U.C. Berkeley Students Protest Vote to End Affirmative Action

Students at the University of California, Berkeley waged an arduous campaign against Proposition 209--walking precincts, phone-banking, and rallying--for months prior to the November 1996 election. When Prop 209--to end affirmative action in the state—passed, on top of the passage of Prop 187 against immigrant rights, it felt like yet another defeat. This time around, however, our commitment to mobilize became stronger.

On Election Day 1996, a diverse group of over 60 organizers and leaders crammed into Casa Joaquin Murrieta, the independent Xicano co-op housing facility near the Berkeley campus. They included students from Casa, MECHA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztldn) and Students Against 209. After generating a plan of action, we painted banners and posters, wrote lists of supplies, and typed demands and press releases.

The next day, as thousands gathered Sproul Plaza to rally in opposition to Prop 209. When the rally ended, protesters took to the streets, stopping traffic, blocking intersections, and leading the police to believe they were going onto the freeway. But there was no such intention; the plan was to take over the Campanile Clock Tower on campus.

Eight protesters entered the tower during regular business hours and took the elevator to the top. Maria Brenes, Eva Camarena, Jennie Luna, Maritza Madrigal, and Jose Palafox chained themselves to a pillar with help from three other students, Solis Aguilera, Jesds Barraza, and Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi, who stayed with them.

When the marchers outside announced the occupation to the crowd, it became clear why the Campanile tower was the perfect place for this protest. The tower, which had long symbolized the university to the world, had become an elitist and exclusionist ivory tower. The occupation to protest Prop 209 was thus an act of resistance and reclamation.

The demands of the occupation included: non-compliance by the UC with Prop 209; democratization of the UC Regents (who are appointed by the governor and, at present, do not include a single educator, only businesspeople like Prop 209 sponsor Ward Connerly); a College of Ethnic Studies (instead of it being a subordinate part of Letters and Science); Ethnic Studies for transfer students and California high schools; a commitment by the UC to diversity through outreach; and a live television broadcast of student protest against 209 (which had been largely ignored by the mass media).

The Campanile occupation was not only a political protest but a spiritual act as well. The tower stands on Ohlone Native land and stored within it are the bones of many indigenous people, kept there for research. The chained protesters had made a commitment to fast during the occupation in order to purify their bodies and strengthen their spirits. As Xicanos and Xicanas, they wanted to make the point that the University only wants indigenous people when they are dead-- not alive. Thus the protesters were demanding respect for the land, its people, and the many broken and violated treaties. They were demanding that the physical and cultural genocide end, beginning with rejection of Proposition 209.

To everyone's surprise the police did not move to arrest anybody immediately. As one Xicano officer told a protester, they wanted to wait until much later, when people had left, avoiding arrests that could provoke more demonstrations.

During the night, the chained protesters began to share their stories. Others who climbed to the top (the elevators had been shut down) rang the tower bells. Those in the tower and hundreds who remained outdoors overnight would join in chanting, drumming, and singing. Across the cold night air their voices would go from chants of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, to Native traditional drum songs, to songs of the farm worker and other labor movements.

At approximately 5:30 AM, police moved to end the peaceful occupation. With no official warning to disperse and wearing no badges, they started moving protesters to the side, so they could get to the protestors. Students hung on as long as they could and chanted "No violence!" as police used pain-hold tactics and what most considered excessive force. After breaking two pairs of glasses and a wheelchair, leaving its occupant fallen on the ground, and scratching a young woman's eye when she lost her balance and tried to hold on to an officer, police cleared the way to enter the tower. As they reached the top, protesters drummed, singing "Through my people speaks the spirit, the spirit never dies."

After we read our demands, the officers gave us one last opportunity to leave, then broke the chains. The arrest totaled 23 for trespassing (students inside) and unlawful assembly (those outside the tower) All charges were later dropped except one (for resisting arrest, because she had accidentally fallen against an officer's baton and ended up with a black eye.)

The same day, protests continued with students disrupting classes, demanding air time on the campus radio station, tearing up the Daily Californian (a campus paper which had endorsed 209), negotiating meetings with the Vice Chancellors, and strategizing for the next steps. U.C. Berkeley students, in solidarity with others at UC Santa Cruz, Stanford, San Francisco State University and others, had ignited a fire that continues to burn. Now the real work begins: maintaining the activist spirit, dealing with bureaucracy, negotiating with UC officials, mobilizing high school youth, and continuing to fight for what’s right. Viva la Causa!