Protest in support of Alette

Alette Kendrick is facing the harshest punishment ever imposed on a student at UCSC – a three-year suspension which would virtually expel the third year history major. Organized by the UC Activist Defense Committee, hundreds of students, faculty and community members joined together on May 24 to rally in support of Alette – to demand that the charges against her be dropped and that she be allowed to stay in school. Numerous campus groups have participated in solidarity actions during the past week, and History of Consciousness Professor Angela Davis addressed the crowd at the rally.

The charges against Alette stem from police reaction to a student protest during a visit to the Santa Cruz campus by the UC Regents on Oct. 18, 2006. “As protest tactics escalated and the police became increasingly angry and frustrated with their inability to control some of the protesters, they targeted three activists, took them to the ground and dragged them inside the building. As students struggled to prevent the abduction of their friends, they were met with a barrage of batons and pepper-spray sent forth from the retreating officers,” reported a student named Bradley. That day was the first time pepper spray or any chemical weapon had been used on a University of California campus.