Editor’s Note: We refer to two students in this article as student “A” and “B” to protect their privacy and security.
The only traces left of the UC Santa Cruz Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) encampment are faint lines of paint on the asphalt in the Quarry Plaza.
The encampment was an intentional disruption to the daily buzz of students on their way to class or for a coffee at Ivéta. It called attention to the genocide in Palestine and demanded for the UC’s divestment of funds contributing to the war on Gaza. Once a thriving community of resistance, is now merely a walkway.
It’s been almost a year since law enforcement officers raided the encampment, effectively ending the month-long protest.
“[The crackdown on encampments] was a worldwide moment of trauma,” student A said. “We’re witnessing people of our same bodies being ridiculed, being policed, being brutalized at the hands of the state, but also at the hands of our very own institutions that promised to protect us.”
Many students, in fear of legal or academic consequences, are hesitant to step forward with their stories. Their deep concern stems from increased repression from not only the federal administration, but also the UC administration.
“Censorship is very much alive at UCSC,” said student B, an anonymous member of SJP. “It’s scary but we’ve got each other’s back.”
The SJP member’s sentiments are not unique. Students across a plethora of campus organizations share similar thoughts.
“It’s scary … it’s a trying time for sure, but a bunch of movements in the past have started with students. I believe we’ve been in this space before,” said Ben Diaz, the outreach and program coordinator for the UCSC Student Union Assembly (SUA) office of the president, Cowell senate vice chair and MEChA core member.
UC Santa Cruz has a long history of crucial, student-led movements, including the Free Speech Movement of 1964, Anti-Vietnam War protests of the 1960s to the 1970s, or the more recent, March for Our Lives protests of 2018. In every movement, student organizing played a pivotal role in pressuring administrative bodies to acquiesce to the public’s demands.
Diaz is currently an active member of the SUA and is running for SUA vice president of external affairs for the upcoming 2025-26 school year. His hopes and concerns are reflected by his predecessors, who worry for the well-being of UCSC’s student body.
“I’m scared for my community. I’m scared of losing people in my life. I’m scared of what I say, what I do, what I look up — all of that,” said Nareh Hamo, the current SUA vice president of internal affairs.
Hamo frequently communicates with student body representatives, student constituents and the UCSC administrative board about UCSC’s budget deficit, student resources constitutional by-laws and more. Her concerns speak to the severity of the repression of free speech on university campuses nationwide.
UCSC professors and faculty echo many of Hamo’s thoughts. While some faculty avoid initiating pertinent political discussions inside and outside the classroom, others believe it is a necessary uncomfortability.
“What must be preserved is academic freedom … where space exists for you to concede, qualify, or rebut naysayers, in turn,” wrote professor Derede L. Arthur, senior lecturer of the writing program of UCSC, in an email to City on a Hill Press.
Arthur, like other UCSC professors and faculty, is shaken by the increasing cases of visa revocations throughout the UC system and beyond. At the same time, she recognizes the importance of opening channels of discourse for all voices, regardless of their political beliefs.
“These are not normal times. I personally think faculty should be talking about this with their students,” Arthur said. “The university needs to be very, very transparent about what it’s doing to support these students … there needs to be clear channels of communication.”
In recent weeks, international students within the UC system, along with numerous universities across the country, have been detained by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on various charges or had their visas revoked. Many sources have speculated these charges are a direct result of their involvement with pro-Palestinian student activism including protests, rallies or student journalism.
“This crackdown is highly racialized and I wish that there was some acknowledgment for that,” said Dr. Jennifer Mogannam, an assistant professor of the critical race and ethnic studies department. Dr. Mogannam’s area of research expertise, as well as the primary topic of her courses, pays homage to her heritage. It focuses on Palestinian history and current events in the context of the Palestinian diaspora.
“While the UCs and the UC president have been putting out acknowledgements for what students are facing, they have not yet acknowledged the linkages [of the visa revocations and student arrests] to the question of Palestine and I think that needs to happen,” Dr. Mogannam said.
In a recent letter to the UCSC campus community, Chancellor Larive recognized recent federal immigration actions, acknowledging that they “may cause fear and grave concern” for the campus community. The letter also included links to legal resources.
Many believe the UCSC administration has not sufficiently responded to student and faculty unease under the current federal administration. As demonstrated in the most recent nationwide ‘Hands Off!’ rally, people fear that academic and constitutional freedoms are at-risk. This includes the ability to safely organize and express political concerns on campus.
“Organizing has been under attack for a long time but that attack has become more blatant as the goals and agenda of this administration become clearer,” said Alex Santiago, a student organizing intern for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3299. Santiago also works alongside the Worker Student Solidarity Coalition.
“[I wish I could] see [the UC administration] do something with the billions of dollars that they sit on and maybe they will,” Santiago continued. “The likelihood is that they won’t, but we can still keep organizing.”
In the face of student and faculty collective distrust in administrative leadership, the creation and collaboration of student spaces is more integral than ever in forging pathways towards change.
These avenues, in turn, allow for organizations, new and old, to unify and safely partake in community discussions.
“If no single administrator is willing to stand up for students, then I have to,” Hamo said. “We have to stand up for ourselves. No one else is going to provide that protection [or] that assurance … No one else is going to provide that, at this point, other than our communities themselves.”
