URGENT!!! support Tent University Santa Cruz, defend freedom of assembly!!!

Dear friend,

We are writing to ask urgently for your support.

In recent weeks, hundreds of students, faculty, and staff at UC Santa Cruz—not to mention dozens of residents of the greater Santa Cruz community—have coalesced around an event called Tent University Santa Cruz (TUSC), which will take place April 18-22 in the fields at the base of UCSC. TUSC will be a giant tent city, which will serve both as a powerful form of resistance to the unjust priorities of the modern university and as a means of creating a democratically-operated educational setting.

During TUSC, UCSC faculty will teach their classes in giant domes and tents (rather than in their designated classrooms), issue workshops will be held, and students will even teach many of their own classes. Besides providing a highly engaging environment for participants to become informed and empowered, TUSC will also resemble a festival based on activism, complete with numerous local bands and cultural club performances. It will mark a convergence of the campus' many vibrant movements, including the ongoing workers' struggle, a walk-out to defend public education on April 20th, the racial justice movement, the campus anti-war movement, etc.

Unfortunately, this past week, Tent University's organizers have come under scrutiny by UCSC upper-administration and police. Campus administrators have made it clear that they will not permit Tent U to take place: We are not allowed to camp overnight on campus property, they tell us, nor are we permitted to cook using open flames or bring any "potentially dangerous" people from off campus (whatever that means).

TUSC was conceived above all as an educational, celebratory event. That the campus' powers-that-be are so adamant about preventing such a gathering is a striking reflection of their lack of regard for students' basic rights to free speech and dissent.

We do not plan to bow to the pressure from the administration; in fact, we are re-doubling our efforts to organize Tent University into one of the largest political gatherings in the recent history of Santa Cruz. However, the likelihood of an attempted police raid or shut-down is extremely high, and we are utilizing every tactical advantage to forestall such an occurrence.

Chief among these is that we are mobilizing as much support as possible from our allies in every segment of the campus community. There is a major difference between trying to shut down an event comprised of 500 students and one comprised of thousands of participants. With enough backing from people like you, we will undoubtedly be able to amass a large enough presence to non-violently resist any attempted police repression and successfully maintain Tent U as an alternative space based on principles of community, cooperation, and creativity.

We invite you to support us in two ways:

1. Camp with us at Tent U. We are maintaining a database of campers, so if you are interested, e-mail camptusc [at] comcast.net, and please send an e-mail with the following information: your name, e-mail address, phone number, the dates you will be staying, and whether you will bring your own tent. We will adjust our organizing efforts accordingly based on how many people sign up in advance through the database. You are also welcome to camp without providing us with advance notice.

We plan to provide free tents to everyone who in unable to bring their own. Simply show up at our information booth, and we will provide one for you.

2. Join the Tent U Solidarity Defense Network. We are assembling a Tent University Solidarity Defense Network, made up of members of the community for us to contact to mobilize non-violently at the Tent U site in case of an attempted police shut-down. Please sign up to be part of the network by sending your name, e-mail, and phone number to future [at] riseup.net. If the police attempt to raid our site, we will immediately contact everyone in the Solidarity Defense Network for support.

Rarely has a more important struggle taken place in our community. Do students and citizens have the right to peacefully assemble, or are we simply the raw materials in an odious machine driven almost solely by economic imperatives? Our success in maintaining Tent University Santa Cruz during the week of April 18th will greatly determine the answer to that question.

Thank you so much for your support, and we look forward to hearing from you. For more information, please visit our Web site at http://ucsc.tentstate.com, or e-mail us at future [at] riseup.net.

Peace in the struggle,

The organizers of Tent University Santa Cruz