In the original version of this story published on September 30, we erroneously listed the incorrect email address for Star. The correct email address is pureveganstar@yahoo.com

City on a Hill Press regrets this error. This post was updated on October 7 to reflect this change.

(from left to right)

“Yeah … It’s important for the student body to believe in the voice they have because it is in the best interest of the powers that be that we remain silent and obedient.”
Scott Hanshew
Fourth-year, Porter
Film

“I won’t participate because I’m going to be busy enough with class and work, and I have section until 7 that day.”
Samantha Espinoza
Third-year, College Eight
Health Sciences

“Yes, because my first period teacher told me to.”
Virgil M. Kester
Fourth-year, College Nine
American Studies

“No, because I’m against people blocking the base of campus. Some people need to get up to their classes.”
Colin Fahy
Fourth-year, Porter
Computer Science

Compiled by Mikaela Todd & Rosanna Van Straten.

As the group Outlandish sang, “Look into my eyes, tell me what ya see.”

California poet laureate Carol Muske-Dukes attended the memorial for the late Maude Meehan, a Santa Cruz poet who died three years ago. Courtesy of Anne Browne.

Poets and poetry-lovers alike crowded into Cabrillo College’s Music Recital Hall this Saturday to honor local poet Maude Meehan, and partake in what Meehan dedicated her life to. The memorial reading echoed the love of poetry that Maude Meehan exhibited and shared through her teachings.

Poetry Santa Cruz founded the Maude Meehan Memorial Poetry Reading event last year after Meehan passed away in 2007, in order to pay homage to the woman who was known in Santa Cruz to be a generous and helpful tutor for aspiring poets and writers.

“It is a way that we can honor Maude, a way to keep her in our sights and in our hearts,” said Len Anderson, secretary-treasurer of Poetry Santa Cruz, a local organization devoted to promoting poetry in the community.

Meehan’s work includes two novels of poetry, “Chipping Bone” (1985) and “Before the Snow” (1991). She continued writing poetry until her death three years ago.

“Maude really was a beloved figure in the local poetry community,” said Dennis Morrison, program director of Poetry Santa Cruz. “Not just woman poets, but poets in general appreciated her generosity and spirit and work.”

The event was not only a memorial, Anderson said, but also a forum to “expose poetry of great women poets” like California’s current poet laureate, Carol Muske-Dukes.

Last year, Lucille Clifton, a good friend of Meehan, gave a reading of her work at the event, but passed away shortly after. The First Annual Maude Meehan Memorial reading was the last reading she ever gave.

This year’s event was a success — with over 100 people in attendance. Despite the large turnout and the location on a college campus, student attendance was lacking.

“Our events are very poorly attended by UCSC students,” Morrison said. “That’s our biggest challenge. We’re missing out on student presence and students are missing out on some incredible readings.”

Poetry Santa Cruz invited Muske-Dukes to attend this year’s memorial reading.

The new Cabrillo Music Hall reverberated with excitement and laughter while Muske-Dukes read poems from her upcoming book, “Twin Cities,” as well as from “Sparrow,” a book to grieve her late husband.

Muske-Dukes plans to share her love of poetry on a large scale with a younger generation through her current project, Magic Poetry Bus. Her mission is to finish “Magic Poetry Bus Driver’s Guide,” a book focused on poetry learning and memorization, and provide it to public schools in California for free, mostly through an online version.

“There’s a lot of money we have to raise,” Muske-Dukes said. “I care a great deal about poetry. I’ve been a poet almost my entire life. I believe in the power of imagination to change people’s lives.”

She hopes that Magic Poetry Bus will inspire students in public schools across California to love the written word, just as she was inspired by her mother who used to read and recite poetry by heart when she was a young girl.

Muske-Dukes said, “It made a huge difference in my interest in words and books, literature and great conversation.”

Illustration by Louise Leong

Laws and attitudes toward marijuana are changing throughout the state, and Santa Cruz is no exception.

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors formally expressed a policy Sept. 26, which addresses medical marijuana dispensaries that have sprung up in past years. The policy allows and regulates the facilities, as well as places a moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries until the board finalizes the new policies.

Supervisor John Leopold said the board plans to have a rough draft of the new policies by Nov. 9.

“There were no land use rules [for the dispensaries] in unincorporated areas,” said Leopold, who spearheaded the legislative effort with supervisor Neal Coonerty. “We wanted to create an orderly process with reasonable rules which ensure access.”

Santa Cruz’s policy changes are a microcosm of the policy and attitude changes taking place throughout the state. On Oct. 1, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that decriminalizes possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, changing the penalty from a misdemeanor to an infraction similar to a traffic violation. What’s more, Proposition 19 on the ballot in November seeks to regulate, tax and legalize marijuana altogether. Polls show the measure has a good chance of passing.

There are already eight counties and 37 cities in California with regulations in effect for medical marijuana and the dispensaries that provide it.

“We don’t really have to reinvent the wheel,” Leopold said. “We can pull out the best features already present in those policies. The one area which is different is the priority we are placing on ensuring access to low-income individuals.”

One of many individuals who use medical marijuana in Santa Cruz County is Harold “Hal” Margolin, 78, who has used marijuana since 2000 to treat his painful symptoms of leukemia, pneumonia and neuropathy. Margolin’s luck took a turn for the worse last week when he suffered a heart attack and a broken hip. He is now in the hospital, where he expects to stay for another three weeks.

“I can’t smoke in here,” Margolin said. “So I do have to take painkillers instead, which I prefer not to use.”

He described why he favors marijuana and its beneficial effects for him.

“It’s the one medicine without any side effects like dizziness,” Margolin said. “That’s really important. I will not categorically say it is a painkiller. But even if I do have the pain, the consciousness is diverted, and I don’t think about the pain.”

Marijuana helps Margolin not only with the constant presence of pain in his life but with the other symptoms of his condition.

“It helps me sleep,” he said.

Contrary to what opponents of medical marijuana say about people who use the drug, Margolin doesn’t often get high from the amount he smokes to alleviate his symptoms, he said.

Margolin obtains medical marijuana from the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) in Santa Cruz. WAMM, founded in 1993, was the first medical marijuana collective in the nation, and though it indeed dispenses marijuana, director and co-founder Valerie Corral goes to great lengths to distinguish WAMM from dispensaries and buyers’ clubs.

“The difference between us and dispensaries is that even if you don’t have money, you can access us,” Corral said.

WAMM does not seek to make a profit, and its website contains a reference to Marxist principle: “Each member receives according to need and returns to WAMM according to ability.”

Corral weighed in on the as-yet-unknown policies being formed regarding medical marijuana dispensaries.

“We hope the new county policies will call out so-called ‘compassion clubs’ to employ compassion, not just enrich their financial bottom line,” Corral said.

Corral herself uses medical marijuana to treat her epilepsy and prevent seizures, and helped author Proposition 215 in 1996, which legalized medical marijuana in California.

