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KCSB News Team and Reporters travelled to Downtown Santa Barbara to report on the 10 days of the 41st annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Check out the collection of Celebrity Interviews below.

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Google has been using news content without compensating the news organizations that produce it. An agreement in 2024 with the State of California would have addressed this, but now Google and Governor Newsom may subvert it altogether. KCSB’s Ray Briare brings us the report.

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The Associated Students EVPLA Office spearheaded extensive efforts to “Save Deltopia”, including hosting Townhalls and info sessions. Now, almost halfway through the academic school year, KCSB’s Tatiana Jacquez sat down with Associated Student External Vice President for Local Affairs, EJ Raad, to see what’s to come for Isla Vista residents.

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Community members gathered at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation 135 years after one of the deadliest attacks on Indigenous people by the U.S government. Here is KCSB’s Omar Opeyany with the story.

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From education to healthcare to federal funding, California’s 51 lawsuits against the Trump administration bring a deeper conversation over limits of presidential power in the United States. KCSB’s Ruby Rai goes over California’s lawsuits against the Trump administration, and highlights a few major ongoing cases.

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Isla Vista is facing a spring season without Deltopia. Following the new noise ordinance, the Isla Vista Community Services District held a town hall Tuesday, January 20th, to unveil a community-led festival aimed at keeping the music and party alive while meeting strict county requirements and deadlines. KCSB’s Hunter Maher attended the IVCSD meeting to learn more.

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Our KCSB News Department has been hard at work covering all of the recent protests surrounding ICE and immigration laws. Check them out and listen to the stories down below.

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The union representing the folks who produce newscasts for local TV are asking for support from the community in their effort to raise pay, improve working conditions, and protect local journalism. KCSB’s Ray Briare brings us the story.

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The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors met in mid-January to consider a proposed Outdoor Festivals Noise Ordinance to further restrictions on amplified music, specifically during UCSB’s Deltopia weekend. In a unanimous vote, the Supervisors approved the new noise ordinance as amended by the Sheriff’s Department. What led to this decision? KCSB’s Tatiana Jacquez attended the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting to learn more.

The post The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors Vote to End IV’s Annual Weekend-Long Party, Deltopia appeared first on KCSB-FM.

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Gavin Newsom has always branded California as a global leader in the fight against climate change, but a series of recent oil spills and new legislation are raising questions about the state’s environmental priorities. KCSB’s Hunter Maher brings us this report.

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The AS Senate is a group of elected student representatives which serves as the policy-making body of Associated Students. Every Wednesday at 6:30 PM, the AS Senate convenes to pass bills and resolutions, hear reports from Boards, Committees/Commissions, and Units (BCUs), and hold public forum.

KCSB’s Joyce Chi summarizes their most recent meeting on June 4, 2025.

The Senate approves Kamaya Jackson’s appointment as co-chair of SCORE for this current term.

At their last meeting of the year, the Senate reviewed a litany of legislation. Much of it was referred to relevant Senate committees for further deliberation. Here’s some of what the Senate got up to:

- Approved winter and spring quarter honoraria for members of the Association. This includes Senators, chairs and officers of Boards, Commissions/Committees, and Units (BCUs), and student government staffers.
- Granted honoraria bonuses for members of BCUs recognized under the Outstanding BCU Award. UCIV won in the student wellbeing category, Investment Advisory Committee in professional and academic development, and the Isla Vista Tenants Union in representation of marginalized communities. The bonus comes from the Senate’s Undesignated account.
- Established formal support and funding for the Black Heritage Cultural Experience, a ten-day trip for Black students to visit historical sites in the South related to slavery and civil rights. The proposal was led by former Senator Alexa Butler, who introduced the proposal in the previous Senate term. The Senate approved $25,000 to fund the trip next year.
- Considered overhauling the confirmation process for BCU chairs. The proposed standing policy would require the Senate Liaison Committee to hold hearings on each student nominated for BCU chairship by the AS President, though the Internal Vice President could instead hold the hearing at a Senate meeting instead. The committee would then issue a written and “objective…opinion on the nominee’s suitability.” Before officially voting on the nominee, the Senate would “first conduct an unofficial, consultative vote,” and if this vote indicates the nominee wouldn’t be approved, the Senate has to table their appointment and promptly issue a statement why. (This proposal was referred to the Liaison Committee for further input from BCU chairs.)
- - Differing opinions on the policy emerged. Parliamentarian and former Senator Mingjun Zha supported the proposal: “We should trust each other…but we should also do our own due diligence…and that’s what the standing policy is about.” Former Commission on Student Wellbeing co-chair and current AS President Le Anh Metzger said the proposal was “wholly unnecessary,” since each BCU has their own nomination process outlined in the AS Legal Code. While she acknowledged the importance of a close relationship between BCUs and the Senate, “I do not believe this is the most effective way to accomplish this.”
- - This proposal was prompted by the contentious confirmations of Ephraim Shalunov as chair of the AS Jewish Commission and Kamaya Jackson as chair of the Student Commission on Racial Equity (SCORE); the Judicial Council previously ruled that the Senate improperly tailored the confirmation process for Shalunov and Jackson, violating their membership rights.
- - - - Speaking of Jackson’s SCORE appointment, the Senate finalized the necessary amendments to the minutes and agenda from the March 5 meeting to retroactively approve Jackson as co-chair of SCORE.
- Considered requiring Senators to upload their legislation to a standardized tracker. Senator Neo Harter, who brought the bill, explained the tracker would exist on Google Sheets and contain information like potential stakeholders, relevant dates, etc. Harter said the tracker was “advantageous for a plurality of reasons: principally, transparency.” (This bill was referred to the Liaison Committee.)
- Requested the Chancellor to cancel a duplicate lock-in fee. The fee in question is for IV Arts, which oversees programming like Word Magazine and Magic Lantern Films. The Senate sought to cancel IV Arts’ AS lock-in fee; they still have a separate one from the Campus Elections Commission.

You can see last week’s agenda here. Meetings are typically held each week at the Flying A Room of the University Center (Main Floor) throughout the quarter, aside from Week 10. You can also watch live and past meetings on the ASUCSB YouTube here.

Find all our previous KCSB News Senate Recaps here.

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This recap first appeared in the June 2 edition of the KCSB News Weekly Newsletter.

KCSB’s Joyce Chi summarizes their most recent meeting on May 28, 2025.

Former AS President Nayali Broadway swears in her successor, Le Anh Metzger.

The indefinite tabling of a BCU appointment was improper, the Judicial Council has ruled. Back in Winter Quarter, former AS President Nayali Broadway nominated Kamaya Jackson to be the co-Chair of the Student Commission on Racial Equity (SCORE). However, the Senate – which must confirm presidential appointees – ended up indefinitely tabling Jackson’s appointment after entering closed session discussions about her nomination.

Jackson is also currently the co-Chair of the Black Women’s Health Collaborative (BWHC).

The Council found that former Internal Vice President (IVP) Açúcar Pinto “used their position of authority…to interfere in the process.” According to the decision, Pinto sent an email in February where they cited “‘interpersonal conflicts’” among and conduct violations by BWHC leadership in their decision to “functionally suspen[d]” the group’s chairs and “take over” their responsibilities; former Student Advocate General (SAG) Alvin Wang later said the IVP does not have that suspension authority.

Reports of interpersonal conflict among BWHC leadership and eventually members first came to Pinto in January, they told us by text. That conflict, Pinto believed, “should’ve been resolved by the appropriate parties” including the SAG’s office. Also, they pointed out that BWHC’s advisor (AS Executive Director Marisela Marquez) was on medical leave and thus unable to “hold space for conflict resolution.” According to Pinto, the interpersonal conflicts got so severe that multiple BWHC members eventually resigned.

At the March 5 Senate meeting (which had stretched into the next day), the Senate indefinitely tabled Jackson’s appointment after entering a closed session. (Pinto previously told the Daily Nexus the closed sessions were to avoid “publicly slandering” Jackson.) The Council noted that because this motion was not noted in the minutes or streamed online, “it failed to meet the minimum standard for a Senate Meeting and is invalid.”

The confirmation process for Jackson’s SCORE appointment was uniquely “tailored” to her, which the Judicial Council ruled was a membership rights violation.

Financial disputes: As BWHC co-Chair, Jackson had commissioned a painting from Pinto and their artist collective memorializing for Office of Black Student Development Executive Director Elroy Pinks . But, disputes emerged over how much the artists would be paid. Jackson told the Judicial Council that she believed her appointment “was impacted by this disagreement with the IVP.”

Pinto clarified that the payment disagreement occurred after they first received reports of interpersonal conflict within BWHC. “The way the case was framed was irrelevant and derailed from the original intention,” Pinto wrote.

Now what? The Judicial Council instructed the Senate to amend the minutes and agenda from the March 5 meeting to add a motion to accept Jackson’s appointment. (And at last week’s meeting, the Senate began to do so, under the direction of former Senator and now-Attorney General Taylor Iden…though the meeting was adjourned a little after 1 AM after the minutetakers left.) Also, Pinto must issue “a publicly accessible apology” to “acknowledge the consequences of their actions.”

