Whereas, the University of California, Irvine promotes the general welfare of the campus community within the framework of the UC Irvine values of respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation, and fun, and;

Whereas, one of the UC Irvine values states that, “we appreciate different opinions and points of view”, and;

Whereas, students have the liberty to utilize their first amendment right of freedom of speech and expression, and;

Whereas, UCI administration is attempting to quell student activism and student labor activism, and;

Whereas, for over 20 months, students have fought in solidarity with the labor union of AFSCME 3299 for a fair contract with safe staffing and living wages, and;

Whereas, Lisa Lei a student activist and former ASUCI Social Science Council Member has dedicated her college experience to making UC Irvine a better campus through political involvement, and;

Whereas, the UC Irvine administration have wrongfully targeted concerned student Lisa Lei for participating in political action with AFSCME 3299, and;

Whereas, on February 5th, the UCI Office of Student Conduct notified Lisa Lei of the following charges,

“Failure to Comply” in connection with an action to support workers at the UCI Medical Center on October 30th , and “Failure to Comply” as well as “Physical Abuse” in connection with a campus march of students and workers on November 20th, the day of the AFSCME 3299 strike.

Whereas, Lisa Lei and other student labor organizers had delivered Halloween candy and Thank You cards to the workers on October 30th at the UCI Medical Center, and;

Whereas, Lisa Lei, student labor organizers, and students, rallied along with workers at Mesa Commons during the strike, and;

Whereas, the AFSCME 3299 and UAW 2865 worker’s contract have not been settled, and;

Whereas, ASUCI opposes the criminalization of peaceful student protesters, and;

Whereas, ASUCI commits to protect the rights of students and their rights to express an opinion, political or otherwise, even though these opinions may be controversial, and;

Whereas, students were freely exercising their right to protests on a public university Campus, and;

Whereas, students reserve their right to peacefully advocate for their belief and should have a safe place on a public campus to do so, and;

Whereas, UCI Administration is using tactics of threat to silence student voices and hinder student activism, and;

Whereas, these misconduct charges unfairly targets student and worker solidarity organizing, and;

Whereas, tactics of threat and intimidation breeds an unhealthy relationship between students, police, and administration, and;

Whereas, UCI has an unfortunate history of criminalizing student activists such as the Irvine 11 group and the Irvine 19 group, and;

Whereas, the criminalization of Lisa Lei serves as another attempt to silence student activism and voice, further widening the mistrust between students, administration and police, and;

Whereas, silencing the voice of dissent is a hegemonic tool that agent groups use to suppress challenges against their power, and leads to the further denigration of targeted groups that suffer from this power, and;

Let it be resolved, that ASUCI condemns the Student misconduct disciplines of Lisa Lei, and;

Let it further be resolved, ASUCI demands the UCI Office of Student Conduct to drop the aforementioned charges against Lisa Lei, and;

Let it further be resolved, ASUCI demands Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Thomas Parham facilitate the dropping of the Student Conduct charges, and;

Let it further be resolved, ASUCI challenges all UC Irvine administrators to make UCI a safe and welcoming campus for student activism, and stop the use of threats of police charges onto student activists, and;

Let it finally be resolved, that ASUCI stands in full support of Lisa Lei, and student activism in the form of protests, rallies, strikes, sit-ins, teach-ins, walk outs and similar actions.

References:

1. http://studentaffairs.uci.edu/mission.php

2. http://www.newuniversity.org/2013/11/news/afscme-3299-strikes-on-campus/

3. http://www.afscme3299.org/2014/02/14/afscme-3299-members-authorize-strike-and-sympathy-strike-at-uc-with-96-support/

4. http://www.uaw2865.org/?p=7543