Santa Cruz judge indicates support for tree-sit injunction

[Luis]

Santa Cruz judge indicates support for tree-sit injunction
By J. M Brown
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Article Launched: 03/06/2008 01:37:12 PM PST

A Santa Cruz judge signaled this morning that he is likely to issue a
preliminary injunction against tree-sitters who are entrenched 70 feet
in four redwood perches on the UC Santa Cruz campus, but suggested he
may throw out the university's claims against at least two defendants.

Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Paul P. Burdick said he was
inclined to grant the university's request to end the 17-week
demonstration, but said he was concerned about the breadth of the
order and wouldn't make a final ruling until Friday or Monday. Burdick
made the remarks even before hearing arguments from UCSC or defendants
who say the university is violating their free-speech right to protest
campus expansion plans.

In December, the UC Regents sued a professor, a student and seven
others who are not accused of actually climbing into the trees, saying
their support of the protest has contributed to an ongoing safety
hazard that violates camping rules. The university also is asking the
judge to make it illegal for anyone to deliver food or other supplies
to demonstrators, saying people who participated in a now-abandoned
parking lot encampment under the trees are guilty of "aiding and
abetting."

Over objections from the university, Burdick said he believed UCSC had
overreached by drawing into the lawsuit the tree-sitters' spokeswoman
and a Berkeley man who visited the site several times but did not
deliver food. However, the judge denied requests from several other
defendants
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who has asked that the university's case be dismissed because it
sought merely to stifle political speech.

Four of the defendants appeared this morning represented by lawyers,
and three other attorneys argued on behalf of those who were not
present. Two defendants were not represented in court and have not
opposed the suit.

The university's outside attorney, Rebecca Connolly, declined to
immediately comment on the judge's tentative, although mixed, ruling.
UCSC spokesman Jim Burns, who attended the proceedings along with the
campus police chief and other officials, did not immediately comment.

The university has argued the protest disrupts education, endangers
the tree sitters and pedestrians, and creates an unsanitary
environment. The university alleges tree sitters and supporters have
left human waste and garbage at the site, including inside a restroom
of an adjacent science building the university has since placed under
tight security.

UCSC police have arrested several people, including physics professor
Zack Schlesinger, for delivering food or other supplies to the site,
but have not made any arrests since the leader of the faculty senate
and other professors publicly came out in opposition to arresting
university employees.

Capitola attorney John P. Hannon II, who represents student Cruz A.
Molina, argued this morning that the university's lawsuit is designed
to intimidate supporters of the tree sitters because UCSC authorities
cannot physically remove or even identify the people who are actually
perched in the trees. Calling the issue the "pink elephant in the
room," Hannon said, "What's happened as a result of that is that First
Amendment rights are being trampled."

Hannon said the university has brought student disciplinary charges
against the 18-year-old Molina, but can't rule on dismissing him until
a hearing next week. The university has declined to discuss its
internal disciplinary measures, citing student confidentiality.