Chair’s note: In a statement separate from the decision, Judicial Council Chair Krishna Thaker stated that Pinto was not present at the hearing. Pinto said they did not attend “in order to protect my energy” and because they believed the case “would only be escalatory.”

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Elected officers had to be sworn in again, since now-President Metzger was sworn in by former External Vice President for Local Affairs Owen Meyers, and not her direct predecessor Nayali Broadway, who had not been present at the meeting.

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The Senate received reports from the following groups: Commission on Disability Equity, Take Back the Night, Trans and Queer Commission, Global Gaucho Commission, BWHC, SCORE, Pardall Center Governance Board, AS Food Bank, Food Bank Committee, Public and Mental Health Commission, Strategic Operations Office, and Lobby Corps.

They passed resolutions commending Marisela Marquez and former Senator (and current Parliamentarian) MingJun Zha.

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The actual final Senate meeting of the year will be held this Wednesday. According to an email sent by IVP Enri Lala, this special Week 10 meeting was approved as long as it doesn’t run “excessively late.”

Some pending agenda items:

Funding for the Black Heritage Cultural Experience, a ten-day trip for Black students to visit historical sites related to slavery and civil rights in the South (proposal and report)
- Former Senator Alexa Butler led this proposal: “We cried, and we laughed, and we learned…BHCE is a proven success. I am here proving that.”
Outstanding BCU Awards, which reward winning BCU members with an increase in honoraria
A new proposed standing policy, which overhauls and clarifies the appointment process for BCU chairs

Since this is our last newsletter of the year (), you can find our recap of this week’s meeting on our website (kcsb.org).

Find all our previous KCSB News Senate Recaps here.

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This recap first appeared in the May 26 edition of the KCSB News Weekly Newsletter.

KCSB’s Joyce Chi summarizes their most recent meeting on May 21, 2025.

The 76th Senate is sworn in.

A member of Judicial Council addressed conflict of interest allegations against her. The Daily Nexus’ Michelle Cisneros and Jack Dindia reported last week that Councilmember Josie Penix, who helped write the decisions against Senator Dan Siddiqui, sent a photo of now-President Le Anh Metzger’s campaign board to her sorority group chat. Siddiqui wrote by email that a sorority member informed him the photo was “interpreted as an indication of who Josie supports and who to vote for,” and that Penix allegedly did not send photos of other candidates’ boards.

In a statement posted to the Judicial Council website, Penix said she was “encouraging my sorority sisters to participate in the election” and emphasized she never explicitly stated her preference for any candidate. “These unfounded accusations are merely student politics at play,” Penix wrote. “I have absolutely no connection to Le Anh Metzger, and therefore no conflict of interest.”

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Last week’s meeting marked the end of the 75th Senate’s term. Much of the meeting was devoted to a closed session hearing about budget deliberations (specifically, campus organizations’ rollover requests). Also, you’ll recall that there was no meeting the previous week because of quorum wasn’t met (a fancy way of saying that not enough Senators showed up), forcing two weeks’ worth of agenda items to be addressed at one meeting.

All this meant that discussion of legislation and proposal at last week’s meeting was abridged, which Senator Taylor Iden called “improper.”

The Senate was able to pass legislation…

to boost their social media presence;
to encourage Senators and executive officers to create transition documents for their direct successors; and
to allow for flexibility in membership of Senate committees.

They also approved honoraria for Winter Quarter, but tabled the Outstanding BCU Award Report for Spring Quarter to the next Senate.

Time constraints forced the Senate to indefinitely table a proposal to secure funding for the Black Heritage Cultural Experience, a 10-day trip through the South for Black students to visit historical sites related to slavery and civil rights. The proposal was brought by Senator Alexa Butler, who called her experience with the trip “the most life-changing experience” she had at UCSB.

Butler expressed frustration that the Senate was not able to discuss and vote on the proposal, (though they passed related legislation), and that she had to make a decision to put the swearing in of the incoming Senate before Black students, which she said was “disrespectful.”

Butler’s discussion of anti-Blackness within the Senate prompted Internal Vice President Açúcar Pinto to raise similar concerns of institutional racism within AS and the Senate and of how Black queer students are treated.

In a phone call, Pinto explained that unnamed Senators called them “scary” and “aggressive” for attempting to enforce procedural rules for the Senate meetings. Pinto also said they’ve been criticized for not operating “under a system of strict professionalism, which is modeled after white supremacist systems” and which doesn’t allow people to “show emotion” or “to engage in certain types of discussion.”

In their final address, here’s what some members of the 75th Senate said:

Senator Paolo Brinderson told the room of incoming Senators and executive officers that “most of you were elected by the student body, while our new President was just elected by four members of the body – Judicial Council.”
- Judicial Council Chair Krishna Thaker “categorically den[ied]” the idea that they elected Metzger by disqualifying Siddiqui as part of their decision against him. In an email, Thaker said that the Council “had no control over…the Presidential election being uncontested.” She further wrote that their decision “is independent of this political reality,” and that “it would have been incorrect for the Judicial Council to consider this in our deliberations.”
Senator Dalia Gerson said that she entered the Senate “with an open mind” but faced anti-Semitic bullying and discrimination from other Senators and executive officers. Senator Jasmine Amin echoed this: “I cannot leave this Senate without calling [the anti-Semitism] out one more time.”
Senator Aryaman Singh encouraged incoming elected officials to get involved with ongoing efforts in Isla Vista to provide rent support and to establish emergency communication towers: “This association as a whole is a tool for you to help students. This year, we spent a lot – and we still are spending a lot – on interpersonal conflicts, which I regret us doing.”

You can see last week’s agendas here (75th Senate) and here (76th Senate). Meetings are typically held each week at the Flying A Room of the University Center (Main Floor) throughout the quarter, aside from Week 10. You can also watch live and past meetings on the ASUCSB YouTube here.

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This recap first appeared in the May 19 edition of the KCSB News Weekly Newsletter.

KCSB’s Joyce Chi summarizes their most recent meeting on May 14, 2025.

Boards promoting candidates and fee initiatives are coming down following the end of the election.

After weeks of delay, the Spring General Elections have finally concluded. The results were announced last Thursday in the Interactive Learning Pavilion. See simple and full results breakdowns on the Elections Board website.

Fee initiatives: All reaffirmations passed (including KCSB’s ), while nearly all fee increases failed (including KCSB’s ); only Food Bank’s passed.

Constitutional amendments: All three constitutional amendments passed. As a refresher, these allow for more flexibility in the Spring Election timeline in the event of things like religious holidays or natural disasters; greater student and Senate involvement in AS personnel decisions; and the return of political parties to AS elections.

Candidates: Click here for the list of your new Senators (featuring several returners). Below are the winners of the executive office positions (and a few words from them too).

President: Le Anh Metzger
- “I am extremely honored to have been elected AS President. I promise not to take this privilege for granted…I will make UCSB safer and more inclusive, and bridge the gaps…between AS and the student body. The work starts right now!”
Internal Vice President: Enri Lala
- “It truly is an honor to have been elected by thousands of fellow students…I believe this upcoming term will represent a new age for the Association’s relation with the student body.”
External Vice President for Local Affairs: EJ Raad
- “I’m incredibly grateful and excited to be serving as UCSB’s next External Vice President for Local Affairs…I’m ready to represent our entire student body and fight for us.”
External Vice President for Statewide Affairs: Leiya Kadah
- Kadah did not respond to our email requests.
Student Advocate General: Sydney Bivins
- “I’m very grateful to all of the Gauchos that voted for me and am excited to lead the Office of the Student Advocate next year!…Our office has established very strong professional relationships with various University offices and advocated for the student body on various fronts along the way…Thank you again for your trust and support, UCSB!”

Blast from the past: On Instagram, former AS President Tessa Veksler praised Metzger and Lala on their victories, calling them “two people…that I trust implicitly and who have always shown kindness and moral clarity.” (Lala said while he appreciated Veksler’s congratulations, “this will be a new term defined by new goals” like “housing, infrastructure, financial access.”)

We ended this election cycle the same way we started – with one presidential candidate on the ballot. The Spring General Election, which usually ends by Week 5, was extended several times because of low voter turnout and was initially halted due to Judicial Council decisions stemming from investigations brought by Attorney General Eric Carlson.

By the way, we asked Carlson his justification for bringing a case against Senator Dan Siddiqui – which eventually disqualified him from running for AS President – while later endorsing Metzger, Siddiqui’s presidential opponent.

He said that because of “over 500 pages of evidence,” it was “obvious” that the Council would rule against Siddiqui. He also said that the Judicial Council decision wasn’t guaranteed to be released before the election finished, so endorsing Metzger (whom he called “the right choice”) meant he could also “pursue justice…electorally.”

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We don’t really have much of an update for you on last week’s Senate meeting…because there was no meeting. Around thirty minutes after it started, the meeting was cancelled since not enough Senators showed up to meet quorum. An email vote over the weekend tabled agenda items until this week’s meeting.

