Socialist Action /June 1999
Youth In Action
UC Berkeley Students Occupy Campus Building
By ADAM RITSCHER
On April 14, students at UC Berkeley responded to ominous moves against
the Ethnic Studies program on the campus by occupying Barrows Hall.
After a 10-hour occupation, during which banners were hung from the balconies
and a crowd of students gathered in front of the building to protect the
occupiers, campus police stormed the hall. Forty-six students were arrested,
and one was hospitalized after having his ear partially torn off by police.
Thus began an active fight to defend Ethnic Studies, which was won 30
years ago during the 1969 Third World strike at UC Berkeley.
In a statement issued to Chancellor Robert Berdahl and others, the protesters
stated: "The strike (the 1969 Third World strike) was a form of resistance
against Cal's discriminatory policies toward people of color. ... Now, 30
years later, we find ourselves in a state of repression. The vision and
hope of those students who unselfishly put their academic careers on the
line and their safety in the hands of a violent police force and administration
has been shattered. Today Ethnic Studies is near extinction."
Following the violent arrest of the initial protesters, six courageous
students responded by going on a hunger strike. Existing on a liquid only
diet, the example they set elicited the support of hundreds upon hundreds
of Berkeley students, faculty and staff, as well as from students on other
campuses, such as San Francisco State University.
The faculty union at State, which is itself engaged in a bitter struggle
with its administration, passed a resolution expressing their solidarity
with the hunger strikers.
Twenty-four days after the April 14 occupation of Barrows Hall, and after
an arduous eight-hour negotiation session with the administration, an agreement
was reached after Berdahl backed down and agreed to funding, faculty, and
office space for the Ethnic Studies department. The hunger strike was then
ended and victory was proclaimed.
This struggle took place in the context of growing racist assaults on
past gains made in the California education system. For instance, in 1998,
following the repeal of affirmative action in UC admissions, only 1000 Blacks
were admitted statewide into the UC California system. At the same time,
the state has 46,000 Black men incarcerated.
What is important to learn from the fight to save Ethnic Studies at UC
Berkeley is that when we mobilize in numbers we can and will affect change.
We also need to take note, though, that this victory was primarily a
defensive one. It was a reaction to the growing assault on the standard
of living of working people in general, and on the quality and type of education
available to working-class youth in particular.
Youth for Socialist Action applauds all of the students who participated
in the Berkeley fight, and at the same time we urge our fellow youth to
join with us and commit themselves to taking the struggle on to the offensive.
Together we can not only defend the gains of the past, but we can achieve
for the future things that we have never seen!
Socialist Action /June 1999 |