Corral named pain relief, sleep aid, increased appetite and the alleviation of behavioral disorders like oppositional defiant disorder, among the beneficial effects of medical marijuana. She also emphasized the psychological benefits for people dealing with serious illness.

“It changes the way people look at sickness and reduces anxiety people have when looking at the end of life,” Corral said.

Corral has an ally in Supervisor Leopold, who first became interested in medical marijuana when he served as executive director for the Santa Cruz AIDS Project 14 years ago. Leopold first began doing AIDS work as a student at UCSC. He graduated from Merrill College in 1988 with a politics degree.

“I saw first-hand the nature of this medicine for people, especially in the late stages of terminal illness to maintain a better quality of life,” he said.

Leopold said that past voter action bodes well for Proposition 19 in November.

“When Prop 215 passed with 74 percent of the vote,” Leopold said, “I interpreted that as the voters understanding the value of compassionate use to alleviate pain.”

The Santa Cruz City Council recently voted to waive citations of the camping ordinance if offenders were on a wait list at Homeless Shelter Services on the night of their infraction. Photo by Arianna Puopolo.

On an industrial section of Delaware Avenue, a core group of cars and campers inhabit the roadside week after week. With a state park to the west and UCSC administrative buildings to the east, those who live and sleep here do so in an attempt to evade the sleeping ban in Santa Cruz, and are generally unbothered by the Santa Cruz police. In a recent development to a contentious issue in Santa Cruz, the city council voted to waive citations of the camping ordinance if offenders were on a wait list at Homeless Shelter Services on the night of their infraction. The change is meant to make homeless living in Santa Cruz a little more tolerable for those seeking shelter.

A camping ban has been in effect in the city for nearly 40 years. Originally intended to keep students off the beaches at night, the rise in the city’s homeless population has transformed the use of the policy. It is now intended to curb the amount of people sleeping on private property, as well as to prevent unwanted disturbances in Santa Cruz communities.

After controversy surrounding the ban this summer, including the Peace Camp protests held since Aug. 10, Mayor Mike Rotkin points out that there have actually been fewer citations than one might expect.

“The vast majority of homeless people on any given night find some place to sleep and don’t get cited,” Rotkin said.

Police do not approach individuals sleeping on the street or in their cars unless someone in the neighborhood has reported them, Rotkin said. Police often give warnings after a complaint is first made. People who move on to another location are generally not cited. However, if they sleep in the same area the next night and a complaint is made with the police, they will be cited.

The exception to this policy has been for people who sleep at City Hall. Though not an issue for much of the policy’s life, the recent demonstrations of sleeping protests at the site have prompted police to patrol the area and issue citations in an attempt to prevent further incidents.

Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 29, 232 citations were issued under Section 6.36.010(A1) for sleeping outdoors between 11:00 p.m. and 8:30 a.m., according to the police department, while 114 citations have been issued under Section 6.36.010(C) for setting up campsites anytime.

Zach Friend, police department spokesperson, said in an e-mail that 100 of the citations were associated with the Peace Camp protest since Aug. 10.

The change was necessary because during the summer months, the Homeless Services Center, with just 46 beds, cannot meet the needs of even five percent of the homeless population in Santa Cruz, estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,200 in the city alone.

“[There] certainly isn’t enough [space] to provide a roof over the head of every homeless person in Santa Cruz,” said Monica Martinez, executive director of Homeless Services Center.

Organizations within the City of Santa Cruz provide more than 100 services for homeless people in our community, ranging from the Homeless Garden Project to local soup kitchens like St. Francis Soup Kitchen. Rotkin said that such programs are useful but must be supplemented by long-term solutions and vocational opportunities.

“A significant number of people come to Santa Cruz and get out of homelessness through our programs,” he said. “We could get a regional solution to this that would allow us to set up regional camping grounds or reestablish the civilian conservation corps.”

However, the latter of these idealistic solutions may not be plausible for homeless people, Martinez said.

“Someone who isn’t housed is not likely to succeed in vocational programs,” she said. “We need to work toward solutions that will house our most in need.”

The sleeping ban isn’t unique to Santa Cruz. Santa Barbara, Santa Monica and Portland are just a few other cities that enforce similar policies. The issue points to a structural problem of our economy, Rotkin said.

“It’s one of the contradictions of capitalism,” Rotkin said. “There’s no piece of land that isn’t owned by somebody.”

Community activists and neighbors gather outside of lower Ocean’s Little Caesars Pizza to discuss the changes that have been made over the years. Photo by Rosanna van Straten.

On a typical night at 7 p.m., the corner of Barson and Clay streets in Santa Cruz’s lower Ocean neighborhood is not the safest place.

Last Wednesday, though, the neighborhood had a different vibe, as the organization Neighbors of Santa Cruz gathered approximately 25 people to do a walk-through of the lower Ocean area and make the community aware of changes implemented by the organization to make the neighborhood a safer one. Neighbors of Santa Cruz is a citywide non-profit organization that represents a network of neighborhoods and provides a voice for the residents of the city.

As he led the group around the neighborhood, Erik Larsen, who helped found the group, explained that the area used to be a center for drug-related crime and prostitution. By taking landlords to small claims court, they forced them to clean up and watch their properties. In addition, city officials closed a local bar that was plagued by gang activity.

The event was in support of Measure H, which addresses public safety in Santa Cruz. The measure, which emerged during the recent summer months and will be on the November ballot, intends to increase the city utility tax by 1.5 percent and use the revenue to fund public safety. The funds will go primarily toward supporting the police department and prevention of gang-related crime.

“There is now less money and more crime, and we are trying to level it off,” said city councilmember Don Lane, who supports Measure H. “We can either have a barebones police department that gets a call and works the crime, or have the funding to increase police forces and prevent crime activity in the first place, through providing alternatives for youth, for example.”

In the past two weeks alone, there have been several shootings in and around the city. Although the circumstances were not clear, a shooting was reported on Woodrow Avenue and Walk Circle, in the lower Westside area of town. According to witnesses, it involved a man opening fire on a group of people sitting on a porch. Additionally, this past weekend, three shootings occurred.One man was left dead and two were wounded.

In addition to the mitigation of rising crime, proponents of the measure cite its attention to economically vulnerable citizens and seniors as a positive factor. The measure affords these groups the chance to dismiss the first $34 to $100 off their utilities bill depending on need.

To be passed, Measure H must receive a 50 percent plus one majority vote, which means the revenue from the measure would go into the city’s general fund as opposed to a fund that is set aside for one particular purpose.

This leaves some residents of the city worried. According to its website, the Santa Cruz County Republican Central Committee opposes tax increases that cannot be clearly justified by need and appointed to the correct area. The group said that Measure H does not meet the minimum standard, and fears it will not be spent in the appropriate areas.

Furthermore, the increase in utility tax could very easily be a discouraging factor in an economically challenging time, and some see it as as oppressive.

