Friends, Please send reporter Maureen Magee a thank you at maureen.magee@utsandiego.com Please post comments at the article online. Especially clarify or correct points you see that warrant it. Please write a letter to the editor to publish about the situation. This is a critical period in the Save the CHE campaign. The other major press in town have NOT covered the situation much, so the UT here is actually breaking major elements of the story. Please pile on with comments and letters to the editor. Let's hope it gets the rest of the press motivated to do more. "Hell No! We Won't Go!" http://web.utsandiego.com/news/2015/mar/15/tp-che-cafe-supporters-fight-eviction-attempts-by/ CHÉ CAFÉ SUPPORTERS FIGHT EVICTION ATTEMPTS BY UCSD School, collective in dispute over state of buildings, lease CHÉ CAFÉ SUPPORTERS FIGHT EVICTION ATTEMPTS BY UCSD School, collective in dispute over state of buildings, lease By Maureen Magee 5:05 a.m.March 15, 2015 Saturday was eviction day for UC San Diego’s fabled Ché Café. But supporters of the 35-year-old collective made no attempt to vacate the ramshackle facility. Instead, they held a festival to raise money and awareness for their efforts to fight the university’s eviction order and preserve the co-op that has served as an artistic, political and social forum for students and members. UCSD has been embroiled in a dispute with Ché Café over its lease, use and the condition of the buildings. On Nov. 4 a Superior Court judge issued a ruling that gives the university the right to assume possession of the facility, ruling that the Ché Collective had to forfeit its lease. UCSD student governments representing associated students and graduate students both passed resolutions urging the closure of the venue. In a letter sent on March 3, Vice Chancellor Juan Gonzalez asked Ché Café to voluntarily vacate by Saturday. The letter went on to warn that the university would proceed with a formal eviction if the collective declines to leave — which appears to be the case. The letter threatens an 18-month closure of the venue and says the earliest the collective could reopen would be the fall of 2016 if specific conditions are met, including repairs, financial solvency and efforts to increase UC student use. Gonzalez said in the letter that the administration would not “alter or dismantle” the Ché building during the hiatus. Ché supporters said on Saturday the facility is in better shape than UCSD will admit to, and that basic maintenance has been deliberately neglected by the university. They are also seeking historical protections since the site is among the few remaining structures from Camp Matthews, the old Marine Corps rifle range that closed in the 1960s. The low-slung building is covered with murals, including one of its namesake, Argentine Marxist icon Che Guevara. The co-op features a vegan cafe, a courtyard that sits amid eucalyptus trees and an organic garden off Scholars Drive. “There is something magical about this place and the memories that it holds,” said UCSD alum David Morales, who buried the placenta of his first-born child in the garden outside Ché Café. “They see it as a blight. They want to gentrify the campus with more sterile concrete structures.” As the festival got under way Saturday, uniformed security guards watched the peaceful revelers from the hills above.