Over 100 UCSC Faculty Sign Letter Protesting Campus Judiciary Process

Dear Chancellor Blumenthal:

We write as faculty alarmed by the University’s disciplinary actions regarding the November 19-22 activities in and around Kerr Hall, and more specifically, the “Voluntary Resolution” agreements recently issued to students by Director of Student Judicial Affairs, Doug Zuidema. We worry that the implementation of the student judicial procedure in these cases violates constitutional due process and basic principles of fairness. These disciplinary actions also create a chilling effect on political dissent in the campus community.

Of particular concern are the following:

1. The “Voluntary Resolution” agreements skirt due process procedures by asking students to incriminate themselves for “alleged violations” of University regulations committed in relation to activities in and around Kerr Hall without sufficient presentation of the evidence against them. According to the ACLU, the right to due process prior to the imposition of discipline is a fundamental constitutional protection, especially at institutions of higher learning (ACLU Letter to Chancellor Birgeneau, April 6, 2010, p.9, emphasis added). It is also a principle of basic fairness to allow the accused the opportunity to see the nature of evidence against him or her before deciding whether to enter into what amounts to a plea bargain.
2. The “Voluntary Resolution” agreements hold individual students accountable for acts in which they may not have engaged. Addressed to individual students, these letters describe, in general terms, events and acts alleged to have occurred in and around Kerr Hall, including property damage, and then accuse the individual in question of violations of the Code of Student Conduct without indicating specific acts that s/he is alleged to have taken. It seems that Student Judicial Affairs is more intent on punishing students than determining the facts of the case.
   1. The situations of two students merit special mention in that they well illustrate Student Judicial Affairs’ disregard for determining the facts regarding each individual’s involvement in the Kerr Hall occupation: one student accused of violating the Code of Student Conduct is a student journalist who was covering the occupation for the Project Newspaper Collective; another is one of five students who entered into negotiations with representatives of the administration (the other four were either never summoned or held not responsible).
3. The identities of the staff alleging that specific students engaged in specific violations remain anonymous. Again, fairness dictates that before entering a plea bargain, the accused should be allowed to see the evidence against him or her.
4. These “Voluntary Resolution” agreements appear to be a form of coercion: students may either opt for self-incrimination (in the letters’ proposed resolutions) or risk more extensive, but unstated, punishment.
5. Finally, aside from problems in due process, we also note that the disciplinary procedure has proceeded without consideration of students’ rights of free speech and assembly. The actions at Kerr Hall were collectively executed by a group of considerable size and diversity, in public expression of grievance against the University. The proposed resolution does not separate accusations of criminal behavior from protected speech acts; it implies that any form of participation in these actions is tantamount to vandalism. Such an equation will have a chilling effect on necessary speech and debate in the campus community. The “Voluntary Resolution” agreements present an implicitly constant threat of criminalization in cases where the University has a substantial stake in minimizing the effects of a coordinated protest action.

We request that due process and fair treatment be honored in this and future disciplinary actions not only because we wish to defend students’ right to assemble and protest, but also because we, as faculty, have a profound interest in the health of the University as a place of free exchange, inquiry, speech, and assembly. The University can rightly preside over disciplinary processes as part of its charge to educate students and to coordinate an academic community in accord with shared principles, but we fear that the University’s disciplinary process has gone awry in this instance.

Therefore we, the undersigned, request that no students be separated from their student status or be charged with restitution for participation in the events in and around Kerr Hall, or for other political actions past and future, unless legitimate material evidence links them to specific acts of property destruction. We also call for a suspension of the student disciplinary procedure in these and future cases involving political dissent until the problems we note have been addressed.

We note that section 104.20 in the Student Policies and Regulations Handbook states that “final authority for administration of student discipline rests with the chancellor.” We are optimistic that you, as a University administrator acting in the public trust and with an intrinsic interest in the protection of free speech, free inquiry, and open dialogue, will recognize the urgency of these procedural failures and take immediate steps to correct them.

Sincerely,

Jordi Aladro, Professor, Literature

Mark Anderson, Assistant Professor, Anthropology

Bettina Aptheker, Professor, Feminist Studies

Anjali Arondekar, Associate Professor, Feminist Studies

Gabriela F. Arredondo, Associate Professor, Latin American & Latino Studies; Director, CLRC

