COVERING ALL THE BASES
[ 5 other ucsb-related campaigns you should know about ]

The DisOrientation Guide covers a lot of UCSB student campaigns in quite a bit of detail, but there are also a lot of really righteous campaigns we didn’t get to cover in much depth this year. In an effort to make up for this lack of depth, we’ll at least attempt to be comprehensive. Below is a list of five other current UCSB-connected campaigns for change.

1. Military Counter-Recruitment: Military recruiters are notorious for lying and/or severely exaggerating the opportunities available through military service. In fact, it’s virtually part of their job description. These recruiters have monthly “recruitment” quotas to fulfill, and naturally, they’re willing to say just about anything to convince you to be a statistic they can report back to their bosses.

An important element that makes military recruitment unjust: The recruiters disproportionately target the most economically vulnerable citizens with their sales pitches, which in turn means a disproportionate number of socio-economically disadvantages people of color are joining the military and being killed overseas.

The counter-recruitment movement has been particularly strong at college campuses, where demonstrations against military recruitment and draft registration have a very rich history. UCSB students and faculty have increasingly become a part of the trend. Last May, about 20 students stormed Cheadle Hall and strongly urged Chancellor Yang to support a ban on military recruiters on campus. Later that month, the Student Commission on Racial Equality (SCORE) dedicated its seventh annual “Facing Race” conference to the theme “Demilitarizing Our Minds and Communities,” with a series of workshops and speakers on counter-recruitment being one of the main highlights.

As students at campuses nationwide work to create a ban on military recruiters at their campus, UCSB may soon become one of the first universities to do so: In January, Professor Emeritus of sociology Thomas Scheff drafted a proposal to the Academic Senate proposing a ban on military recruiters on campus. The proposal has been co-signed by 17 other faculty members, and it will likely be put to a final vote this fall. In the meantime, students will be working to create the critical mass necessary to influence the Academic Senate decision. For more information, check out the article on SCORE on page 26.

www.youthandthemilitary.org
www.counterrecruiter.net
www.wagingpeace.org/youth

2. Divest from Israel: For the past several years, UC students have been building a campaign that stands on the shoulders of the historic South African Divestment campaign of the ‘70s and ‘80s. The Israeli occupation of Palestine represents a global injustice, but also one that UC students have the ability to significantly impact. The UC Regents bolster the occupation through over $3.5 billion in investments in companies with operations in Israel. General Electric, for example, has strong ties to the Israeli military and receives an average of $650 million from the Regents per year. Students and faculty across the US, including at the UC, have drafted petitions and staged protests to convince their university directorates to divest their holdings from these companies.

www.ucdivest.org

3. Divest from Sudan: The UC’s endowment currently includes $133 million in investments in companies operating in Sudan. These investments enable the Sudanese dictatorship to purchase weapons and continue a military campaign that Congress and the State Department call genocide.

http://www.iabolish.com/campaigns/campaign.php?id=uc
www.sudanactivism.com
www.divestsudan.org

4. Anti-Sweatshop: The labor rights organization United Students Against Sweatshops (www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org) was formed in 1998, the same year the student led anti-sweatshop movement got its start at Duke University. Today, trademark licensing codes of conduct which ensure retail items with a university logo are produced without violating human rights have become common practice—all thanks to protests, sit-ins and teach-ins on campuses nationwide, including our own. UCSB removed sweatshop items from its bookstores after students and professors like Rich Appelbaum (known internationally for studying and fighting injustice behind the label) lobbied the UC to pass its own code of conduct in 2000.

www.nosweatapparel.com
www.americanapparel.com
www.gxonlinestore.org

5. Stop Killer Coke: Another campaign spearheaded by United Students Against Sweatshops. Coca-Cola’s been in hot water for its reckless corporate practices, to say the least—it’s been charged violent union busting in Turkey, and implicated in the torture, kidnapping, and murder of union organizers at Coke bottling plants in Columbia.

If your outrage has you thirsty, unfortunately, you won’t find many alternatives to Coke products at UCSB—the soda giant has got a monopoly on what you drink on campus.

That’s why the UCSB Student Lobby Labor Coalition, in partnership with other UCs and universities across the country are pressuring schools to investigate and reconsider doing business with Coke. We comprise a key marketing demographic for the company, and as students, again find we have unique leverage to push the powerful to change.

www.killercoke.org