Senator (and now, IVP-elect) Lala said that this upcoming meeting on Wednesday would be the last of the current 75th Senate’s term. At this last meeting, we expect the Senate to vote to dissolve itself to make way for the new cohort. Lala said that might take longer, though, since those tabled agenda items need to be addressed first, such as…

A High Impact Project Proposal seeking $25k to cover lodging for the Black Heritage Cultural Experience, a 10-day trip covering historic sites in the South related to slavery and civil rights.
Bills to codify legal code changes for Human Rights Board and Raíces de mi Tierra.
Legislation to boost Senate outreach (including on social media and through campus-wide emails) and to encourage elected officials to create “transition reports” (including “accomplishments,” projects, and “general advice”) for their direct successors.

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This recap first appeared in the May 13 edition of the KCSB News Weekly Newsletter.

KCSB’s Joyce Chi summarizes their most recent meeting on May 7, 2025.

The Senate approves funding for a program that will provide free Narcan in university-owned housing.

FYI: The Spring General Election has again been extended to this Thursday 5/15 at 4 PM. Cast your ballot at vote.as.ucsb.edu.

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UPDATE (5/13, 8:11 PM): The Elections Board released a statement confirming they were “obligated to facilitate the disqualification” of Siddiqui. His name will stay on the ballot, but votes for him won’t be counted; if an appeal of the decision is successful, then they’ll redo the vote tally to count votes for him.

A major election shakeup: The AS Judicial Council has disqualified Senator Dan Siddiqui from running for President and for any other executive office position in the future. The Judicial Council said they heard over 10 hours of testimony and deliberated for more than 20 hours before making their decision.

Siddiqui said he was working on appealing the decision, but declined to comment further. Attorney General Eric Carlson, whose office launched the membership rights violation cases, commended the Council for their work and thorough scrutiny.

In their decision, the Judicial Council cited a meeting between Siddiqui and a student who wanted to run for president too in which he convinced that student to drop their bid “in exchange for a cabinet position.”

Also, there’s the issue of that “repercussions” text. You’ll recall that when Senator MingJun Zha made a motion to essentially allow for more choice candidates in the election, he received a text from Siddiqui referring to “repercussions from what you’re doing.” Zha said he worried Siddiqui could threaten the Global Gaucho Commission, an international student advocacy group Zha’s heavily involved with. Siddiqui, for his part, has maintained that he was referring to repercussions on interpersonal relationships among Senators amid tensions related to an AS policy debate. As the Senate’s first president pro tempore, the Council said it was Siddiqui’s responsibility to facilitate debate and discussion, and his text in this case was “an inappropriate use of influence.”

Votes cast for Siddiqui must be excluded from the final tally, the Council instructed, leaving Le Anh Metzger as the only presidential candidate for now. Siddiqui is now barred from holding any executive office position at UCSB going forward, though he’s still eligible for an appointed or elected AS position.

Siddiqui has previously questioned the timing of the membership rights investigations, since all this came out during his campaign. In their decision, Chair Krishna Thaker maintained the Council has “no personal or political motive.” Carlson told us earlier before the most recent decision, “this is not a witch hunt. The evidence is there.”

Thaker also acknowledged that some of the membership rights violations involve other AS elected officials, but explained that only Siddiqui’s involvement was being addressed because the initial petition filed was solely against him. “This ruling does not indicate that any other individual implicated in the charges will not be held responsible,” Thaker wrote, “but instead that we have not yet received such a petition naming them.”

Other recommendations from the Judicial Council:

Whenever the Senate wants to suspend a Standing Policy going forward, whoever’s chairing the Senate should read out the entire Standing Policy for the record.
The Senate should amend Standing Policy 10, which bans candidates from proxying for Senators, to clarify that this ban is in place from when candidacy declarations open up until the election cycle ends.

The Senate had previously suspended Policy 10, while Policy 15 (conflict of interest) came into question when the Senate voted on allowing choice candidates past the declaration deadline.

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What the Senate passed:

Registered campus organizations (RCOs) may soon no longer have to first pay out of pocket for travel. A resolution by Senators Enri Lala and Dalia Gerson directs AS staffers to see what requirements are needed for RCOs to access travel sites and training. RCOs have to front the money for travel expenses before getting reimbursed, and this resolution would essentially cut that middle step out.
Non-lock-in fee BCUs would have to be reapproved every three years. A proposed constitutional amendment by Senators MingJun Zha and Carly Lankarani (for next spring!) will require new boards, committees/commissions, and units (BCUs) to first be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Senate. After their first year, they’d then go through a budget process; after three years, the Senate can reapprove this non-lock-in fee BCU for another three years in perpetuity. (All this, by the way, would not apply to BCUs that do have a lock-in fee.)
The Senate urged UCSB to honor the Armenian Genocide. Senators Noura Elkhatib, Leiya Kadah, and Nadine Malhis collaborated with students like Lilian Mkrtoumian of the Armenian Student Association to call on administrators to recognize April 24 as Armenian Genocide Remembranec Day and April as Armenian Heritage Month.
Funding has been secured for free Narcan in university-owned housing starting this fall. The Senate approved the transfer of $12,000 for the proposal and a related bill to codify its oversight as a responsibility for a position within the Public and Mental Health Commission. Read more about the project to bring opioid overdose reversal medication to student housing in last week’s Senate Recap.
The Senate declared support for the Black Heritage Cultural Experience, a 10 day-long trip for Black students to visit sites related to slavery, Jim Crow, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement. The resolution by Senators Alexa Butler and Eemaan Wahidullah calls on UCSB and AS administration to “commit to the long-term sustainability” of the program.

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What the Senate tabled for one week:

A bill to update Raices de mi Tierra’s legal code to make sure it’s compliant with AS legal code. The bill by Senators Butler and Alejandra Martinez makes edits like having a maximum of two chairs rather than the previous four. AS Chief Compliance Officer David Jr. Sim had previously outlined the compliance issues back in April.
An omnibus finance bill. One part of this legislation by Senators Taylor Iden and Zha requires the Senate to first sign off job listings before they’re sent to UCSB admin for approval. Another says that any group seeking project funding has to follow the funding guidelines under the High Impact Project Framework in legal code. The last change pushes the timeline back for reports and memorandums of understanding on student fee usage.

Access this week’s AS Senate agenda (which includes their bills and resolutions) using your student email here. You can see last week’s agenda here. Meetings are typically held each week at the Flying A Room of the University Center (Main Floor) throughout the quarter, aside from Week 10. You can also watch live and past meetings on the ASUCSB YouTube here.

Find all our previous Senate Recaps here.

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This recap first appeared in the May 5 edition of the KCSB News Weekly Newsletter.

KCSB’s Joyce Chi summarizes their most recent meeting on April 30, 2025.

Neo Harter and Ali Shahid present the results of a survey on Senate perception and the local student housing crisis.

It’s for real: the Spring General Election is now underway. Voting on candidates and fee initiatives for campus organizations (including KCSB ) is now open on vote.as.ucsb.edu. If you exit the ballot, you can go back to where you left off – just make sure to click “submit vote” at the end for your votes to count.

Check out the Elections Board’s candidate forum video.

The election supplement is also available and shows more competition for positions. For instance – there are now additional choice candidates for President, Internal Vice President (IVP), and Student Advocate General, now leaving only one executive position (External Vice President for Statewide Affairs) uncontested.

AS Interim Executive Director Sean Lieberman informed staff that “there are no longer any write-ins for this year.” He also said candidates and reaffirmations are randomized for each student’s ballot.

All this election delay, as dedicated newsletter readers will know, stems from cases of alleged election misconduct brought by Attorney General (AG) Eric Carlson and his office. As our very own Rosie Bultman explained, the Judicial Council (JC) issued rulings in two cases so far against Internal Vice President Açúcar Pinto and the Senate, and against Senator Enri Lala.

The Senate, under the chairship of Pinto, faced scrutiny over their votes on whether to empower Elections Board to accept more choice candidates, while Lala was found to have met with candidates to pressure them to drop out of the race. (Pinto believed the investigation was politically motivated. Lala said that his intention with the meetings was purely informative about what the positions entail, but conceded that “the line was sufficiently blurred.” For more, listen to Rosie’s story here.)

Other cases remain: a second closed hearing will be held this evening in an electoral interference case against another senator. The election misconduct proceedings are part of a broader “membership rights inquiry” by the AG’s office, which also includes allegations of discrimination and a hostile work environment within the Senate; and that a student’s appointment as chair of a campus org was improperly indefinitely tabled. Carlson told us that his office is “currently reviewing the facts of the case.”

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Free naloxone is coming to university-owned undergraduate housing. The proposal would see 40 cabinets of Narcan, used to reverse an opioid overdose, installed across all nine dorms and seven undergraduate apartment complexes. Gauchos for Recovery will be responsible for the costs of restocking the Narcan; Commission on Student Well-Being Co-Chair Le Anh Metzger said the boxes would be refilled at the end of each month.

A related bill would amend the legal code for the Public and Mental Health Commission to require its Public Health Special Projects Coordinator to be in charge of restocking all cabinets. This bill was tabled for one week.

Funding for this proposal, which requests $11.3k, would come from the High Impact Proposal Projects fund. It wasn’t immediately clear to the Senate how much money was left in that fund, so they held off on passing funding until this week’s meeting.

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The Senate heard the results of a survey by the Senate Outreach Committee about students’ perception of the Senate and struggle to find housing. Here’s a quick rundown.

