<font face="georgia,serif">Hi everyone,<br><br>Thanks for all your feedback and support, regarding our letter to Chancellor White.<br><br>Please take a minute to reread it. Please let us know if there is anything we should add/edit/revise. <br>
<br>If you want your name added to the letter, let us know!...That goes for students, staff and faculty!<br><br>Best,<br>Rachelle<br><br>***<br><br></font><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline" id="internal-source-marker_0.04162248085996234">January 22, 2012</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Dear Chancellor White,</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">As graduate students
and teaching assistants in the MFA Program for Creative Writing and
Writing for the Performing Arts, we are deeply disappointed by the
actions taken by the University this past Thursday.</span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">We participated in the
campus-wide action comprised of UC students, faculty, and staff outside
of the HUB, while the UC Regents continued their meeting in privacy.
This day-long action was indeed an expression of outrage over rising
tuition and depreciating quality of education. It was also a
celebration of community and solidarity. </span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">We witnessed our
students chanting or engaging in discussions about the grim future of UC
Riverside; for many of them, this was their first political protest.
One of our students, a mother of two, brought her three-year-old
daughter. This student lamented forgetting to dress her daughter in her
Highlander shirt. She wanted her daughter to bear witness to the fight
for her future education.</span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">We witnessed UCR students and community members dressed in
black, bearing colorful, lifesize banners depicting the book covers of
liberatory texts. These books envision equality and freedom and
question privilege and cultural hegemony, such as Franz Fanon’s </span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">The Wretched of the Earth</span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">, bell hooks’ </span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Feminism is for Everyone, </span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Paolo
Freire’s </span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Pedagogy for the Oppressed</span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">,</span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"> </span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">among others.
The book bloc remained at the front of the line, protecting protesters
as they faced the staggering number of riot police at the HUB exit. We
couldn’t help but recognize the clear metaphor in all of this. </span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Despite what your </span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Friday Letter</span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"> states, there
were more than just a “few” individuals at this action. We witnessed
hundreds of students, faculty, and staff who merely wanted to engage in
an open discussion with the UC Regents. As police helicopters circled
above us, we witnessed our students (</span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">your
</span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">students) pushed, shoved and humiliated by
riot police because of this desire to converse and be heard by the
Regents. We witnessed members of our community shot by police officers
with paint pellet guns; one young man was knocked to the ground by the
shock and force of these pellets. We witnessed sheer violence by your
“co-workers,” the police who, instead of marching around the students to
take their positions, marched directly through the crowd as if they
wanted to incite the kind of riot they were brought in to quell. </span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">However, in your </span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Friday Letter </span><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">you failed to
acknowledge the many injuries that UCPD and several outside law
enforcement agencies inflicted upon your students, injuries that were
also ignored by many major news outlets. We believe that UCR students
deserve an explanation and an apology.</span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">The “few individuals” who peacefully disrupted the UC Regents
Meeting represent more than a handful of marginal opinions. These “few
individuals” exercised an essential act of civil disobedience and
represent many of us in the UC Riverside and UC community who are fed up
with business as usual. </span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">We urge you to provide opportunities for students to engage
in dialogue, such as a public forum, about last Thursday’s events and
the implications behind police presence as the University’s response to
student assembly and protest. We urge you to take responsibility for
putting your students’ safety on the line. We urge you to ensure their
safety and right to express their discontent with the UC system by
supporting future student actions. </span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Sincerely,</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Rachelle Cruz, CWPA graduate student</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Andrea Gutierrez, CWPA graduate student</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Angel Garcia, CWPA graduate student</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">David Campos, CWPA graduate student</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Sara Borjas, CWPA graduate student</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Courtney Lund, CWPA graduate student</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Melody Kowach, CWPA graduate student</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Tanya Frank, CWPA graduate student</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Kamala Puligandla, CWPA graduate student</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Ryan Peckinpaugh, CWPA graduate student</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">Joe Powers, CWPA alum</span><br>
<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">V Zamora, CWPA
alum</span><br><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Times New Roman;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline"></span><br clear="all">
<br style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">*****</span><br style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">Rachelle Cruz,</span><br style="font-family:georgia,serif">
<span style="font-family:georgia,serif">Host of "The Blood-Jet Writing Hour" Radio Show</span><br style="font-family:georgia,serif"><a style="font-family:georgia,serif" href="http://www.thebloodjet.wordpress.com" target="_blank">www.thebloodjet.wordpress.com</a><br>
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