The UC Santa Cruz Students of Color Collective launched a hunger strike Tuesday in response to massive state budget cuts to public higher education, which the organization said directly affect services offered to students of color.
More than 100 UCSC students and staff on campus gathered in front of a large sign that read ‘Welcome to the University of Institutionalized Colonialization.’ About two dozen students have refused to eat until a long list of demands is met that focus on the preservation of jobs and programs designed for students of color.
Protestors are asking UC administrators to blocks cuts to the community studies and Latin American and Latino studies departments; support the state and federal D.R.E.A.M. Act; prevent layoffs for university employees and hire full-time directors for the American Indian Resource Center and Women’s Center.
‘We’ve tried education, we’ve tried negotiation,’ third-year community studies student Chelsea Long said in a statement. ‘This is our last tactic.’
SOCC members pledged to stay in front of the university’s entrance from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day this week to answer questions about their cause.
UCSC spokesman Jim Burns said in a statement that campus officials are unsure of how they plan to handle the possible health-related problems that could stem from a student hunger strike. He said he did not know if anyone was working with strikers to address their demands.
‘We appreciate and share the frustration of students and others over continued reductions in state funding to UC,’ Burns said. ‘And in the wake of last week’s election, we’re bracing for even further cuts. In that environment, protecting every program is neither realistic nor possible.’
As the campus faces at least $13 million in state cuts, UCSC Provost David Kliger has left division heads with the task of determining where the cuts would come from. Kliger said his previous recommendations to cut top administrative pay was denied by the UC Office of the President.
Patricia Zavella, chair of the Latin American and Latino studies departments, said she hopes the administration respects students’ rights to protest, as the ‘campus has a history of being brutal to student demonstrators.’