Don Webber, a longtime community activist from the beach area, does not view this as a threat or problem.

“Public safety is already a major part of our general fund expenditures, and the city leaders have resolved to use the Prop H proceeds for police staffing. I trust them to do so,” Webber said. “[But] with the nation in a tea party tizzy, it will be hard enough to get over the 50-percent threshold to pass a general fund tax measure, let alone the super-majority necessary to pass a tax restricted to a specific use. The city is right to run this through the general fund.”

Erik Larsen of Santa Cruz Neighbors said that in addition to a grassroots approach to crime mitigation, revenue from this fund is the best way forward for Santa Cruz.

“Crime-related activity can be zeroed down, [and] door to door communication is the essence of neighborhood organizing,” he said.

As for the increase in utility taxes, those supporting it claim that this would be a small sacrifice. The slogan of Measure H simply reads: “More than a utility. A necessity.”

Cal Lutheran and UCSC players compete to head the ball in the air. Photo by Nick Paris.

Her heart is beating fast. She is nervous, but she feels so ready. It’s Sunday, game day, and the adrenaline is running through her body.

Erica Wheeler-Dubin knows that in two hours she is about to have another battle on the field. She had to miss last night’s party, and she will have another sleepless night tonight just to finish the homework that has been piling up on her desk all week.

As a student, committing to a sport means having to split your life between schoolwork and practices ­­— yet athletes like Wheeler-Dubin know that their academic lives are not complete without sports.

“If I’m not focusing on my work, I go for a run and do exercise and then I find it easier to focus afterwards,” said Wheeler-Dubin, captain and senior defensive midfielder of the women’s soccer team. “They go hand in hand: playing soccer and being a student.”

But committing to a competitive team and combining it with studies can be very demanding.

At the end of last season, four players left the team because they no longer wanted to divide their lives between competitive college soccer and their studies, Wheeler-Dubin said.

This season’s team has 12 freshmen and four transfers on the 31 player roster. With four players out and seven seniors graduated, the 16 new players know they have a big role in making this team successful.

The commitment to the team began early this quarter. In order to be selected for the team, new players had to spend their summer at try-outs.

“We’ve been here since August, before everyone else came to UCSC,” said Kiku Koyano, a second-year Cowell student and new member of the team. “Try-outs consisted of having three practices a day.”

The team played four games with all the prospects — after the fourth, the coach made the final cuts.

Becoming part of a team proved to be a good way to start new friendships, said freshman midfielder Gloria Hernandez. Being with people with the same interests, even before school actually started, meant that “we didn’t have to worry about making friends and feel awkward like other freshmen do,” Hernandez said.

This season, the team’s record of 0-6-1 has not been encouraging. With so many young talents, wins have been hard to come by.

Head coach Josh Schelhorse said he knows it is a challenge for such an inexperienced team to win.

“I like the players that we have and they have a lot of talent but they need to learn how to get results,” he said.

The 16 new women are still learning how to be great soccer players, and how to balance being athletes with their studies. Ultimately, in four years they will have to decide whether or not they want to take soccer to the next level.

While Wheeler-Dubin plans to play in either Italy or Sweden after college, the new players are only beginning to figure out what they will choose.

“By the time I graduate, I’ll be focusing on jobs and graduate school,” Hernandez said. “After four years, I’ll be done with soccer.”

Illustration by Louise Leong.

A bedroom might not seem special to many people. It’s a place where you sleep, hook up, store your belongings and occasionally study. But a bedroom can be so much more — it can be a safe haven from the daily grind, a fortress of solitude or a place that pays tribute to whatever its occupant desires.

The ability of a room to be and stand for so many things to many different people has prompted the Asian American Women Artists Association to ask, “If you had a place of your own, what would it be?”

This fall, the AAWAA organized and hosted an art show at the Driftwood Salon Art Gallery in San Francisco to display the aspirations of the artists featured in the show and encourage viewers to do the same. Asian American women artists of varying ages and ethnic backgrounds came together to share with their community by creating personal installations and displays that had emotional, social, psychological or familial importance to them.

The art show is part of A Place of Her Own, a two-year-old project inspired by Virginia Woolf’s book “A Room of One’s Own.” In it, Woolf argues that women need a place that is entirely their own to stimulate their minds, explore their interests and attend to their personal or emotional needs. Woolf’s novel highlights the importance of pursuing aspirations, especially as they pertain to women in patriarchal society.

“Most of the artists featured in this show have had to overcome certain struggles,” said Cynthia Tom, board president of AAWAA, “and their pieces in the show represent the things or places that emotionally helped them through their difficult times.”

There was a variety of eye-catching pieces at the show. One piece, suspended off the ground, resembled a nest. Another piece looked like a mobile made of glass jars filled with tiny action figures. And one piece was scrawled across the floor of the venue in chalk.

“I thought the piece by Nancy Hom was interesting,” said Adam Chantri, a third-year Japanese major at CSU Monterey Bay, who attended the show. “She had a large multi-colored piece of fabric that was twisted up and rising out of a box of purple sand towards the ceiling.”

Some of the other pieces in the show included paintings, dioramas, large installations, fiber sculptures and photographs.

Each woman used her medium to illustrate her ideal place.

Vivian Truong, a California College of the Arts alumna whose work was featured in the show, chose to create a fiber sculpture of a garden.

“I went through tons of ideas when I was thinking of what to do for this show, and then, after a lot of thought, I realized that my garden is a very special place for me,” Truong said. “This project is about learning to recognize what is important to you.”

Tom hopes that this exhibit will encourage introspection in other people. She stressed the importance of finding a place go, physically or emotionally, to feel safe. She hopes viewers will use this exhibit as a way to learn how to connect with themselves and the community as a whole.

“Each piece displayed was very personal to the artists who created them,” Tom said, “and sharing those pieces with an audience can inspire people to really look at themselves and what they need or want out of life.”

The project will host another show in May 2011, and Tom encourages all art enthusiasts to get involved. Tom is optimistic about the effect A Place of Her Own may have on people.

“This project can have far-reaching arms,” she said. “We’re teaching people to take care of themselves and their community.”

Artist Don Lobner views and discusses his work displayed in Artisan’s Gallery.

Early Friday evening, Twist, a local jewelry and clothing store, bustles with people surrounding the brightly-lit counter lined with marigolds. Behind where owner Lara Marotta stands is a large display of skeleton dolls and an ofrenda, an altar for the dead used during Día de los Muertos. The art is the work of students from Gateway School, a local private school.

The display is vibrant and eye-catching. Marotta sais she was drawn to the “honesty” of the children’s artwork. She said it is “very real, and very sweet.” Enthusiasm is also in the students’ repertoire.

“I just like that people get to see what we do in class,” said 8-year-old Maddie Hall, who attends Gateway.

Hall, and her friend and classmate Kanami Okabe, were excited to explain how they constructed the dolls and how pleased they are to see them in the store’s display.