Senate perception:

Only 16 respondents were extremely or very familiar with the Senate (and I’m choosing to believe they’re all reading this newsletter right now, so hey!!). 47 were moderately familiar, 89 slightly familiar, and 86 not familiar at all.
The vast majority of respondents said they had a neutral view of the Senate’s performance so far. 57 viewed the Senate’s performance somewhat or extremely positive, and 14 felt it’s been somewhat or extremely negative.
Similarly, of the respondents with a non-neutral answer, the majority have high expectations for next year’s Senate.
Students requested the Senate increase publicity efforts: “We rarely know what the Senate even looks like.”

Housing crisis:

No shocker here: 231 out of 261 respondents share a room with at least one other person.
185 respondents said they were somewhat or extremely satisfied with their housing situations, while 47 said they were somewhat or extremely dissatisfied.
86 respondents think the amount they’re paying for housing corresponds closely or very closely to their quality of housing, while 102 say it corresponds not closely or not at all.
As for the hardest part of finding housing, students cited a housing shortage, high costs (including for security deposits), and a lack of communication from property companies.

Senate Outreach Committee Analyst Neo Harter suggested the Senate could expand the housing fair to help people find roommates or potentially subsidize the costs of application fees. In terms of publicity, Harter acknowledged that campus outlets (like your favorite college radio station, right?) report on the Senate, but said “it’s the Senate’s responsibility to report on itself.”

Access this week’s AS Senate agenda (which includes their bills and resolutions) using your student email here. You can see last week’s agenda here. Meetings are typically held each week at the Flying A Room of the University Center (Main Floor) throughout the quarter, aside from Week 10. Please note that this week’s meeting on May 7 will be held at the Pardall Center. You can also watch live and past meetings on the ASUCSB YouTube here.

Find all our previous Senate Recaps here.

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KCSB’s Joyce Chi and Rosie Bultman summarize their most recent meeting on April 23, 2025.

The Spring General Election is still up in the air, as of this writing. This affects candidates running for office as well as dozens of campus entities seeking reaffirmation and/or fee increases. The AS Constitution says that the election, which requires 20% voter turnout, must be concluded by the end of this week. Interim Executive Director Sean Lieberman said during last week’s Senate meeting that the Week 5 deadline has been moved around before.

Judicial Council held a hearing on Friday about allegations of denial of membership rights brought by the Office of the Attorney General. It’s these allegations, which include claims of electoral misconduct, that prompted Judicial Council to issue an injunction last week to halt the election.

Specific discussions during the hearing included the Senate’s suspension of Standing Policy 10 to allow candidates to serve as proxies for Senators during the meeting, and the Senate’s initial refusal to extend the candidate declaration deadline (though at a later meeting, they granted Elections Board the discretion to accept late candidates).

The Judicial Council’s injunction follows AS President Nayali Broadway’s veto of the Spring General Election ballot over the membership rights allegation. She explained her veto at last week’s Senate meeting. She said her goal was to “preserve democratic processes…so that Judicial Council can make an impartial decision.”

A closed hearing relating to these allegations is scheduled for later today. We’re expecting Judicial Council to issue a ruling soon. Listen here for a story from Thursday about the paused elections.

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The Senate meeting on Wednesday was contentious. Before the official agenda began, one Senator made a speech airing concerns regarding interpersonal exclusion and bullying within the Senate. The speech was briefly interrupted by a warning from advisor and AS Executive Director Marisela Marquez telling the Senator that publicly sharing sensitive information about other senators has led to doxxing in the past. Despite warnings, the speech continued.

The next hour consisted of a discussion regarding the allegations. Some members shared how they’ve been affected by the Senate climate, others offered apologies, and others expressed concerns over having the conversation in a public, recorded meeting—especially in light of the Trump administration targeting college campuses.

(KCSB News has elected to leave the undergraduate officials involved in this discussion anonymous to respect their privacy and safety, as the allegations shared on the Senate floor have not been publicly confirmed by the Judicial Council or any other body.)

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The Senate passed “A Bill to Peg AS Judicial Council’s Honoraria to Senate Standing Committees.” The bill by Senators MingJun Zha and Dan Siddiqui raises Judicial Council’s payment to match that of the Senate committees. Amid the ongoing membership rights hearings, Councilmember Josie Penix clarified that JC did not ask for the bill, and Zha confirmed that the idea for the legislation came in Winter Quarter.

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The Senate entered a one hour-long closed session to discuss the preliminary budget and to confer “with labor negotiators.”

Access this week’s AS Senate agenda (which includes their bills and resolutions) using your student email here. You can see last week’s agenda here. Meetings are typically held each week at the Flying A Room of the University Center (Main Floor) throughout the quarter, aside from Week 10. Please note that this week’s meeting on April 30 will be held on Zoom. You can also watch live and past meetings on Facebook here.

Find all our previous Senate Recaps here.

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This recap first appeared in the April 21 edition of the KCSB News Weekly Newsletter.

KCSB’s Joyce Chi summarizes their most recent meeting on April 16, 2025. Rosie Bultman contributed to this report.

Senators abstain from a vote to allow Elections Board to accept choice candidates past the deadline.

AS President Nayali Broadway has vetoed the Spring General Election ballot. In an email sent to the Association on Friday, April 18, Broadway said she was overturning the Senate’s approval of the ballot because of alleged threats to undergraduate students’ “membership rights.” Broadway cited “sweeping allegations” during Senate meetings and “certified evidence shown to me by my advisors.”

UPDATE: The AS Judicial Council issued an injunction today, after this newsletter was first released, halting the Spring General Election from proceeding, as they hear a related, class action-style suit brought on Friday by ASUCSB’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG). Led by AG Eric Carlson, the case focuses on three allegations:

“Abuse of power and retaliation against student leaders,” due to the indefinite tabling of Kamaya Jackson’s appointment as co-chair of the Student Commission on Racial Equity;
“Discrimination and anti-recruitment policies,” relating to alleged “coordination to marginalize student leaders” and attempts to “obstruct cultural programming” (See: the attempt to block funding for the Mega Shabbat event);
And “Electoral manipulation and violation of democratic processes,” including allegations raised during Senate meetings “that are characteristic of disenfranchisement.” (More below.)

Those “sweeping allegations” Broadway cited are likely in reference to Senator Mingjun Zha’s claims made at the most recent meeting that Senator Dan Siddiqui sent him text messages regarding Zha’s motion at the April 9 meeting to allow Elections Board to accept choice candidates past the deadline. (Remember, there was a whole debate over if the Senate, and candidates running for office, should be voting on election-related issues.)

Zha eventually voted against his own motion, and he explained at this most recent meeting that he felt threatened by texts Siddiqui sent him alluding to “repercussions.” Zha interpreted that as a threat against the Global Gaucho Commission, which he’s long been involved in, but reiterated that he could only speak on his own feelings, not Siddiqui’s intentions.

In response, Siddiqui told us that he was referring to repercussions among personal relationships between Senators; there was already tension in the room, he said, following a heated discussion of proposed BCU recruitment policy. Listen here for more.

This is an ongoing story.

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The Senate passed A Resolution for a Free and Fair Election, requiring Senators running as candidates in the upcoming election to publicly state their candidacy for the record before election-related discussions and to abstain from voting on election-related issues.

They also passed a motion to allow Elections Board to accept choice candidates past the deadline. (Senator Zha made that motion, and stated that Senator Taylor Iden, author of the above resolution, was not involved in bringing forward the motion again.) This is the same one as last week, and it generated similar back-and-forth:

Senator Paolo Brinderson: “Everyone has to follow the deadline.”
Senator Leah Khorsandi: “All we’re doing is giving it to a body that is supposed to not be driven by personal gain.”

In keeping with that resolution, Senators running for office abstained from the vote on the motion.

The Elections Board said, after the meeting, that they would not be accepting more choice candidates.

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Students advocated for the university to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, through recognition of April 24 as Armenian Genocide Rememberance Day and the month of April as Armenian Heritage Month. Lilian Mkrtoumian, vice president of the Armenian Student Association, said that “UCSB has a choice: to turn a blind eye to injustice, or to become a university that champions inclusivity and truth.”

In response to concerns that the move could be controversial among Turkish students, Mkrtoumian said their “number one priority” is “to honor us and our voices, without having to interfere with any other group.” (Last year, Turkish students criticized the Senate for getting involved in a request to honor the Armenian Genocide despite having little knowledge of the history.)

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The Senate heard a proposal to introduce a business major to UCSB. The plan introduced by Neo Harter of the Senate Outreach Committee would see the university, at least, begin to offer classes similar to UC Berkeley’s business school. Harter said that UCSB’s economics department would be a better foundation than its Technology Management Program. Also, the Senate passed a resolution drafted by Harter, along with Noah Luken of the OAG and AG Carlson, to create a referendum to gauge student interest in the matter.

Access this week’s AS Senate agenda (which includes their bills and resolutions) using your student email here. You can see last week’s agenda here. Meetings are typically held each week at the Flying A Room of the University Center (Main Floor) throughout the quarter, aside from Week 10. Please note that this week’s meeting on April 23 will be held on Zoom. You can also watch live and past meetings on Facebook here.

