Today was one of the most intense days I've had in a long time. I had heard about Tent University for a while, and knew that it was something I would be really interested in participating in. The idea, in a nutshell, is to create a space where the students, staff, faculty, and community members can come together and become one group. That the education that we are receiving is riddled with corporate interests and the university itself operates as a business rather than an institution of learning. If you want more info check out THIS SITE, and for more up to the moment information check out THIS SITE.
Just to catch people up to speed on the whole process the organizers have gone through, let me do a quick play by play. The idea from the beginning was to camp at the base of campus, highly public place. The reason for this geographic location was because of its proximity to the community, and was seen as a sort of point of contact for the two different communities (the one on campus and the one not). Also, the purpose of camping is to create a sense of community and to attempt to create an atmosphere that could grow throughout the week. Now there was never any secrecy about this event or its intentions. It was openly available information, and, in fact, delivered to the university officials. The issue arose instantaneously from the university that camping is against policy and would not be allowed. To the point that the erection of tents would be considered "camping" and not be allowed either. There was little cooperation from the side of the university other than to say that the daytime activities could go on as planned, although that is obvious and completely within the students rights anyway, without being "granted" that right. So essentially there was strong opposition. The essential issues the university had was that, it was against policy, and then about the safety and sanitation for that particular site. When the organizers offered to pay for both sanitation and security, the university refused. But the plans went ahead, with the understanding that we were just going to break the rules, and knowing that we were doing it with a great reason. And then, late last week, the new Chancellor decides to offer a spot, the Quarry, with full camping and sanitation provided... the works. Which was sweet in some senses, and not so in others. The Quarry is in the middle of campus, changing the flavor of the event to one focused on just the university, and not on its contexts in the greater scheme. Not that it really matters because in a matter of hours that offer had been retracted and the "absolutely no camping" was back. So the organizers decided to continue on course, and tried to arrange for porta-potties. But, low and behold, the three companies in the Santa Cruz area had received letters and calls from the university not to provide their services at the risk of losing a very large customer. So the idea of camping had been undermined by the university at every stage along the way. This is not to mention the threats made by the Chancellor in a press release (read it here), and the strange email we got from the provost of our colleges (read that here). So the decision was made to have a mass direct democracy session on Monday, so the people could decide what they wanted to do; either risk the consequences of camping or not camping (or a list of different things). And that is where the day begins.
So I knew there was a rally at 11. Jen, a friend of Marty's and someone I have come to know a little bit, had wanted to know if we would put up the Creamsicle at the site. We were way into it, but this morning there was question about the ability for us to camp at the base of campus because of new threats from the university saying that expulsion and fines, besides arrests, were now in the cards. So the organizers were worried, rightfully so. But, there was a rally at the bookstore to be followed by a march down to the base of campus and then onwards with the day's events.
THE RALLY BEGINS
LISTENING PEOPLE
So I show up, find Marty who is hanging out, has his video camera ready. I start taking some photos, people start talking. And it was great. There weren't that many people there at 11, but it grew to a healthy number pretty fast. Essentially the speakers were breaking down the day's events, and also the purpose for Tent University in the first place. And people were feeling it. So I was listening, snapping away, and I look up and I see a person lurking in the shadows by the Student Union...
SHADOW MAN
And I took a photo and then zoomed in on it, and it is none other than Chief of Police Howard Skerry! Apparently a little worried about the whole thing and keeping an eye on things. Although perhaps he was there to show his support, but he wasn't yelling. He was a grim sign of things to come.
Chief of Police Howard Skerry
So after people had their chance to speak through the megaphone, it was time to begin the march down to the base of campus. Some organizers wanted to have people stay on the sidewalks because of the tension that existed between the university and Tent University (TU), and it was thought that by not blocking traffic and "disrupting", that it might bode well on other things like camping and cops (HA!). But, there were too many people to walk on the sidewalk, and as the march began, that idea was soon lost in the reality of moving hundreds of people. So march we did, and it was a great vibe, lots of positive energy and people cheering and music playing, drums, signs, the whole nine. But it was all very positive and peaceful, with the flavor that we were all FOR something more than AGAINST it.
MARCHING
GOOD ENERGY
As we marched we noticed that cars were no longer coming up the street, so we knew that there were police officers near by. Because this wasn't a "sanctioned" event, there was perhaps a little tiny bit of stress, but we all knew that it was going to go okay. And as we headed down the hill, we could see the officers in the distance directing traffic away from us.
COPS
TENT UNIVERSITY MARCHES ON
And when we got to the bottom, we just walked on by, and gave a friendly greeting to our "peace keepers". Soon after that, we reached the base of campus.
HOWDY
There were some preliminary structures that had been heavily negotiated for that were being set up. And we were told how mass direct democracy was going to work, and what we were trying to accomplish.
PREPARING
So the way this worked was that we split off into groups, led by facilitators. The idea was to collectively decide what we were going to do about the night. There were five ideas that were put on the table, but of course this was open to further proposals. Each group would determine the top two proposals reached by voting within the group. Then a delegate would be chosen and sent to the "fishbowl". This delegate's purpose would be to represent the top two choices of their group and vote as representatives. It is in the fishbowl that the final decision about what to do would be made. Now the five proposals, if I can remember them all, were 1) Camp at the base of campus anyway, and continue on course, and deal with the consequences. 2) Move TU to the quarry and camp there. 3) Don't camp at all. 4) Camp in small guerilla groups all around campus. 5) Occupy a building until the demands are met to allow TU to continue as originally planned, camping and all, at the base of campus.
