{"id":2367,"date":"2011-03-31T11:31:38","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T17:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lavozlit.com\/?p=2367"},"modified":"2011-03-31T11:31:38","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T17:31:38","slug":"an-open-letter-to-the-peralta-administration-regarding-the-events-of-march-2nd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/2011\/03\/31\/an-open-letter-to-the-peralta-administration-regarding-the-events-of-march-2nd\/","title":{"rendered":"Queers FightBack Protest Repression!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oakland, March 23rd, 2011<\/strong>
\nAN OPEN LETTER TO THE PERALTA ADMINISTRATION REGARDING THE EVENTS OF MARCH 2nd<\/strong>
\nTo Peralta Community College District Chancellor Wise E. Alan:<\/strong>
\nTo Laney College President El\u00f1ora Tena Webb:<\/strong>
\nWe, the undersigned organizations, are writing to express our concern over the role of the Peralta administration and\u00a0campus officials in the repression of student protest on March 2nd and their ongoing role in the criminal prosecution of key\u00a0activists.
\nWe would like to begin by highlighting the responsibility of the administration of any public educational institution to\u00a0militantly protect and defend academic freedom as a core institutional value. The right to dissent and protest is a\u00a0cornerstone of academic freedom, in addition to being a fundamental constitutional and legal right.
\nIn light of this responsibility, the actions the administration has taken against student protestors appear to be deeply and\u00a0profoundly at odds with the political and educational values that they, as administrators, are committed to uphold.
\nDuring the March 2nd protests against budget cuts to public education, we would like to point out the ways in which a few\u00a0key decisions made by the Peralta administration served to escalate, rather than deescalate the situation, and set the\u00a0stage for violent police repression against protestors. In the process, we hope to present a counter-narrative at variance\u00a0with the one of the administration that will document many of its inaccuracies and distortions and that will demonstrate the\u00a0role of the administration in these events. We demand that the administration be held accountable for its policies towards\u00a0its own student body.
\nThe first of these were their decisions regarding the planned march on the Peralta district office. Instead of being present\u00a0to meet with students, faculty, and staff who had gathered there, they chose to meet protestors with a, for unexplained\u00a0reasons during a normal working day, locked building surrounded by Alameda County Sheriffs. The Sheriffs repeatedly\u00a0complained that they were unable to contact or locate campus officials during this time, despite repeated calls. This\u00a0decision set the stage for an escalation of the situation. Further, it drastically undermining the faith of protestors in the
\nadministration’s good will.
\nWhat ensued was a tense confrontation between protestors expecting to meet with the Chancellor and Sheriffs charged\u00a0by the administration with subduing the anger of the crowd. In the time it took for Chancellor Allen and Laney President\u00a0Webb to show up, the administration left it completely up to the police to decide how to deal with the gathered Peralta\u00a0students. The Sheriffs used this opportunity to physically and verbally intimidate protestors with threats of arrest not linked\u00a0to any actual infractions and with attempted seizures of their banners. Also, at least one protestor was physically\u00a0assaulted by a campus official.
\nThe second was the administration’s decision, under the direct supervision of Chancellor Allen and Laney President\u00a0Webb, to allow Alameda County Sheriffs to suddenly and violently tackle, arrest and detain one student, Jesse, a\u00a0gender-queer student activist who had just spoken at the rally about the insensitivity of the administration to the safety\u00a0concerns of trans-gendered students, on absurd charges of \u201cinciting a riot\u201d. This arrest was immediately followed by a\u00a0police assault of another queer activist, who had been in the middle of addressing said administrators and presenting\u00a0them with hundreds of petitions regarding the climate of harassment of queer students on campus and the insensitivity\u00a0and inaction of the administration. All of this happened in the midst of the crowd of assembled students, faculty and staff,\u00a0creating a highly dangerous and unstable situation where police aggression left many feeling panicked and unsafe.
\nIt is important to also point out that, while still in the Peralta District building in the custody of the Alameda Sheriffs, the\u00a0arrested student’s head was slammed against a wall causing their glasses to break by Deputy Sheriff J. Calegari. After\u00a0this, the student had to be taken by the Sheriffs to Highland hospital because the nurse at the jail required the police to\u00a0provide medical attention due to a possible fractured wrist. Chancellor Allen and President Webb were present in the\u00a0building during this assault.
\nThe Chancellor’s and the Laney College President’s presence and inaction at the time of this arrest and assault makes
\nthem complicit in this crime. They share responsibility for the shield of impunity that allows the Alameda Sheriffs to
\nrepress student protesters with no consequences or even investigation.
\nJesse was detained at Santa Rita Jail for 3 days following the arrest, during which time they were unable to\u00a0attend class. It has since become clear that both Chancellor Allen and President Webb are key figures in the criminal
\nprosecution of said student (once again, on the charge of \u201cinciting a riot\u201d!). \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 And campus officials even aided the Sheriffs in\u00a0issuing a stay-away order banning the student from entering any Peralta property to attend class, putting them at risk of\u00a0academic failure. The stay-away order was finally lifted after it was determined that the allegations against the student\u00a0were not consistent with eyewitness statements.
\nThe role of the administration outlined above in criminalizing and repressing students is indefensible. The events of the\u00a0last week raise serious questions about the capacity of an administration that seeks to inflict political retaliation against\u00a0students to fulfill its academic and professional mandate to protect academic freedom and the rights and safety of the\u00a0campus community.
\nWe call on the administration to immediately cease all proceedings against students involved in protest actions\u00a0and to drop the charges against student protestors.
\nFurther, we call on the administration to take action to immediately investigate, make public their findings, and\u00a0bring to justice the police involved in this repression. We are demanding the investigation and dismissal of\u00a0Sheriff J. Calegari for the physical violence he inflicted on Jesse.
\nLastly, we would like to list here again the demands of Queers Fighting Back, which were being read from\u00a0hundreds of signed petitions to Chancellor Allen and President Webb at the time of the arrest. We insist that the\u00a0Peralta administration take all necessary measures to ensure that these are met as soon as possible:
\n– Gender Neutral Bathrooms where students will be safe to pee without facing harassment regardless of their\u00a0gender identity.
\n– The immediate development of Mandatory Training Workshops for the campus administration, faculty, and\u00a0staff about the needs and realities of Queer students on campus and how to communicate with and protect
\nthe interests of this community.
\n– The Restoration of the critical Student Services and Academic Programs, including health services, that the\u00a0administration is cutting to generate revenue for their budgetary deficit. These programs and services are\u00a0essential for education at Laney College to remain accessible for its most vulnerable communities for whom\u00a0these programs are a lifeline, including the Queer community.
\n<\/strong>
\nSigning Organizations:<\/strong>
\nLaney College Student Unity & Power<\/strong>
\nQueers Fighting Back \u2013 Laney Queer College<\/strong>
\nLa Voz de los Trabajadores (Liga Internacional de los Trabajadores \u2013 Cuarta Internacional)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oakland, March 23rd, 2011 AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PERALTA ADMINISTRATION REGARDING THE EVENTS OF MARCH 2nd To Peralta Community College District Chancellor Wise E. Alan: To Laney College President El\u00f1ora Tena Webb: We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to express our concern over the role of the Peralta administration and\u00a0campus officials in the repression […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13882120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[27832],"tags":[28029,28030,27843,27734,28031],"class_list":["post-2367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-litla-voz-declaracionesstatements","tag-alameda-county-sheriffs","tag-alameda-sheriffs","tag-la-voz","tag-lgbtqi","tag-mandatory-training-workshops"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"es","enabled_languages":["en","es"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdQxqk-Cb","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13882120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}