Find all our previous Senate Recaps here.

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This recap first appeared in the April 15 edition of the KCSB News Weekly Newsletter.

KCSB’s Joyce Chi summarizes their most recent meeting on April 9, 2025.

Le Anh Metzger of COSWB (bottom left) discusses a proposed BCU recruitment policy. | Photo credit: Courtesy (ASUCSB YouTube)

The Senate faced a question of conflict of interest in regards to the upcoming Spring General Election. It all starts with Attorney General Eric Carlson asking the Senate to grant an exception to a key deadline for students to declare their intentions of running for AS elected office.

Carlson asked on behalf of one student hoping to run for AS President but who had missed that March 5 deadline. It’s worth noting that the eventual directive to grant the exception (which, spoiler alert, didn’t pass) would’ve applied to multiple student candidate hopefuls.

Confidentiality prevented specifics as to why the student did not submit their declaration of candidacy in time. Senator Dalia Gerson argued that life and unexpected circumstances should not prevent someone who wants to contribute to AS from doing so.

Conversely, Senator Sandy Ganesh expressed concern that this bid for a position as important and powerful as AS President felt like an “afterthought.” In response, Carlson shared that although he ran for IVP last year, he was unable to campaign effectively because his dog passed away: “It’s not necessarily an afterthought; it’s simply a balancing of priorities.”

Any student declaring choice candidacy now (more than a month after the original deadline) would be missing out on weeks of preparation, Senator Paolo Brinderson pointed out. (By the way, “choice” candidates are the ones who appear as a listed, multiple-choice option on the ballot.)

Both Brinderson and Ganesh suggested the students submit write-in candidacy declarations as a middle ground, out of fairness to candidates who had submitted their declarations in time. (If you were like me and also curious about this…Yes, write-in declarations are needed for write-in votes to count. So in other words, a thousand written-in votes for Storkie wouldn’t count unless Storkie submitted their write-in candidacy declaration.)

Due to technical issues that prevented submission of election-related material, the Elections Board extended several deadlines, including for write-in candidates, until April 16. The deadline was also extended for choice candidates to submit their ~headshots~ and biographies, as the Senate directed them to.

EB Vice Chair Ihita Varada confirmed that the Board wasn’t looking to extend the deadline for choice candidates. Any student tossing their hat in the ring now as a choice candidate, Varada explained, would have missed out on orientations and workshops to help them properly campaign. (Remember, voting opens up next week. Time flies…)

One rather important point: for most positions, there is no competition. Now, let me start this next section by saying this is certainly not a knock against any of these candidates, and I commend any undergrad who wants to get involved with student government. (Yay for civic engagement!)

But these are the facts. Four out of five executive positions – AS President, Internal Vice President (IVP), External Vice President for Statewide Affairs (EVPSA), and Student Advocate General – have only one candidate, according to the Elections Board website. (There are two candidates currently running for External Vice President for Local Affairs [EVPLA].)

According to Attorney General Carlson, there’s a “financial gain” to be had: these executive positions get paid a total of $10,000 a year. That breaks down to $3k for each fall, winter, and spring quarters, and $1k for the summer. Meanwhile, Senators can only earn a maximum of $600 per quarter.

The same story of no competition, which Carlson called an “illusion of free choice,” also applies to some seats within next year’s Senate. 12 students are running for 12 available Off-Campus Senator positions. There can be five On-Campus Senators, but only two students are running. It’s a similar picture for next year’s International and Off-Campus University-Owned Senators, though the Transfer Senator and Letters & Science Senator positions are competitive. (No candidates are listed for the College of Creative Studies Senator.)

Carlson and Senator Jasmine Amin also noted that having more candidates could encourage voter turnout, and Carlson highlighted the fact that Senator Caroline Lankarani received 800 votes last year due to their large network.

Some current Senators are running for these uncontested positions both in the Senate and within the Executive Branch. Thus, the question is, should the Senate be voting on exceptions that would let in more choice candidates – and thus, more competition?

The student Carlson was seeking the exception for wanted to run for president, and the AG also mentioned that Elections Board received similar requests from different students. However, EB Vice Chair Varada declined to say if those exception-seeking students were running for other uncontested positions too.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to give people more choices,” Senator Taylor Iden said. “I think it’s pretty accurate to say there’s an abundance of conflict of interest in this room.”

To break out the rule book… Standing Policy 15 of AS Legal Code defines conflict of interest as “personal financial gain, personal gain of associates,” or an unresolvable “conflict in the interests of ASUCSB with the interests of other” campus groups.

Senator Amin also said that though some current Senators aren’t running for office next year, there could be a conflict of interest just by virtue of working with and being friends with their Senate colleagues who are running.

On the other hand, Senator Enri Lala, the only listed candidate for IVP, argued that conflict of interest was an arbitrary definition that could be too expansive, since AS is so interconnected.

Internal Vice President Açúcar Pinto said they didn’t see a conflict of interest and if Elections Board wanted to grant the exception, they could.

The Senate eventually voted not to direct Elections Board to grant the deadline exception. (But again, Elections Board later approved a deadline for write-in candidates — not choice candidates.)

When it comes to the $10k-a-year executive positions…Senator Dan Siddiqui, who will appear as the only listed candidate for AS President, eventually recused himself from the vote. (We did see a sign posted that Le Anh Metzger, co-chair of the Commission on Student Well-Being (COSWB), is running a campaign for president as a write-in candidate.) Senators Lala and Leiya Kadah, the only choice candidates for IVP and EVPSA respectively, voted no. (Lala declined to comment on the motion. Siddiqui and Kadah did not respond to our requests.)

AG Carlson said he felt the rejection of the motion amounted to “disenfranchisement.” Though he declined to go into the specifics, he told us his office was preparing multiple cases for the Judicial Council in part to “guarantee the integrity of our elections.”

In a phone call, Carlson also raised concerns over the Senate again suspending a Standing Policy that prevents Senate candidates to proxy for a current Senator (a debate of allowing candidates to gain experience vs. preventing them from having undue influence).

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The recruitment and hiring process for some BCUs could look different. A new policy from the Senate Executive Committee would require Boards, Commissions/Committees, and Units (BCUs) to thoroughly publicize their chair, vice chair, and co-chair positions for the 2025-2026 school year to all students, through measures like university-wide emails and social media posts. Senator Ganesh, who chairs the Liaison Committee, said that “if you are funded by student fees, you are to advertise your jobs to all students.”

Concurrently, an email explaining the policy said the Senate would seek to implement a “recruitment pause” within the Association for next year’s positions, in order to check in with each individual BCU on how their hiring process was going. Interviews for next year’s BCU chairs, in consultation with the group’s current chairs, would start in Week 7 of this quarter through early summer; from there, chairs would finish recruiting other board members by Fall Quarter.

“This is a process to help BCUs who need that help,” said Ganesh. “We are not going to overhaul recruitment and completely strip autonomy.” Senator Siddiqui added that BCUs “actually doing their recruitment process correctly” would not be impacted. Meanwhile, Senator Taylor Iden pushed for a slower implementation, one that next year’s Senate should take on.

BCU chairs pushed back on the proposed policy. Delaying the recruitment process into the summer and fall would interfere with summer workshops and training, said Environmental Affairs Board chair Hattie Ellison. Mikaela Wilson, chair of the Isla Vista Tenants Union, said it would slow down their internal operations and take time away from projects benefiting students and IV residents. Others criticized the tight turnaround of the email, which was sent seven hours before the Senate meeting would be discussing the new policy. COSWB co-chair Metzger argued that students who applied for chair positions but were not previously involved in those BCUs would essentially be wasting their time, since current BCU board members would likely be favored.

No action on the proposed policy, and no such hiring freeze, was taken at the April 9 meeting. The Liaison Committee is set to continue with consultations and individual outreach to BCUs.

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A Deltopia update, brought to us by EVPLA Owen Meyers and UCIV chair Samira Casillas: The UCIV tent saw 10k visitors and passed out 5k water cups, 1.2k units of Narcan, and 600 units of fentanyl test strips. Citations increased 52% from the previous year, according to Meyers, and the majority of the 80 arrests that day were for public intoxication.

Meyers expressed frustration that law enforcement did not at first let representatives of UCIV and the Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD) through road closures and that police stood by the recovery center at the IVCSD to carry out arrests and hand out citations, though he said their roles to support partygoers that day was overall “very highly successful.”

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The Senate passed a motion to ask Judicial Council to determine the legality of a financial recommendation. In order to properly pay for professional staff in AS, a Report on AS Long-Term Financial Continuity by Senators MingJun Zha and Arayaman Singh and AS Chief Compliance Officer David Jr. Sim suggests asking BCUs to dedicate part of the funds collected from their lock-in fees to fund professional staff salaries.

The report explains that most professional staff are paid by the AS Undesignated Fee, which also helps fund BCUs without their own lock-in fees and which hasn’t been raised since passing in 2006. All BCUs, the report argues, “are enjoying the benefit of AS staff support, ranging from advising to requisition and overall governmental structure.”

The Senate tabled A Bill to Amend the COSWB Legal Code for one week. The bill, brought by Senators Ganesh and Yasmine Suuck at the request of COSWB, updates wording and duties. It also would add two new coordinator positions focusing on culture & inclusivity and community outreach.

