Coalition to Save Community Studies calls for emergency rally at noon

When: Tomorrow 04/08/10

Where: Rally starting at the Quarry w/ a snake march heading to Oakes

Why: To demonstrate our complete support of the CMMU faculty who have been alienated and silenced throughout this administrative process. We will gather at the Plaza and march along McLaughlin Drive to Oakes College, CMMU headquarters for the last forty years. This devastating decision to suspend CS was made possible only because of the strain and pressure that Dean Kamieniecki has placed squarely on the shoulders of our educators and allies in the CMMU department. As a result, many of our teachers have chosen to find new departments to work in next year, rather than suffer the administration’s continued disrespect and dishonesty.

This decision to suspend CS was made by the Committee on Educational Policy after one year of relentless pressure from Dean Kamieniecki and other Social Science administrators to do so. This suspension puts even heavier strain on the CMMU faculty and staff who have already suffered enormously as a result of the administration’s pressure throughout the last year. While the catalogue rights of current UCSC students interested in completing the Community Studies Program as it currently exists have not been violated, the door has been shut forever on every student that has yet to enroll in this school, and forty years of extraordinary curriculum and invaluable experience will fast become a fond memory.

Tomorrow, bring your friends, your coworkers, your teachers, and your classmates. Contact campus media sources if you are able; contact media from the greater community and invite them all to join us tomorrow to support our educators and demand that Community Studies be saved. The devastating impact of today’s decision only begins with the Community Studies department: when the rights and liberties of one are violated, the rights and liberties of all are in danger. We must work together, we must be honest with one another, and we must save Community Studies.

-The Coalition to Save Community Studies