This small exhibit is one of many venues that are linked together on the first Friday of every month by the local program First Friday.

First Friday, headed by Kirby Scudder, has for the last six years transformed downtown Santa Cruz into a hub for local art and artists.

Through the program, sponsored by associated venues and galleries, local artists are able to put their art on display and up for auction. Various galleries, stores and restaurants downtown set up exhibits to promote the community’s local art scene, linking individuals through a shared appreciation of homegrown art.

Art needs to be seen and promoted, Scudder said.

“When I moved [to Santa Cruz] in 2003, I realized there were so many artists here, but so little promotion for them,” he said. “That has always been the point — to promote the huge pool of local artists here in Santa Cruz.”

However, First Friday isn’t just about art.

“In February, we put on Hearts for the Arts,” said Linnaea Holgers James, owner of Artisans Gallery, a venue associated with First Friday. “We had artists who donated pieces, and we auctioned them off. The proceeds were donated to the cultural council of Santa Cruz specifically for art education in schools.”

Hearts for the Arts was only one of many ways First Friday has given back. Artists Sarah Friedlander and D. Hooker were recently recognized for their work to raise and donate money for healthcare for local artists.

Friedlander and Hooker have also previously organized group shows and auctions, donating to such groups as the Tannery Arts Center.

The work of individuals like Friedlander and Hooker has always been the goal of First Friday, Scudder said.

“I’m a huge advocate [for community service], but I don’t tell [the artists] to do it,” Scudder said. “That’s the whole point of First Friday — giving back to your community.”

First Friday is celebrating its 80th event this October. Scudder hopes to incorporate other forms of artistic expression, such as music and dance, because “music and visual art would work really well together” and allow local musicians to showcase their work.

“It looks like First Friday is here to stay, and it’s becoming part of Santa Cruz as a monthly event,” James said. “It has grown slowly, and now people really look forward to it.”

Illustration by Louise Leong.

Students, faculty and workers have been spent hours at work organizing against fee increases and budget cuts. Today’s events will be a testament to that hard work.

As part of a national day of action to defend public education, today’s rally is the next in a series of protests against UC fee increases and budget cuts. Students at UC Berkeley and UCLA have organized similar rallies in solidarity with the movement to save public education.

Education for All, a San Diego-based organization formed to fight cuts to education and services, will be marching to numerous public buildings to hold rallies and place headstones outside them with messages like “R.I.P. Education.”

At UCSC, the day will begin with a series of “creative disruptions” spread across campus to call attention to the noon rally that will take place in the Quarry Plaza. Organizers were hesitant to say much about the disruptions, except that they are meant to call attention to administrative decisions that reduce the quality of a UC education while increasing the cost of attendance, like increasing class sizes and cutting library hours.

“Closing down campus for a day is a momentary disruption, but the decisions that the administration has made disrupt a student’s entire life,” said organizer Mark Paschal, a third-year graduate student.

Last year, UC regents approved an increase in student fees, swelling the price tag from $7,483 annually to $10,302, and implemented budget cuts that reduced academic support services systemwide.

At UCSC and other UC campuses, these administrative decisions were met with multiple protest actions, including campus shutdowns and the occupation of university buildings.

UCSC director of public information Jim Burns had little to say about the day of action.

“At this point, we understand that on our campus the day will feature a noon rally at Quarry Plaza,” Burns said. “The state’s declining support for public higher education, which has eroded UC’s quality and student access to that quality, is certainly an issue that deserves such attention.”

Despite extensive outreach to students, many faculty members were not aware of today’s action day until this week. As recently as yesterday, several professors said they knew nothing about the protest.

“I didn’t find out about the protest until this week when a student in my class asked if we’d have class on Thursday because of the day of action, and I said, ‘What day of action?’” said associate professor of community studies Mary Beth Pudup.

The national day of action comes one day after state legislators held a public hearing on the proposed 2010-2011 state budget.

Their vote will coincide directly with the national day of action. Legislators told Reuters that the plan called for more than $7 billion in spending cuts from areas including schools, welfare and other social services.

A related ruling from the California Supreme Court on Monday upheld Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to furlough more than 200,000 workers last year in order to trim the state deficit.

The organizing committee hopes the rally will create momentum for other actions throughout the school year and inspire students to become more politically active.

“I think students are going to be upset,” said organizer Erin Ellison, a graduate student in psychology, about the possiblity of another fee increase. “I don’t want them to feel helpless. I want them to take action to change the situation.”

In addition to the noon rally on campus, there will be a 4 p.m. rally at the Santa Cruz clock tower with K-12 students, parents and teachers.

The Sex and sexuality gameshow, a yearly event hosted by Porter and Kresge Colleges, is one of SHOP’s efforts to normalize students’ sexuality on campus. Photo by Morgan Grana.

Video by Scott Haupenthal.

Through Victorian conservatism and post-modern feminism, female sexuality has been constantly evolving.

Where once a wide-eyed Britney Spears appeared unaware of her sexual objectification, Lady Gaga now commands it. Are we currently in a time where a woman can pursue sex for the sake of sex, or is society stuck in the the “stud vs. slut” dichotomy?

Jaclyn Friedman, a feminist writer, activist and speaker who co-edited the anthology “Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape,” explains that conventional gender roles that accompany sex are problematic because they perpetuate assumptions about female sexual desire.

“The typical idea is that girls want a relationship but they’re [settling for] hooking up,” Friedman said. “The idea that all girls want one thing from hooking up is silly.”

For both females and males, navigating sexual experiences and the double standard of sexuality is as much a part of the college experience as choosing a major or dealing with a roommate.

Casual sex, or what has been deemed the “hook-up culture,” has become synonymous with the college-age group, as evidenced by a litany of documentaries, books, magazine columns, websites and blogs devoted to the “epidemic” of casual sex. While it’s clear that older generations may not approve, the question is whether the negative stigma attached to casual sex, particularly as it applies to women, has lessened in the college environment.

On a hot afternoon in the Quarry Plaza, students offered diverse definitions of “casual sex.”

“Casual sex is sexual intercourse with no long-term goals or exclusivity,” a fourth-year male student said. “Key point is that it’s not exclusive, there’s no agreed-upon terms.”

“No ‘I love you.’ No ‘I want to be with you.’ Just kind of like hit it and quit it,” a second-year female said.

“I think it’s discouraged for girls and definitely encouraged for guys,” a fourth-year female said. “Because of double standards, it’s perceived as more acceptable for men to do that.”

Sexual options and preferences are by no means uniform. Nor are the challenges and obstacles faced by people of different sexual orientations and gender identities. Beyond different interpretations of casual sex, there is also abstinence, or reserving sex only for committed relationships, to name just a few of the paths people may choose to follow.