Access this week’s AS Senate agenda (which includes their bills and resolutions) using your student email here. You can see last week’s agenda here. Meetings are typically held each week at the Flying A Room of the University Center (Main Floor) throughout the quarter, aside from Week 10. You can also watch live and past meetings on Facebook here.

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This recap first appeared in the April 7 edition of the KCSB News Weekly Newsletter.

KCSB’s Joyce Chi summarizes what happened at their April 2 meeting.

It’s a Spring Quarter miracle! The first meeting back was only two hours long, the shortest in recent memory. Let’s review what happened.

The meeting began with a quick debate: Should students running for Senate be allowed to serve as proxies for current Senators during the meeting? The issue arose because Senator and first president pro tempore Dan Siddiqui sought to have a candidate serve as his proxy after 8:30 PM (which, given the meeting’s mercifully short duration, was ultimately unnecessary).

Senator Mingjun Zha said candidates should not be allowed to proxy for Senators, citing election fairness and hopes of preventing candidates from having undue influence. Conversely, Senator Taylor Iden said they should be allowed to proxy, because the more experience they have before coming to the Senate, the better. In the end, they approved candidate proxies for the meeting.

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In public forum, two speakers questioned the Senate about transparency. The concerns of Kamaya Jackson, the co-chair of the Black Women’s Health Collaborative (BWHC) and Queen Allah, BWHC’s External Needs Advocate, relate to Jackson’s bid to be appointed as co-chair of the Student Commission on Racial Equity (SCORE).

The Senate indefinitely tabled this appointment at their March 5 meeting, and it remains as such. They partly cited the novelty of having one person serve as a chair for two organizations, but also referred to previous closed session discussions and an investigation by the Student Advocate General. The Senate entered another closed session at the March 5 meeting to further discuss Jackson’s appointment to SCORE.

In a printed-out newsletter set on each seat of the Flying A Room, Jackson claimed that Associated Students (AS) “officials manipulated procedures to exclude her” and that her case is “a continuation of the deeply entrenched racial discrimination in AS.” During public forum, Jackson and Allah both questioned why the decision to table the appointment was made in closed session instead of on public record. Owing to the nature of closed session discussions, the Senate did not directly answer their questions.

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Should AS members be able to receive pay from outside the association? That’s a question Chief Compliance Officer David Jr. Sim posed to the Senate. He explained that the state of California wants to give a financial stipend to AS President Nayali Broadway and Executive Vice President for Local Affairs (EVPLA) Owen Meyers for the work their offices have continued on an education campaign started by AS officials last year.

This Raise the Bar campaign focuses on bystander intervention and the relationship between alcohol and sexual violence among local “nightlife bar owners employees/employers, decision-makers, organizations, and communities.”

Sim recommended the Senate to allow the external pay in this case, then write legislation to address this in AS Legal Code for the future. The Senate will vote on Sim’s recommendation at an upcoming meeting.

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The bill establishing Raíces de mi Tierra as a BCU needs to be rewritten, Sim said, citing compliance issues with financial policy and Legal Code. One cited issue was that many of the positions within Raíces are listed as “chairs,” which Sim wrote “brings up the question of honoraria” and would require these positions to all be approved by the AS President.

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The Senate unanimously passed a resolution in honor of and inspired by a recently deceased UCSB student. Micheal Ma and Mason Ryan died in a March 17 car crash in Camarillo; Senator Enri Lala, the resolution’s author, called them “beloved and really bright members of the community.” The resolution says that a couple years ago, Ma informed Lala that UCSB students were among the few at a major U.S. college that didn’t have access to a financial software program.

Bloomberg Terminal on Campus, the legislation describes, is “a computer software system empowering students to monitor advanced real-time financial market data” that provides opportunities for trading and accessing commodities data. Lala said these were “things that students will need to build a strong career path for themselves.”

The Micheal Ma Service to Economics Students Act directs Sean Lieberman, the Acting AS Executive Director, “to begin work on introducing Bloomberg Terminals to all interested undergraduate students.” The resolution’s authors said they may also collaborate with the economics and statistics & data sciences departments on this initiative.

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The Senate tabled two bills for one week, as required by Legal Code.

The first, A Bill to Peg AS Judicial Council’s Honoraria to Senate Standing Committees, would upgrade the scale of payment for the AS Judicial Council (JC). Senator Zha, a former JC member, said that the Council works many hours and should thus be paid at the level of Senate Standing Committees. Senator Taylor Iden expressed hesitation that raising JC’s honoraria would be a financial strain: “Increases are extremely hard with our current capacity.”

The second, A Bill to Revise the GGC Legal Code, would codify changes in the By-Laws sought by the Global Gaucho Commission (GGC) for their organization. Some revisions include GGC having one Chair and one Vice-Chair, instead of the current two Co-Chair positions, and folding the duties of the Cultural Awareness and Mental Health Advocates under one Policy Director position.

Access this week’s AS Senate agenda (which includes their bills and resolutions) using your student email here. You can see last week’s agenda here. Meetings are typically held each week at the Flying A Room of the University Center (Main Floor) throughout the quarter, aside from Week 10. You can also watch live and past meetings on Facebook here.

Find all our previous Senate Recaps here.

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From The People’s Program:

Inspired by Santa Barbara based journalist Caitlin Scialla’s article about Gaza is Our Home, The People’s Program welcomed the filmmaker, Monear Shaer, last week to discuss his film, storytelling process, and family story.

You can listen to the full episode, and read Scialla’s article below.

Heartbreak and Hope in Monear Shaer’s Gaza is Our Home

by Caitlin Scialla

This past spring, waves of protests unfolded across college campuses as students voiced their opposition to the relentless, U.S.-backed war that has been unleashed upon civilians in Gaza since October 7, 2024. Most notably, demonstrators pitched tents on university quads and demanded that their schools divest from companies that profit from the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

UCSB was similarly enveloped in surges of bold student activism. Autonomous activist groups organized an array of demonstrations, ranging from an occupation of Girvetz Hall (rechristened “Edward Said Hall”) to an encampment, dubbed the UCSB Liberated Zone, which stood for nearly two months on the lawn between Davidson Library and North Hall. In June, UCSB Students for Justice in Palestine, UCSB Jewish Voice for Peace, and UC Divest Coalition at UCSB rallied in favor of historic legislation that was ultimately passed by A.S. Senate. The legislation included a resolution that demands the UC’s divestment from corporations associated with the Israeli occupation and a bill that divests A.S. funds from complicit businesses.

In another memorable example of civil disobedience, UCSB Divest championed a day-long takeover of the Student Resource Building (SRB). On Thursday, April 26 student activists flooded the SRB, draping banners throughout the building, leading chants, and hosting teach-ins and workshops. Towards the end of the day, participants gathered for a screening of the recently-produced documentary Gaza is Our Home by Palestinian-American filmmaker, Monear Shaer.

As expressed on his website, and in the film itself, Shaer’s life was forever changed on October 7. The ensuing Israeli onslaught has resulted in the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians, with tens of thousands more injured and missing. Shaer personally has over 150 relatives trapped in Gaza and has been compelled to use his artistic abilities to broadcast the brutal reality of what his family, and the Palestinian people more generally, has suffered. In early December, Shaer received the devastating news that 33 family members had been killed after a U.S.-funded fighter plane dropped a bomb on his aunt’s house. Shaer has since dedicated himself fully to this project, working tirelessly to communicate the mounting crisis in Gaza.

“I’m sure if [the public] knew what I knew they would do something. Maybe they would care. They just haven’t been shown…”

These words, spoken by Shaer, open the film and introduce the dilemma that lies at the heart of his project. Although minimally featured on mainstream media, the horrifying situation in Palestine has been apparent for decades, at least to those who care enough to pay attention. During this beginning sequence, Shaer overlays his narration with countless screenshots, revealing how he and other pro-Palestine activists have used their social media platforms for years to share damning footage and statistics that expose the gravity of what is happening in Gaza.

And yet, public outcry has been eerily limited. Shaer ruminates on this paradox multiple times over the course of the documentary, reflecting deeply about how he can possibly heal this systemic indifference. The question is posed. . . How can Shaer, and pro-Palestine activists more generally, invoke widespread empathy? How can media be utilized to foster a culture of compassion that is pervasive enough to usher in meaningful political change? How can Shaer create a film that makes viewers on the other side of the world pay attention to Gaza?

The centerpiece of Gaza is Our Home is the personal footage that Shaer includes, specifically the photos and videos that he took during his last trip to Gaza back in 2021. The quality of these clips is far from professional, at times even grainy and shaky. Arguably, though, this adds rather than takes away from the viewing experience. These selfies, heartwarming videos of friends dancing at a wedding, and snapshots of stunning sunsets at the beach could be found on any of our iPhone camera rolls.

