Opening the Door on Retaliation
Graphics by Dagmar Kuta Content warning: This article contains references to sexual harassment and assault. *Name has been changed to protect the anonymity of this source. Due process within the Title IX system provides protection to the accused. But in the last year, several complainants...
From Medical to Recreational
Proposition 64 came into effect this January allowing recreational cannabis use, but with it came a slew of taxes and regulations that are financially disadvantaging small cannabis businesses and medical users. While they struggle to keep up with new regulations, low-income medical patients can no...
Sexual Harassment and Assault Allegations Build Against UCSC Professor
Content warning: This article contains references to sexual harassment and assault. *Name has been changed to protect the anonymity of this source **Gopal Balakrishnan is referred to as GB through student accounts Graffiti and leaflets detailed allegations of sexual assault and harassment by a professor...
Santa Cruz Takes on Climate Change
Emilio Martinez Castañeda, Beach Flats Community Garden gatekeeper, stepped into the garden and looked out at all of the rows of destroyed maize after what he considered the most devastating flood of his 48 years in Santa Cruz. It would take more than three months...
Distorting Asian American Identities
Asian Americans, 27 percent of the UC Santa Cruz student body, are often viewed as model Americans — an idea partly rooted in anti-Blackness. This “model minority myth” ignores effects of structural racism on Asian American communities and demands perfection from Asian American students. High...
From Overprescription to Overdose
The opioid epidemic is nothing new, rooted in a legacy of the War on Drugs, the pharmaceutical industry and mental health disparities, but in October 2017 President Donald Trump declared it a public health emergency. Now the nation, small counties such as Santa Cruz and...
Santa Cruz County Suffers Historic Hepatitis A Outbreak
California is facing a public health emergency with one of the largest hepatitis A outbreaks in the state’s history. Over the last year, more than 500 confirmed hepatitis A cases broke out in San Diego alone, causing 19 deaths. This was followed by 10 cases...
Bear Fire Continues
While about 11,000 emergency responders from throughout California and several other states are battling to contain firestorms devastating Northern California, Santa Cruz County is facing a fire of its own. The Santa Cruz County fire, known as Bear Fire, is burning near Boulder Creek, 19...
Living in Silence
While other UC Santa Cruz seniors are anxious to find a job after graduation, Antonio’s* biggest concern is being able to live in the only home he has ever known — the U.S. He is one of 800,000 undocumented residents whose future in the next...
‘Sanctuary’ Undefined
The letters preluded the ICE arrests. They began arriving about five months ago, sending anxiety and confusion into the already uneasy undocumented Santa Cruz community, while sparking questions of what a sanctuary county promises. The public defender’s office has received 19 letters since the beginning...