“What we even mean by ‘casual sex’ is incredibly diverse,” said Heather Corinna in an e-mail. Corinna is an author, activist and founder of the popular sex-ed website Scarleteen. “When I say it, what I mean is a sexual scenario in which someone is considering that outside of that scenario, there may not be any additional or resulting relationship … [but] the range of emotional experiences people have in those scenarios varies widely.”

However casual sex is defined, Generation X didn’t invent it, Friedman said.

“There is sort of a ‘kids these days’ sheen over these arguments,” Friedman said. “I really reject that.”

De-Stigmatizing a Double Standard

Despite the fact that casual sex has been around long before there were websites devoted to it, social cues that a woman can pursue sex for the sake of sex, and not be considered loose or promiscuous, are lacking in popular culture.

Friedman finds this problematic and insists that women can and should engage their sexuality freely, provided that is what they want and they take the necessary precautions.

“The assumption is that women can never want sex just because they want sex,” Friedman said. “All women are supposed to want is love and all men are supposed to want is sex and we have to trick [men] into loving us by withholding sex.”

Third-year Oakes student Zac Stein says he sees a distinction between women who enjoy sex and women who are overly promiscuous.

“The stigma is attached to girls because there’s this idea that women don’t enjoy sex, that that’s not what they’re interested in,” Stein said. “But there’s a difference between someone who has a lot of sex and someone who’s a slut and that’s the way that they themselves use sex. They don’t use sex as some kind of social gain.”

Second-year Cory Faust said that as a woman she also sees a distinction in how women treat casual sex.

“If you’re a mature adult and you make it clear that you’re in a relationship just to have casual sex, then I feel like society won’t necessarily perceive you as a slut,” Faust said. “But if you kind of get suckered into it and you don’t have control of the situation then that’s the ‘not OK’ side. That’s the slut side.”

The idea that girls “give it up” and guys are intent on “getting some” is also flawed, Friedman said, when applied to men and anyone who isn’t heterosexual.

“The idea that men are some sexual robotic atomic bombs is very insulting,” Friedman said. “It’s also completely heteronormative — how do queer people even have sex at all in this view?”

Risky Business

While sexual empowerment and equality for both women and men is a good thing, most agree that it cannot come without a heightened awareness of the physical and emotional risks attached to casual sex.

When it comes to casual sex and how it affects men and women differently, there is some evidence that suggests that women are more at risk for infection, particularly when they are the receivers of penetration.

This assumption is somewhat true, Corinna said, but problematic when viewed through a strictly heterosexual framework.

“Really, it’s not ultimately about gender but about types of sex,” Corinna said. “If a person is more frequently a receptive partner in sexual activities with entry … that person has greater health risks.”

Elizabeth Hyde, a nurse practitioner and the Patient Care Coordinator at the UCSC Student Health Center (SHC), disagrees. Anatomical differences are not reason enough to view the risks of casual sex differently for men and women, she said.

“There’s no difference,” Hyde said. “Both parties are equally at risk.”

When it comes to other physical aspects of keeping sex safe, college students in general know the facts and physical risks, Hyde said.

However, in Hyde’s experience there are several factors where most students run into trouble. Paramount among them are being under the influence of drugs and alcohol and being uncomfortable with expressing one’s sexual needs, she said.

“It’s almost never a lack of knowledge,” Hyde said. “I don’t ever have someone say to me, ‘I don’t know how to prevent an STI.’ What I experience is people that weren’t able to take that knowledge and put it into practice.”

Friedman said that alcohol and casual sex have a troublesome connection, particularly because so many sexual assaults are perpetrated under the influence of alcohol or other substances.

“When you’re getting yourself drunk to become willing to do something you wouldn’t do sober, that is absolutely emotionally toxic and dangerous,” Friedman said. “You’re basically overriding your own boundary.”

A national study of college students indicated that “75 percent of males and 55 percent of females involved in date rape had been drinking or using drugs prior to the assault,” according to the website of UC Berkeley’s Health Services.

On the emotional side of the risks, the idea that females suffer more from unattached casual sex isn’t necessarily true, Friedman said. She said openness with one’s partner about the expectations attached to any sexual encounter is key.

“The No. 1 predictor of a positive experience with casual sex is whether or not an individual wants to be in a relationship with the person they’re having casual sex with,” Friedman said. “It’s gender-neutral.”

Corinna said that an egalitarian view of sexual empowerment — that women can have sex simply because they want to — doesn’t necessarily mean that casual sex is a good idea for all women.

“What’s ‘smart’ or a good fit for one person of one large group emotionally, psychologically and interpersonally can be a terrible fit and not at all smart for another member of that same large group, because we’re all so diverse,” she said.

Friedman endorses “enthusiastic consent,” or the idea that the lack of a “no” during a sexual encounter does not actually indicate consent.

“One of the things that is important to do before you jump into bed with someone is ask them about their sexual history,” Friedman said. “You have to have an actual conversation with them. It has the added bonus of filtering out people that aren’t mature enough.”

An Agenda of Non-Judgement

Getting both men and women to be vocal and open about their sexual needs is no easy feat on a college campus.

“In our culture sex is so taboo,” said fourth-year Britanny Hoffman, who serves as the coordinator of the Condom Co-op on campus, “so having the knowledge and being able to talk about it will make it safer. I enjoy talking with people about sex and I think it’s totally natural.”

The Condom Co-op is part of the Student Health Outreach and Promotion office. SHOP works to dismantle the double standard by normalizing sexuality and provide an environment where it’s OK to talk openly about sexual needs, whatever they may be.

As part of her job, Hoffman coordinates the 70 student volunteers who staff the co-op in dining halls, the Quarry Plaza and other campus locations.

Hoffman said that her involvement with the co-op, which sells roughly 3,000 condoms per month to UCSC students, helps her take away the shame of sex and make sex safer for both men and women.

At the co-op, condoms cost $1 for eight and are sold with an openness and friendly manner, an alternative to the shroud of embarrassment that often comes with buying rubbers.

“OK, so four of the red and four of the turquoise,” says SHOP’s senior health educator Meg Kobe to a customer, animatedly referring to the 40 different varieties of condoms that are arranged in clear plastic tubs along the wall.

“If a person comes into our office wanting or needing something, who are we to judge them?” Kobe said. “We are a sex-positive office — we truly believe that every single person is a sexual being. When, and how, and even if you choose your sexuality is a personal choice.”

Third-year Anya Hunter is the SHOP education coordinator. In her efforts to organize campus events that promote sexual awareness and health, she often encounters students who have unhealthy relationships with their sexuality.

Open dialogue about sex makes it safer for women and men, she said.

“I’ve seen both ends of the spectrum, from girls that are embarrassed by sex or girls that use it as a power tool,” Hunter said. “Either one is kind of unhealthy. Sex is a natural thing. You don’t need to use it as a power tool or go crazy about it.”

SHOP and the Student Health Center work in close collaboration. Hyde said she does see a difference between casual sex and sex within a committed relationship, but she has no interest in judging students’ sexual practices, as long as they are informed about what they’re doing.