This collage of photos and videos humanize the harrowing statistics that chronicle the violence in Gaza, cutting through the propaganda that equates victims to terrorists in an attempt to justify the baseless barrage of airstrikes. We can put faces and stories to the numbers, which is powerful. But, even more than that, this technique places the audience in Palestinian shoes, even if only for a moment. It is impossible not to ask yourself: What if this was me, what if these were my loved ones, what if my home was eradicated, what if my life was upended? Intense feelings of grief, aguish even, are inevitable whilst watching Gaza is Our Home. The nitty gritties of the politics, which have historically impeded Americans from taking a strong stance and pledging solidarity with Palestine, melt away.

This emotional knee jerk is at the core of the film. However, woven throughout, is commentary from Shaer himself and his family members that underscores some larger questions. Particularly, why has this horrific loss of life in Gaza been shrugged off by mainstream media? Why has this conflict been distorted into something complex and controversial when it is, quite frankly, not.

Gaza is Our Home highlights this issue of media censorship and, at the same time, counteracts it by amplifying the stories and voices that have been silenced. Despite the heartbreak and tragedy that characterizes the film, Shaer is sure to showcase the beauty and resilience of Gaza and its people. A strong sense of hope that Gaza will be rebuilt and that those entrapped within will be liberated echoes throughout the documentary. And those of us watching are reminded that we have a voice, we have the privilege to speak up, we have the power to fight for a free Palestine.

Gaza is Our Home has been solely produced by Monear Shaer. He has not been supported by a studio and, now that the film has been completed, Shaer needs our support in getting this documentary out into the public. I would urge everyone to visit his website, watch the documentary, and pass it along to others.

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Credit: Courtesy of UCSB

Story by Rosie Bultman and Joyce Chi || Listen to the story on SoundCloud

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UCSB Chancellor Henry T. Yang says he will step down from his position at the end of the upcoming school year.

He announced his decision in a campus-wide email on August 14th to, quote, “return to teaching, research, and service as a professor,” end quote.

In the campus memo, he thanked faculty, staff, students, and alumni, as well as the UC Regents and UC President Michael Drake, who announced earlier this month he would also be stepping down at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.

Additionally, Chancellor Yang thanked his wife, Dilling, and highlighted their work in travelling across the country to recruit students. He highlighted an increase in fundraising and research grants, as well as the prestige of the faculty and the university, including the fact that UCSB was recognized as the first Hispanic-Serving Institution of the Association of American Universities.

The 83-year-old Yang wrote that, quote, “serving as the Chancellor of UC Santa Barbara has been the highest honor of my career,” end quote.

Yang, a mechanical engineering professor who still teaches an undergraduate class each year, began serving as Chancellor in 1994. In his memo, over the course of his first year, he recalled meeting with all faculty members over lunches, quote, “to find a shared vision,” end quote.

Here’s George Thurlow, the former Assistant Vice Chancellor of Alumni Affairs and Chancellor’s Special Assistant for Isla Vista.

THURLOW: When he first came here, he had brown bag lunches with a huge number of faculty, during which he took copious notes. And he still has those notes. He can walk over to his bookshelf and pull out the binders, have all the notes from when he first came. And I think that’s, again, a commitment to the idea that he was going to listen to faculty.

Dick Flacks, a professor emeritus of sociology who taught at UCSB from 1969 to 2006, affirmed that the Chancellor began his career highly engaged with students and faculty. However, he said that this contrasted with Yang’s failures to adequately address housing concerns, and the secrecy within housing processes.

FLACKS: And so the secretiveness on the part of the administration, the Henry Yang’s administration, is again not at all characteristic of how he’s operated until now. But, and so I don’t even have an idea of why there isn’t more open discussion about these issues of housing. And there are really important issues for the community, and that’s the hat I’m wearing when I’m talking about this. But I think they’re also important for the campus.

Furthermore, student activists and grad students don’t feel Chancellor Yang has engaged with them in good faith.

Here is a student activist at UCSB who preferred to remain anonymous.

STUDENT ACTIVIST: ineffectual, doesn’t listen to his students, gives empty platitudes, pushes off the work that is his onto the rest of his staff with less power.

The activist felt that this lack of engagement with students made it hard to create university change.

Janna Haider, a 6th year PhD student, said that she has never met with Chancellor Yang, despite her heavy involvement in the Asian and Pacific Islander Grad Student Alliance.

HAIDER: I have never met Henry personally. Okay, the 4 graduate affinity organizations — the Asian Pacific Islander Graduate Student Alliance, the Queer and Trans Grad Student Union, the Black Grad Student Association, and the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in STEM — are supposed to meet with campus administration fairly regularly. We, in my 3 years on the executive board of APIGSA, we never dealt with Yang. We only ever dealt with David Marshall.

However, film Professor Constance Penley, fondly recalls interacting with Chancellor Yang when he first arrived on campus.

PENLEY: I heard the announcement that NASA was going to create a task force on this thought to decide whether there should be another teacher in space. I wanted to be on that task force. So I called Henry Chancellor, Chancellor Yang, I called him and he called me right back. I mean, he was so new to the campus, he called me right back.

So he, I told him that I, you know, I said, I understand you don’t know me. I did send you a copy of my essay and which you might find just too harsh. You might find too feminist, you know, and it’s, you know, description and explanation of everything that NASA did wrong.

We ended up talking for 45 minutes. He was delighted to find that there was a humanity scholar on this campus who knew so much about NASA and the history of the space program. So he agreed to write a letter recommending me to Daniel Golden to be on this new committee for the teacher in space program.

In the thirty years since Chancellor Yang took office, he led the university through the 2001 and 2014 Isla Vista tragedies, the Thomas Fire, the Montecito mudslides, the COVID-19 pandemic, and last year’s protests and Liberated Zone encampment.

During his tenure as Chancellor, UC Santa Barbara increased enrollment from just under 15 thousand undergraduate students in 1995 to 21,500 in 2023. US News and World Report ranked UCSB the 46th best university nationwide in 1996; it currently ranks #35. In 2022, UCSB reached an all-time highest ranking as the 5th best public university in the country.

Susannah Scott, a professor of chemical engineering and the chair of UCSB’s Academic Senate, credits Yang with the university’s rise in prestige and change in reputation from a party school to an elite university. She said that both the Academic Senate and Chancellor Yang have historically agreed that academic excellence should be one of the university’s top priorities.

SCOTT: I think the prestige of the university hinges in part on just hiring excellent faculty…just finding the absolute smartest people that you can and hiring them and giving them the space to do what they want to do.

Another part of it is recruiting fantastic students, and the Chancellor has been a really big part of that. He’s tireless in terms of going to all places in the country to meet with students – and even outside the country, internationally – to tell them about UCSB and encourage the best ones to apply here.

Janna Haider, on the other hand, says that UCSB, along with all the UC campuses, have been over enrolling students.

HAIDER: The campuses also made the decision to over enroll relative to the number of beds physically available. And And course, every student in California who wants an education deserves to have 1, this is a public university. And that creates an obligation on the part of the state and the campus as part of the state. To meet the needs of those students.

Many praised his leadership over the years, including 3rd District County Supervisor Joan Hartmann.

2nd District County Supervisor Laura Capps also praised Yang, who she said she has known for years, as her father, Walter, was a long-time professor of Religious Studies at UCSB. Laura Capps said she especially admires Yang’s, quote, “steady hand and engaged presence” during the 2014 Isla Vista shootings.

Professor and Academic Senate Chair Susannah Scott also recalls Yang’s leadership during that tragedy.

SCOTT: I know that the Chancellor spent a lot of time thinking about what to do and a lot of time talking to people on campus, a lot of time in Isla Vista talking to people there about how to respond. And he spent countless hours with the families of the students who were affected.

THURLOW: The shootings really hurt him personally.

And one of my jobs was to drive him to the funeral. And I can tell you that he was deeply moved by the tragedy.

Laura Capps highlighted her work with Yang on the local housing crisis through their plans to build more housing for students and faculty and to launch a rental inspection pilot program.

Praises from the Santa Barbara county government comes in contrast to statements made by Hartmann in an interview with KCSB News back in April of 2023.

HARTMANN: So it’s a 15 year plan that was from 2010 to 2025, during which time the university projected it would grow by 5000 students. And so the plan was how to accommodate that the growth associated with admitting 5000 new students.

But the piece that we’re focused on today is housing for students and they were to build as they grew and they’ve already reached the 5000 before 2025. So they should have been building housing for those 5000 students.

And they’re 3500 shy, sorry to invert those. So that’s, that, I mean, there’s, that’s 3500 more students bouncing around in Isla Vista, Galeta and Santa Barbara, trying to find housing and competing with each other.

As Hartmann and Flacks mentioned, housing has tainted the Chancellor’s legacy, and students feel it.

Declan Griffin, a graduate of the class of 2023, said that while Yang, quote, “became chancellor with the hopes of inspiring a transparent campus administration,” his recent years have been “marred with opaque bureaucratic dealings,” end quote. Griffin cited the housing crisis and the hit-and-run allegation against Yang, which the university has denied.

PhD student Janna Haider was one of the leading members of the UAW strike for Teaching Assistants in 2022. Haider says that concerns about cost of living were a primary concern of the union, and have not been adequately addressed by the university.

