In the last few months, University of California administrators, in conjunction with the UCPD and other public agencies, have embarked on a disgraceful project of silencing free speech, terrorizing student and worker activists, and collaborating with law enforcement to prosecute those who disagree with their decisions. 

Some examples of this repression include:

11 UC students likely face conspiracy charges from the Orange County District Attorney for staging a non-violent demonstration in protest of a lecture from a figure they disagreed with.

Two UC students face charges from the Nov. Regents meeting, where UCPD officer Jared Kemper pulled a loaded gun on unarmed student and worker demonstrators. In one case, the evidence was so flimsy that the District Attorney requested to push back the court date of a UC Berkeley undergrad because there was insufficient evidence. Another student is charged with beating officer Kemper, even though television footage clearly shows that no such thing occurred.

19 UC Irvine students face criminal charges for a sit-in that occurred in 2009 and at least 9 students have been detained by UCPD after chalking about police brutality and tuition increases, while students and workers at UC Berkeley have been cited with campus conduct violations by UCPD officers for merely possessing fliers about the actions of UCPD.

In July, a UC Berkeley student who had her hand crushed by a police officer during a demonstration, an injury so severe that it required reconstructive surgery and led to the permanent loss of her full hand use, was told by the UCPD police review board that the UCPD had acted in a “proper, lawful, and appropriate” manner. The board failed to mail her their decision, leaving her unable to appeal.

These cases clearly show a violation of students' and workers' rights to free political expression and as students, workers, and community members we will not stand for this conduct by UC and law enforcement agencies. 

UC, UCPD, and California District Attorneys must stop criminalizing student, worker, and community dissent and investigate the real criminals. We demand an investigation of the UCPD for taking away our 1st Amendment rights and terrorizing and brutalizing students and workers. We also demand the termination of UCPD officer Jared Kemper. We demand an investigation into the financial activities of the UC Regents, who have funneled and lost billions of dollars of public funds into their own private profit.

We, the undersigned demand that UC drop all charges and pending student conduct proceedings for activist students and workers: