*Breaking News* UC Berkeley Resolves Charges, Chancellor Issues Ridiculous Statement, Students Still Face Charges

See the Chancellor's statement here. This document is an Uncivil Procedure exclusive!

The Berkeley Law Campus Rights Project just released a statement detailing the final resolution of Angela Miller's student conduct case. The charges are resolved, Angela will not be suspended. This outcome is remarkable as the University originally sought a full 1 year suspension. In the meantime, rumors are circulating that Dean Poullard stepped down from Student Conduct oversight.

CRP.Miller.Press-Release.2010-05-05

Finally, a rally against student conduct under the leadership of Dean Jonathan Poullard was held on Sproul Plaza today.

UCMeP Speech.

UCB Faculty Demand Suspension of Student Conduct

We, the undersigned faculty, call for the immediate cessation of all proceedings against the students involved in protest actions that are currently underway by the OSC. Such proceedings should be suspended until and unless the serious procedural issues that currently mar these proceedings can be fully addressed and rectified. Because it is clear that no fair evaluation can be conducted under these circumstances, we call for the immediate halt to all disciplinary proceedings against student protestors following from the events on December 11th and November 20th of this academic year.

It has become abundantly clear in the last weeks that these proceedings are not only seriously flawed, but that no just outcome can emerge from these procedures in their current form. The problems as we see them pertain to two separate but interlocking issues: the version of the code of student conduct that is currently used and the specific applications of that code in these specific cases. These flawed applications arise from inadequacies in the code itself and from flagrant instances of bad judgment on the part of those conducting the inquiries. These egregious applications of the code have raised serious questions whether those charged with directing a fair disciplinary review have overreached their mandate and contravened both legal and educational standards to which we, as a community, are bound. The rights to political protest, guaranteed by the University’s commitment to free speech and rights of assembly are paramount in this context and must provide the framework within which charges against any of these students are assessed. We note with grave concern the lack of a sufficient effort to balance these concerns with the alleged offenses as well as the failure to develop and apply appropriate measures for assessing these charges.


Read the full petition.
Download the pdf.

The Urgent Necessity of the Abolition of the University’s Regulation of Student Political Activity

…a working paper* to spark discussion…

See related post here.

AbolitionCSC.pdf

Introduction

In Fall 2009, direct-action resistance to the UC Regents’ project of privatizing the University of California (“UC”) erupted systemwide. In response, the UC Administration is now punishing students on a mass scale for violating various provisions of the Code of Student Conduct.

Almost invariably, an alleged violation of the criminal law--which, of course, exists independently of the Code of Student Conductunderlies the student conduct charges resulting from the demonstrations and actions in Fall 2009; almost invariably, the UC Administration commenced its student conduct charges against students after receiving a UC Police Department (UCPD) report detailing the student’s alleged violation of a particular law. Thus, students who engage in civil disobedience face significant repercussions from two independent State entities.

**Breaking News** ACLU of N. Ca. Slams UC Berkeley's Discipline Process

2010.04.06 UC Berkeley Disciplinary Due Process

New 12/11 Theory

Was it an inside job? Some people may think so.

12/11 Was an Inside Job

On the night I chose not to die . . .

On the night I chose not to die…

I was a woman of color. On the night I chose not to die, I fought with anger and determination, and finally fell asleep with a satisfied smile born not from my own sheltered existence, but from the momentary dissolving of the reality of privilege. That night I watched the hordes of college students exiting the bars and dispersing, walking past those of us confronting police in the streets as if it was simply none of their business. That is the privilege you describe, which has no place in this movement.

Who was left? Who made it their business? If you were there, if you dared approach the dancefloor and “battlefield” of the streets, you’d know what we “looked” like.

And yet according to your fairytale of homogeneity and privilege, on the morning after “I chose not to die,” according to you, I woke up a white man. Let me tell you… NO I DIDN’T!

It’s as though all the work I’ve done, the lifetime of daily struggle, of people acting as if I was naturally inferior and practically invisible, is a waste of my time. Because the people I also struggle for, among others, could flippantly assert that now, because I fight alongside my white brothers and sisters, I have no identity, no history, and no color of my own.

~~~

To the author of the “Open Letter to a White Student Movement,” we respond:

Read the entire statement at Occupy California.

UC Above the Law?

For many students across California, the start of this semester looked unusual. Instead of checking in with their advisers, they were checking in with their lawyers. These students are currently experiencing the backlash of protesting against the University of California’s decision to implement a 32 percent fee increase last November. Several protests included the occupation of buildings on several UC campuses and an alleged attack on the UC–Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau’s home. These actions led to the arrest of hundreds of University of California students. Media attention waned once bail was posted, but the students’ problems did not end when they were released from custody. Many are now facing charges from the university's Center for Student Conduct, but no one seems quite sure of how the code of conduct and the law should interact.


Read More at Campus Progress.