Petition to expel 6 UCSC protesters gets 3,000 signatures

A petition to expel the six UC Santa Cruz students who stopped traffic on Highway 1 Tuesday now has more than 3,000 signatures, mostly from frustrated residents living near the campus.

“The community needs to take a stand. When people think they can do something like this, abuse us, terrorize us, were not going to put up with it,” said petition supporter Analicia Cube.

The petition states that the six students should be expelled because they put the community in danger while protesting over tuition hikes.

But not everyone agrees. Alocal educator sent out a letter in support of the protesters. It reads, “It’s a broken, awful system from head to toe: Offering dreams of class mobility and careers, but really just milking students at all levels… I appreciate that you made me late to work yesterday. Thank you, please keep going.”

“It might be an inconvenience to them that thereare protesters on the roadway but that is nothing next to the inconvenience to our future, to live in utter debt,” said Barucha Peller, media liason for the protesters.

According to friends of the six students taken into custody, the university has already taken action.

“They have been suspended for two weeks, which is absolutely outrageous because it’s the last two weeks of our quarter,” said Peller.

UCSC officials will not comment on the alleged suspensions. In the meantime, community members will continue to push for expulsion.

“We had over 3,000 signatures in 24 hours. That’s how this community feels,” said Cube.