Noriko Aso, Assistant Professor, History

Gopal Balakrishnan, Associate Professor, History of Consciousness

Karen Barad, Professor, Feminist Studies

Karen Bassi, Professor and Chair, Literature

Dilip Basu, Associate Professor, History

Hunter Bivens, Assistant Professor, Literature

Robert Boltje, Professor, Mathematics

David Brundage, Professor, Community Studies

Edmund Burke, Professor, History

Sean Burns, Lecturer, Community Studies & American Studies

Brian Catlos, Associate Professor, History

Giulia Centineo, Lecturer, Languages

James Clifford, Professor, History of Consciousness

Christopher Connery, Professor, Literature

E.G. Crichton, Associate Professor, Art

Ben Crow, Professor, Sociology

Gina Dent, Professor and Chair, Feminist Studies

Maria Elena Diaz, Associate Professor, History

Nathaniel Deutsch, Professor, Literature and History

Tim Duane, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies

Barbara Epstein, Professor and Chair, History of Consciousness

Shelly Errington, Professor, Anthropology

Dion Farquhar, Lecturer, Literature and Crown College

Mayanthi Fernando, Assistant Professor, Anthropology

Kathy Foley, Professor and Editor of Asian Theater Journal, Theater Arts

Maria Frangos, Lecturer, Literature

Dana Frank, Professor, History

Carla Freccero, Professor, Literature

Rosa-Linda Fregoso, Professor, Latin American and Latino Studies

Hiroshi Fukurai, Professor, Sociology

Susan Gillman, Professor, Literature

Per Gjerde, Professor Emeritus, Psychology

Wlad Godzich, Distinguished Professor, Literature

W.L. Goldfrank, Professor Emeritus, Sociology & LALS

Jennifer Gonzalez, Professor and Chair, History of Art and Visual Culture

Deborah Gould, Assistant Professor, Sociology

Shelly Grabe, Assistant Professor, Psychology

Chris Hables Gray, Lecturer, Crown College

Miriam Greenberg, Assistant Professor, Sociology

Jody Greene, Associate Professor, Literature

Kirsten Silva Gruesz, Professor, Literature

Lisbeth Haas, Professor, History

Gildas Hamel, Senior Lecturer, History

Craig Haney, Professor, Psychology

Donna Haraway, Distinguished Professor, History of Consciousness

Gail Hershatter, Distinguished Professor, History

Christine Hong, Assistant Professor, Literature

Emily Honig, Professor, History

Minghui Hu, Assistant Professor, History

Catherine Jones, Assistant Professor, History

L.S. Kim, Associate Professor, Film and Digital Media

Sharon Kinoshita, Professor, Literature

Norma Klahn, Professor, Literature

Regina Day Langhout, Assistant Professor, Psychology

Kimberly Lau, Associate Professor, American Studies; Provost, Oakes College

H. Marshall Leicester, Professor, Literature

Ronnie D. Lipschutz, Professor, Politics

Leslie Lopez, Lecturer, UCSC

Andrew S. Mathews, Assistant Professor, Anthropology

Dean Mathiowetz, Assistant Professor, Politics

Robert Meister, Professor, Political and Social Thought

Helene Moglen, Professor Emerita, Literature

Megan Moodie, Assistant Professor, Anthropology

María Morris, Lecturer, Languages

Loisa Nygaard, Professor, Literature

Gregory O’Malley, Assistant Professor, History

Marcia Ochoa, Assistant Professor, Community Studies

Micah Perks, Associate Professor, Literature

Juan Poblete, Associate Professor, Literature; Provost, Kresge College

Cynthia Polecritti, Associate Professor, History

Mary Beth Pudup, Associate Professor, Community Studies

Catherine S. Ramírez, Associate Professor, American Studies

Renya Ramirez, Associate Professor, American Studies

Craig Reinarman, Professor, Sociology

B. Ruby Rich, Professor and Chair, Community Studies & Social Documentation

Lisa Rofel, Professor and Chair, Anthropology

Don Rothman, Senior Lecturer Emeritus, Writing

Danilyn Rutherford, Associate Professor, Anthropology

Zack Schlesinger, Professor, Physics

Roger Schoenman, Assistant Professor, Politics

Peter Scott, Professor Emeritus, Physics

Dan Selden, Professor, Literature

Warren Sack, Associate Professor, Film & Digital Media

Vanita Seth, Associate Professor, Politics

Carolyn Martin Shaw, Professor, Anthropology

Richard Terdiman, Professor, Literature

Megan Thomas, Assistant Professor, Politics

Avril Thorne, Professor and Chair, Psychology

Anna Tsing, Professor, Anthropology

Michael Urban, Professor, Politics

David Wellman, Research Professor, Community Studies

Rob Wilson, Professor, Literature & Creative Writing

Dan Wirls, Professor and Chair, Politics

Karen T. Yamashita, Professor, Literature

Pat Zavella, Professor and Chair, Latin American and Latino Studies

Eileen Zurbriggen, Associate Professor, Psychology