“I don’t find my colleagues judgmental about sexual practices at all,” Hyde said. “I think more often we find ourselves in situations where we’re struggling to help people feel more comfortable about negotiating safer sex.”

Last year, the SHC had over 2,000 visits related to sexually transmitted infections. Soon students will be able to get laboratory STI tests done after completing an anonymous online survey, with no need to see a doctor or clinician.

Hyde said that if the clinicians at the SHC do have an agenda, it is to promote open and frequent STI testing.

“There is no safe sex,” Hyde said bluntly. “Abstinence is safe, mutual masturbation holds less risk, but the term to use is safer sex. The bottom line is safer sex is best practiced when you put barriers between dangerous fluids.”

Friedman said that once the physical risks of sex are adequately addressed for both men and women, there should be no need for shame or judgment from other people.

“All of us being more free to have love relationships and sexual relationships on our own terms is a good thing,” Friedman said, “and I don’t think it can be argued to be bad as long as we’re being safe and honest with our partners.”

Anthropology Student Dennis Keen will use his Fulbright scholarship to study eagle hunters in Kazakhstan. Photo courtesy of Dennis Keen.

Dennis Keen is going eagle hunting. As one of six Fulbright Scholarship winners at UC Santa Cruz this year he and his peers will use their awards to fund research projects abroad. Five of the six students were awarded scholarships in the field of anthropology and one received an environmental studies scholarships.

“I applied for the Fulbright last September, knowing that I would need something to do after graduating,” Keen said. “I was really just crossing my fingers and hoping it worked out, because I was not looking forward to getting my bachelor’s degree and then having to go work at the Boardwalk.”

In the years since its inception, the Fulbright Program has saved lots of students from working at the Boardwalk. The program has provided grants for over 294,000 students and professionals to travel to more than 155 countries worldwide since 1946. The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs sponsors the international educational exchange program, which awards scholarships to 1,500 U.S. students and 3,000 foreign students every year.

Eight UCSC students received Fulbright Scholarships in 2008, and three in 2009. In last year’s ranking of UC schools by number of Fulbright scholars, UCSC came in before UC Santa Barbara, which had one, and behind UC Berkeley, which had 18.

The only undergraduate in the group, Keen graduated in the spring of 2010 with a B.A. in language studies and education.

He developed a passion for Central Asian culture when he spent a summer in Almaty, Kazakhstan at 17. And he began investing his time in anthropology courses during his senior year at UCSC.

Keen continued building upon his existing foundation in Russian language and culture, by teaching English in Mongolia. He spent two weeks in the Bayan-Olgii province living with eagle hunters, doing formal interviews, and studying the hunters’ training methods.

Keen returned home and applied for the Fulbright to further pursue his interest in eagle hunters.

With the financial aid of the Fulbright Scholarship, Keen will be able to conduct his research on the Kazakh eagle hunters beyond the two-week period he was initially given. The amount of each individual scholarship is different, and takes into account travel expenses and the cost of living in the country in which the research will be conducted.

“Without the Fulbright, any research abroad would have been next to impossible,” Keen said. “It’s expensive to travel, and anthropology is not a lucrative profession. I had very little savings, so Fulbright is the only way that this adventure is possible.”

These scholarships aren’t only beneficial to students like Keen who receive them.

“[The scholarship] does a lot for [UCSC’s] national ranking,” said Lisa Rofel, anthropology professor. “The fact that graduate students get so many grants makes our national status rank very high.”

The National Research Council ranks departments such as UCSC’s anthropology department, and Rofel said Fulbright scholars help improve these rankings.

“The Fulbright Scholarship is the gateway from the classroom to the research field,” Rofel said.

“Otherwise, [field work] would be very difficult,” she said. “Especially since anthropology encourages students to study internationally.”

In this uncertain economic climate, grants like the Fulbright are highly sought after, and the already-stiff competition is increased by the scholarship’s inclusion of both the sciences and the humanities.

The six UCSC students who made the cut include Nellie Chu, who is studying manufacturing in China, Carlo Moreno, who is looking at agroecology in Venezuela, Sarah Eunkychee, who is researching Protestant Christianity in South Korea, Jonathan Crosson, who will focus on Spiritual Baptism in islands such as Trinidad and St. Vincent, and Naomi Glenn-Levin, who will be learning about child services through research in San Diego and Tijuana.

The administration cut the lower branches from Tree Nine over the summer. The climb, once a staple student experience, is now considerably riskier. It isn’t clear if the measure will stop students from seeking the summit. Photo by Prescott Watson.

Helen Sylvia looked up to find sap dripping from the lower 20 to 25 feet of Tree Nine’s sawed branches. The third-year Stevenson student was not expeting the amputated icon when she visited Tree Nine in August.

For many, climbing this approximately 150-foot Douglas-fir is a tradition and staple of UC Santa Cruz heritage.

Climbing Tree Nine is considered by many to be almost an initiation into UCSC, “but not mandatory,” Sylvia said. “There is so much of an emotional connection. Why are you going to cut down this main symbol?”

Two reasons: the first “to discourage people from climbing the tree, thereby protecting them from possible injury,” said director of public information Jim Burns in an e-mail. The second, “to protect the tree itself from harm.”

UCSC arborists indicated the impact foot traffic can have on Tree Nine’s root system, having effectively removed the organic soil at the base of the tree. There have also been recent reports on injuries students received while climbing other trees.

“Why this tree?” Sylvia said. “The impact that the students are giving it is nowhere in comparison to what the university plans on doing with the [Long Range Development Plan].”

“Students aren’t going to stop climbing trees,” she added. “What are [the arborists] going to do, cut down all the branches of all the trees that are climbable?”

Gage Dayton is director of UCSC Natural Reserves.

“Students can certainly get severely injured or even die if they fell out of this tree,” Dayton said in an e-mail. “But now there’s a rope here. Has the risk gone down? Now what? Do we cut down the tree? Where do you stop? Do we pave the whole forest?”

Dayton was supposed to be consulted with matters regarding the protected area to which Tree Nine belongs, but he was not.

There are several issues that Dayton must consider in his position. He lists “human safety, sensitive species protection, land stewardship, facility construction and placement, transportation, research [and] education” among them.

“Often, many of these considerations are contradictory to one another and we simply have to make the best decision we can based on collective reasoning,” Dayton said in an e-mail. “I believe the lack of communication in this event was simply a breakdown in the process during a time when there had been personnel turnover and reduced staffing.”

He will continue to work on improving the communication between the two parties.

“There were so many other options,” third-year Sylvia said. “What they did was the most drastic measure. There was no process, no democracy, no communication. There is a lack of communication with the students.”

Sylvia was right about one thing at least. Students have continued to climb Tree Nine — with one difference.

“It’s a lot scarier than it used to be,” said a climber who was found in the area.

Illustation by Bela Messex.