Mass Democracy In Action
Voting
It was decided over the course of about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, that the consensus was on staying at the base of campus, and going for it. My group's second choice was to move up to the quarry. At this point, to me anyway, moving up to the quarry didn't make any sense. Although they had offered that site once, they took it back, and if it is illegal to camp anyway, and they refuse to compromise on that, then what difference does it make if it's at the base of campus or hidden in the quarry? It's illegal either way, so why would we compromise the idea when there were no guarantees or even hopes (at this point)? So in the end, after the fishbowl as well, it was decided that we were going to stay put, at the base, and camp. And the consequences would be dealt with. Meanwhile, not everybody was in the fishbowl, remember this was a type of representational system, and there was dancing going on, and other activities, all very peaceful and in good intentions.
DANCING
So once that decision had been made the idea was to try to come up with a plan that would help the situation if it got bad (ie cops). It was generally agreed upon that we would go into lockdown, forming small circles of people, sitting, and arms linked, and wait to be arrested. This all seemed to be okay with everybody. After this discussion was already beginning, the administration came back and offered the quarry as a place for us to have "sanctioned" camping. This was such an obvious attempt at throwing a wrench in the machine of our little democracy. I mean, as I am told, the quarry was offered last Friday as an option, and only hours later, removed as an option, again the message of "absolutely no camping". All day we were told that there would be no camping allowed, and once we democratically decided that we would peacefully disobey, AND THEN they decide it is an option. Extremely convenient timing, because it made people question for a second the merits of our existing plan. I think they miscalculated our community's gullibility because it didn't take us long to call bullshit. The university had continually acted to undermine the existence of TU, so we felt it necessary to symbolically and physically mark and inhabit the space we initially intentioned. Besides the fact that many of us felt it was against the spirit of TU to physically separate both from our place of learning but also from our larger community of the city of Santa Cruz. And thus we rejected the offer to move to the quarry, choosing instead to remain at the base.
Now it needs to be clear that the possible consequences of our actions were perfectly understood. The organizers spent a good deal of time describing the possible scenarios and the possible repercussions each may have. Those of us who chose to peacefully disobey knew what we were doing, there was nothing tricky about it. The likelihood of being arrested was explained and understood by everyone. We ran through the lockdown procedure in order to ensure safety and effectiveness. All in all, it was a very well organized process and communicated clearly what needed to be done.
At about this point people had begun putting up their tents. Marty and I had put up the Creamsicle, and were talking about putting up our tents that we were going to sleep in. I was feeling really good. It seemed like there was a strong sense of community, people were united and seemed committed to the cause and non-violent peaceful disobedience. As we were walking around we ran into Warren Sack, our professor for the class we missed earlier in the evening due to our involvement at TU. We were talking about the whole event, and the Creamsicle, and how effective we thought such an event was, when the police arrived in numerous automobiles. Because I had been building, I had put my camera in my car, which, ha, was right were all the cops had just arrived. So I said goodbye to Warren and ran off to get my camera really quick. I got it as the cops were lining up on the street and sort of milling around. But I was kinda scared and confused about what to shoot. There was the call of “lockdown” and so I knew I had to go and lockdown somewhere, but I really wanted to take photos. It was a strange moment because I knew I couldn’t do both at the same time. I had to choose one or the other. I had told myself that I was fully committed to occupying the space as ours, because the obvious exertion of power both by not allowing us to do it in the first place, and the presence of police at a totally non-violent peaceful gathering was unacceptable to me and counter to what I think TU is about. So I decided to sit down. But there was some confusion about the best strategy, some people had formed circles outside the main tent, and others were inside.
After about 10 seconds of confusion (although it seemed longer at the time), we were instructed to form circles inside the main tent, together, as one. So small circles of about 10-18 people sat, arms linked, inside, and waited. There must have been over 50 people total in lockdown. After a minute or two of sitting, the police came and announced that this area had been deemed illegal assembly (or something) and that we were ordered to disperse. Many other people who did not sit remained near us. I don’t really remember anything about the other people in my circle at this point. I think I was nervous and scared and wanting to know what was going on out there. By this time there were a really healthy beautiful number of people who had set up tents and were prepared to sleep there. After receiving another warning that what we were doing was illegal, we were told that arrests would start being made shortly. During this time there was a shifting in people, some people getting up and joining those supporting outside, and others feeling inspired enough to come in and join us. I remember looking for Marty a lot because I had wanted him to be close by. I guess in hopes that he’d provide some sort of comfort or protection. He was around, but shooting video, never too far though, doing his thing, which was so important and critical to our safety. Without that intense media creation by the supporters, our ability to fully articulate the evening would have been lost.
At about this time the police, in riot gear helmets, came marching in and began surrounding the tent that we were all in. In order to do so they needed to move the tents that had been erected. Instead of being courteous and gently moving the equipment, they simply tore the structures down. Many had been staked to the ground, and many were physically ripped from the ground, causing the material to tear and effectively destroyed. Now it is important to realize that it wasn’t like we (the lockdowned SITTING people) were going anywhere. There was no need to hurry, it wasn’t a dangerous or threatening situation in any way. So the logic for such brute force can’t really be rationalized in that way. It was a statement about things to come. After ripping the tents out of the way, the police began surrounding us, and creating a wall between us and the standing supporters outside. People were still allowed to leave and enter the tent however. As the cops continued to “secure” the area, people continued to shift, switch and exchange for other people. Other supporters began placing blankets, food, and water within each circle in order to help sustain us for what might lay ahead.
It wasn’t too long before the first person was violently taken from their peaceful and non-violent community. Like the others that would soon follow, I could not completely see what was happening because it was directly behind me, but I could hear it, and it was intense. The amount of sound that was created as the first one was pried away from their circle was consuming. People were feeling all sorts of different emotions, and it could be hear in their different yells and screams and cries. But collectively we expressed the pain over such an ignorant, cruel, calculated and misguided action.
MORE TO COME!