since SAW was labeled a “credible threat” as part of the Pentagon spying scandal.

Media and supporters are encouraged to show up on April 11 at 9am at the McHenry Library. Contact James, Foaad or Sefira for more information and/or to arrange interviews.