Adolescent suicide is not uncommon. Neither is suicide by members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community. And after six gay teenagers committed suicide in one week, it’s time that changed.

We know their names and faces, how they took their lives, and what caused their deaths. All seven boys, whose ages ranged from 13 to 18, were bullied by their classmates. In some instances, we know exactly who to blame. The tormentors of Rutgers first-year Tyler Clementi have been arrested on charges of invasion of privacy, and both face up to five years behind bars.

Many people have reacted in anger and called for harsher sentencing. Dharun Ravi, who placed a webcam in his room to record Clementi’s date, as well as his friend Molly Wei, both 18, have been called murderers. And, on message boards and talk shows across the country, there have been calls for death sentences for the pair. Anger and grief are justified reactions, and no one can fault another for seeking justice, but no amount of revenge will bring back these victims of bullying. The energy, time and resources spent hating Ravi and Wei will, simply put, come to nothing.

And, as many have already discovered, we are in a position to channel our grief and anger into preventing the loss of any more lives.

Rather than vilifying the bullies, it is important to consider who created them.

Teasing starts young, and classmates like those of another victim, 13-year-old Asher Brown, who committed suicide after being bullied, learned their behavior somewhere.

It is important to consider the role adults play in shaping children’s views of others. We must consider the impact of the offhand joke made by a parent, the comment from a teacher that reinforces a stereotype or even the legalized discrimination against LGBTI people in the military.

These behaviors cannot be tolerated. If we don’t take casual homophobia seriously, people like Ravi and Wei won’t understand the severity of their actions. If Mom laughs when Dad calls his coworker a “fairy,” their child might not understand that that word, but when repeated on a playground or a Facebook page, it may drive a person to commit suicide. And it doesn’t necessarily matter if there is hatred behind these words.

Having gay friends and watching “Will & Grace” doesn’t mean you’re allowed to make homophobic jokes. Your behavior justifies the same in others.

Instead of focusing our energy on hating the bullies, we can look at what we can do in our own lives to stop creating them. And, while we’re at it, the time spent ranting about Ravi and Wei can be devoted to reforming federal anti-bullying programs to include sexual orientation and gender expression.

Or supporting organizations like the Trevor Project, which provides resources for suicidal teens or Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project, which was created in late September and specifically targets LGBTI youth. Or any of the growing number of groups devoted to preventing suicide, homophobia and bullying of all kinds.

We’ll get further by treating the cause of bullying, not punishing children for displaying the symptoms.

Porter College has changed considerably due to the addition of 479 transfer students. Photo by Molly Solomon.

After years of debating the idea, administrators finally decided to house transfer students in one location.

Transfer students expressed enthusiasm about residing in a community with fellow students new to UCSC.

“[As a transfer] you’re around the same maturity level … you all went through the same things so you’re already in the same wavelength,” said Cheska Bacaltos, third-year Porter transfer.

A common remark among transfers was that instead of coming to UC Santa Cruz undecided about a major, they are already thinking ahead to graduate school and career options as they seek an academic network.

Out of the total 1,369 transfer students admitted to UCSC this fall, 42 percent live in university-sponsored housing, which includes Porter College, University Inn and University Town Center. Porter A houses 393 transfer students, and 86 live in Porter B.

“We had such a strong response for people wanting to be at Porter College,” said Michael Yamauchi-Gleason, college administrative officer (CAO) for Kresge and Porter colleges. “We actually have some transfer students at the other colleges too because we just couldn’t fit them in.”

Transfer students have been designated to live at Porter as opposed to their college of affiliation, as was done in previous years.

“It’s hard to say that [transfers] are actually affiliated with their home college [when] they just go to their advising,” said Alexis Grove, second-year Oakes student and Porter community assistant (CA).

Transfer students get much of their advising from their department because by the time they transfer they are already established in their major and well on their way to graduate, Yamauchi-Gleason said.

This year’s transfers are required to live in the dorms for at least one quarter. After that, upon request and depending on space availability, they may move to any other university-sponsored housing.

“It’s kind of weird,” said fourth-year Michael Giglio, Porter CA and Kresge student living in the dorms for the first time. “It’s like they really want them to have the dorm experience. However, I feel that it makes the transfer community an actual community for once. [It] gives them more of an identity.”

For some transfers, community building outweighs resource access. Their own peers have become their strongest resource while sharing new experiences.

“We have singing shower parties listening to Pandora Radio,” said third-year Bianca Bracamonte, Merrill transfer.

In the larger perspective, “it brings a more age-friendliness … in showing that since we have a transfer community, on-campus living isn’t all just about freshmen, 18 years old, fresh out of high school,” said third-year Porter CA Marc Atkinson.

The transfer community helps ease students’ transition to UCSC.

“They have made it so easy for us to see the opportunities available,” Bracamonte said.

In effect, the Services for Transfer and Re-entry Students has become more accessible. STARS now has a lounge area at Porter opened Monday through Friday from 3 to 5 p.m. and also offers workshops at Porter. Another resource is the College Academic Support Team (CAST) located at Kerr Hall. Yamauchi-Gleason said that administration will work with services by “doing ongoing surveys and focus groups.”

Structurally, everything is geared for transfer students to make the most out of their education at UCSC.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

The University of California Student Association (UCSA) is taking political competition to a whole new level for the upcoming Nov. 2 elections.

In mid-September, the organization decided to make the voter registration process a little more interesting by creating a UC- and CSU-wide competition to see which school’s volunteer team can register the most students on randomly chosen “competition days.”

Whichever school’s volunteer team has the most students registered on a chosen day, or within a range of days, wins a prize. With this competition, the UCSA hopes to spark political interest in Californian college students, and also get as many as possible to vote on Nov. 2.

“The competition was created to make sure we are doing our jobs,” said SUA organizing director Nestor Rivera. “It is a real test of our organization skill. Basically, if we’re doing our job right, we should win.”

Tactics to register voters include tabling in Quarry Plaza and going door-to-door at on-campus apartments.

On the first selected competition day, Sept. 21, UCSC did just that when it won with a total of 176 students registered. UC Santa Barbara won the second contest, this one spanning three consecutive competition days, Sept. 27 through Sept. 29, with a total of 530 newly registered students, while UCSC tailed behind them with a total of 420.

The UCSA competition, however, is merely a bonus to an already active UCSC voter registration campaign.

“We have registered above 1,000 students so far,” Rivera said, “but our ultimate goal is 4,000 before Oct. 18.”

As the Oct. 18 voter registration deadlines approach, many students may have to think for the first time about whether to register to vote in their hometown county or in Santa Cruz County.

Fourth-year Diane Le, chapter president of College Democrats of UCSC, offered some insight to yet-to-be registered students.

“It all depends where a student’s interests lie,” said Le, who is registered to vote in Santa Cruz County. “It is especially important for liberals that students get their vote out. If we can’t turn out the youth vote, Democrats can’t win.”

Le, a politics major, said her choice was easy after working on a campaign for city council member Neal Coonerty.

“I worked closely with Neal Coonerty on his campaign,” Le said. “Also, the club itself has very close ties to the democratic party in Santa Cruz and therefore a closer attachment to local issues.”

First-time voter first-year Mark McGowan registered to vote in his home county of Los Angeles. He said he is happy with his choice to vote via absentee ballot.

“Even though the issues I’ll be voting for may not affect me as a student, I’ll be able to vote on a lot of issues I cared about before I came to UCSC,” McGowan said. “I know I won’t be able to vote on local issues that may affect me more directly than state issues, but I’m more interested in state issues anyway, so I really don’t mind.”

Personal judgment plays as much of an important role in where a student registers as it does in whom a student votes for.

“Santa Cruz is a blue county, but the county a student comes from may be red,” Le said. “A student should register where they think their vote will count the most.”

For those students who have yet to register, registration forms can be dropped off in the mailbox on the top floor of the student union. If you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed about who and what to vote for Nov. 2, look for the Oct. 28 issue of City on a Hill Press for an easy-to-understand voter guide with information about the upcoming election.

Illustration by Ramille Baguio.

Sitting atop Tree Nine, 15 stories above the college grind, you really realize how lucky you are.

One hundred and fifty feet up the Douglas-fir, located beside College Nine, your eyes ride their way down the soft green sea of trees, finally landing within the sapphire blue of the Monterey Bay. Our campus built into a forest, perched above a bay, is almost unfathomable and easy to forget while running from one class to the next.

But this August, UC Santa Cruz Grounds Services cut the bottom branches off Tree Nine in an attempt to make the Douglas-fir unclimbable. As they destroyed the branches, the administration also destroyed a UCSC rite of passage, a shared experience that made one not just another UC student, but specifically a Banana Slug.

Tree Nine was the perfect climbing tree. All the way up the fir, the trunk is surrounded by sturdy, easily reachable branches.

Physically, almost anyone could climb the tree. It was only the mental challenge of being so far above the ground that made ascending Tree Nine difficult.

Making it to the top meant facing your fears, trusting yourself and taking a leap of faith. And the view from the peak, the experience of sitting above a vast forest, rewarded you tenfold.

On some campuses, freshmen pledge fraternities, shotgun cheap beers and run errands for seniors for initiation. At UCSC, we climbed a tree to become a part of the campus community.

We are a university of life-lovers who take time to enjoy beauty, and Tree Nine was a symbol of that way of life. But due to the administration’s alleged fear of liability, the Tree Nine experience has been stolen from the majority of the campus community.

Director of public information Jim Burns explained the administration’s rationale for cutting the branches.

“Unfortunately, people climbing in or swinging from campus trees can injure themselves,” Burns said in an e-mail to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. “Sometimes quite seriously.”

The administration’s fear is understandable. In our society, avoiding liability is king. Since Stella Liebeck was awarded $2.86 million from McDonald’s after she sued because her coffee was too hot, every large institution has done any and everything to protect itself from frivolous suits.

But the decision to trim the lower branches of Tree Nine was a mistake for two reasons.

Firstly, putting a sign that clearly and visibly defined the risk of climbing a 150-foot Douglas-fir could have protected the university without denying access to a majestic feature of the campus.

Secondly and more importantly, cutting off the Tree Nine’s lower branches will not stop people from climbing — it will only make each climb more difficult.

Students will find a way up Tree Nine, because the experience is too deeply ingrained in campus life for a 20-foot gap to halt climbing. Whether by rope or some other means, students will make it past the missing branches in order to reach the canopy.

And as time passes, Tree Nine will become a part of campus lore, beckoning risk-takers to the fir’s evasive peak. If anything, the trimming of the branches made a once easily climbable tree into a dangerous venture that will attract those looking for danger.

However, the decision to cut the branches will succeed in one thing. It will take a part of the campus that was accessible to almost all students, and make it ascendable only to a limited few. The view from the top will always be as beautiful and should have always been a place where UCSC students could connect to their campus, their city and the nature around them.

Now, because of the university’s actions, access to the awe-inspiring Douglas-fir, 150 feet above the stress of lectures, midterms and late-night study sessions, will be limited to only some adventure-seekers.

And what was once a mental challenge has become a real physical risk.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

Given the choice between helping homeless people and appeasing a few riled parishioners, what would Jesus do?

That’s the question the story of Rev. Joel P. Miller brings to mind. Miller, a minister at Calvary Episcopal Church, is being shunned all around for trying to lend a helping hand. Miller’s church should view him and his actions as exemplary, not problematic.

In June 2008, Miller, head reverend of Calvary, initiated Coffee House Ministry. Along with some local homeless activists, Miller led this Monday night philanthropy tradition, in which the church welcomed homeless people for coffee and dinner. As many as 150 people would show up on any given night.

However, some churchgoers grew irritated with the attention Miller was devoting to homeless issues, as well as the way the church was transforming into a haven for the homeless.

The anger escalated on June 11, last year when an argument between a parishioner and a homeless man allegedly ended in the man shaking the woman by her shoulders and yelling. Miller was then charged with “conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy” by the Episcopalian Church, a serious charge that could result in the clergyman’s suspension or even defrocking.

Although violence should never be tolerated at a church or anywhere else, it is a mistake to let one altercation define all of Miller’s efforts.

Incidents happen, and the police arrived quickly to diffuse the situation. One man’s mistake should not overshadow the world of good Miller did by opening his church and its resources to Santa Cruz’s homeless community.

The problems facing homeless people in Santa Cruz have been well documented in City on a Hill Press — there’s even an article in this issue about the sleeping ban.

The city does not have enough shelters and kitchens for everybody.

Providing a space for people to safely congregate is a great help — and exactly the sort of thing Christians are supposed to do.

In his Sermon on the Mount in the Bible, Jesus says, “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:42).

Instead of being hardhearted and tightfisted, the Episcopalian higher clergy, Calvary Episcopal Church parishioners, and the Santa Cruz community in general should be grateful towards Miller.

He should be gaining new members for his church, not losing them.

We stand in support of Joel Miller and hope the threat of being defrocked does not deter him from continuing to help the homeless, one of Santa Cruz’s most vulnerable communities.

(from left to right)

“Henry VIII, when you are young, be a player, when you’re a king, give it a rest.”
Rachel Hauptfeld
Third-year, Cowell
Art

“Don Quixote. I would say, ‘Stop thinking windmills are monsters. I need to put you in your place.’”
Amanda Jauregui
Fourth-year, College Ten
History

“Dave Chapelle. Why [did he go to] Africa? I wanted a third season.”
Forbes Rossbacher
Third-year, Cowell
Pre-psychology

“Helen Keller. She is one of the few people I would have a chance against.”
Sophie Baker
Second-year, Porter
Art

Compiled by Bela Messex & Andrew Allio