HAIDER: For housing costs, then the vast majority of graduate student employees at the University of California, Santa Barbara in particular, our rent burden. This is 1 of the 2 most expensive cost of living localities. For UC campuses were 2nd only to Santa Cruz. And the fact that this is a campus that has deliberately violated its own long range development plans failed to build adequate. Housing for both undergraduate and graduate students and also does not provide any support to students who have to engage with the housing market outside of campus just indicates that. The campus under Yang’s leadership doesn’t understand that people need to be alive and safe and well housed in order to learn and to teach.

Chancellor Yang faced some of the sharpest criticisms of his tenure with the proposed Munger Hall dormitory. The hall sought to build more housing (it would have housed up to 4,500 students), but drew backlash for its lack of windows and natural light in bedrooms. Plans for Munger Hall were officially cancelled last summer.

Assistant Vice Chancellor George Thurlow says Santa Barbara has had a housing crisis since he attended UCSB in the early 1970s. He views Munger Hall much more favorably than others.

THURLOW: I actually think it was a pretty good project. The window thing was a classic example where if your opponent is allowed to define you before you get out there with your message, you may be in trouble. 12:51-13:08 There’s tons of windows. There’s not windows in bedrooms. But then everybody gets their own bedroom. What I kept telling people was the promise was that this was going to be the cheapest dorm to live in.

Professor Emeritus Dick Flacks is the current chair of Sustainable University Now (or S-U-N), a coalition of groups with the goal of ensuring UCSB’s growth was in line with community needs. Here’s what he had to say about the university’s housing crisis and Munger Hall solution.

FLACKS: And the housing problems were so obvious and people were living in cars and everything. And this has been, we should have by then been developing the dormitory plans that had been originally set forward in the LRDP, Long Range Development Plan. But those plans have been shelled by the Munger Promise to build this huge dormitory that would house all of the students that the original plans had scheduled to house in one giant project.

It was very secretive how this was put together. What Munger’s promise was to this day, I don’t don’t in in of the money. And And issue became pretty obvious after a couple of years that what he wanted to do was build a dorm that he would design. This is a 90-year-old billionaire wanting to be in charge of the design of dormitories for young students.

And I thought all along this was problematic, but but wasn’t until I think it was 2021 that the actual design was revealed to the public. And that led to this really worldwide mockery of the proposal because so many of its features, especially the famous lack of windows in the bedroom kind of thing, but there were many critical problems with Munger.

Flacks and S.U.N. have sued UCSB for their lack of disclosure of documents relating to Munger Hall and campus enrollment.

While there have been issues communicating on Munger Hall, others highlighted his willingness to speak to as many people as possible before making a decision. Professor Susannah Scott said that in fact, Yang’s greatest strength is listening.

SCOTT: I really believe that our Chancellor communicates more with the Senate and listens more to the Senate than most UC campuses have the fortune of doing. // He is on duty seven days a week, 52 weeks a year… He spends so much time making sure that everybody knows what he’s thinking about and everybody’s prepared for decisions that he’s going to make.

Former Assistant Vice Chancellor George Thurlow also talked about Yang’s approach to decision-making.

THURLOW: I found that often, he already had the answer to a question, but he didn’t put it forward until he had heard everybody else’s opinion. And that was very interesting. Like I said, it frustrated a lot of people because it meant decision making was much slower. But decision making was also more collaborative. More people got involved.

Professor Emeritus Dick Flacks further discussed Yang’s commitment to shared governance and his close relationships with students.

FLACKS: I used to give a course every year on the sociology of UCSB. The final session of that class was always a session where the students could put whoever was Chancellor on the hot seat. 4:58 / 5:06 What impressed me about Yang, in comparison with previous Chancellors, was his easy knowledge of many of the students, because the class was made up of a lot of student leaders that he had dealt with.

Professor Emeritus Dick Flacks and Professor Constance Penley talked about another of Yang’s focuses: the environment.

FLACKS: And so one of his early achievements was to veto a plan by mobile oil company to start drilling right near the campus. And that operation by the oil company required UCSB to consent to it.

HENLEY: And so we had a year of meetings. You know, with, you know, all the attorneys from ExxonMobil, all of the environmental organizations, we worked through the Academic Senate. We, you know, it was like a year long struggle. And Henry felt that we had managed to achieve community-wide, faculty-wide consensus against this project. And so once he felt that we had that consensus, he then made the decision to kill the project.

In addition to issues related to housing and the environment, Chancellor Yang has been met with both praise and criticism for his handling of the Pro-Palestinian student protests during the 2023-2024 school year, and his general approach to free speech.

Here’s what an anonymous student activist had to say.

STUDENT ACTIVIST: I think it is patently on its face ridiculous to bring militarized police with budgets in the millions to campus to endanger students of all sorts, whether they’re undocumented, having negative experiences with the police, or otherwise, I think it’s incredibly irresponsible to respond to student protests with police.

I think that throughout the entire existence of the encampment, Chancellor Yang was involved only with himself, not with the good of the students, not with the good of the world. I think he was concerned about perception of him and did nothing to protect that, bringing police onto campus to both that committee Grewett’s Hall, and then to clear up the encampment over summer when there are less students here to witness and to feel upset about that breach of trust with the Chancellor.

The UCSB encampment drew on for 54 days, the longest of any UC encampment. Retired Assistant Vice Chancellor George Thurlow thinks that Chancellor Yang handled the situation well.

THURLOW: This is why the regents love Henry. Henry was able to handle the protests here without there being mass, I mean I think there was one police raid into an occupied classroom, but there was a very very low police presence, and that’s sort of Henry’s style.

Janna Haider, on the other hand, thinks that Chancellor Yang’s so-called style brought more harm to students.

HAIDER: One of my undergraduate students in particular noted that towards the end of her school year, this was her senior year. She was given a leadership award for her activities on campus. 2 days prior to that, she had had sniper rifles pointed at her by members of a police department called to campus by Henry Yang. So I do think that this is a man who, through his combination of interest and donor money and his hesitancy to be seen as doing the wrong thing. We’ll always wait until the last minute, not listen to concerns and take the most drastic step that does the most harm to marginalized students.

Professor Dick Flacks has yet another perspective.

FLACKS: We are the campus in the UC system that responded to the pro-Palestinian protests with with the least amount of police pressure. Maybe there were other campuses as well. But I think that there are important faculty members on this campus who are very concerned and very supportive of the issues raised by the protest. They were they were listened to as far as I can tell by Chancellor Yang rather than listen to regents and maybe and others pressures on the administration to call the police as soon as the encampments went up. You know, the police finally did come. But I think they were more that happened. My impression I could be wrong is that they finally came simply because they did have to show the Regents that that the police were were deployed.

Responses to the 2022 TA strike were also met with criticism. Here’s Janna Haider again.

HAIDER: Where the campus had the most direct interaction with people on strike was in the retaliation for a protected work stoppage and the fact that in the time since the strike, there has been. A push towards micromanaging graduate worker time in ways that hasn’t existed before so as to prevent us from exercising the right to strike ever again.

Free speech was a major theme in conversations around last year’s protests. Some faculty, like Constance Penley, see Chancellor Yang as a champion of free speech.

Professor Penley teaches a class on pornography. She says that her class, and the study of pornography, has grown to be seen as a legitimate study of art and society. However, this wasn’t the case when Chancellor Yang arrived on campus. Though taken aback at first, after speaking with Penley, Chancellor Yang became one of her pornography class’s most adamant defenders.

PENLEY: When my course was, you know, protested, there were letters from all over, you know, every government office, every outside group such as Santa Barbara County citizens against pornography. And all of them writing to the Chancellor to get my course canceled immediately and for me to be fired.

Now, my course in the rigorous film history and theory and criticism curriculum in our department was an experiment in teaching pornography exactly the way we would address any other instance of film and popular culture, any other genre and media industry.

So, you know, he came to understand what it was. He also came to understand, I think, what academic freedom means. And that is the, you know, right and responsibility of a faculty member to be able to conduct teaching and research on whatever subject she deems meriting that study.

Professor Penley believes that while Yang has been supportive of the merits of pornography in academic study, it remains to be seen how he is on Palestine.

Many students who have been involved with protests on campus think that Chancellor Yang has to be more active in his defense of their speech.

STUDENT ACTIVIST: I understand there is a fear of upsetting people politically. However, as a Chancellor of a university whose goal is education, I think that being explicit about facts, although there are debates, a place called Palestine exists, and I think it’s very politically motivated to refuse to mention that, to levy police presence and restrictions on students in order to clamp down on free speech. I think that is cowardly, and that is my experience.

Janna Haider thinks that Chancellor Yang’s stance on free speech over the last few years has to do with concerns around fundraising.

HAIDER: I don’t think that Henry Yang respects free speech at all. I think that again, the thing that the Regents reward him for is his capacity as a fundraiser and that is what he prioritizes, which means that a political speech on campus is at odds with the interests of those whom Yang solicits for fundraising.

Chancellor Yang’s decision to leave his position as Chancellor comes alongside other announcements and departures from UC president Michael Drake, UCLA chancellor Gene Block, and Columbia University president Minouche Shafik after this politically active past school year.

Dick Flacks thinks that Yang decided to step down due to a potentially negative academic senate Chancellor Review.

FLACKS: His five year review just recently was done. And I have a strong feeling that and what that review includes is a lot of faculty chance for faculty to comment confidentially about the chancellor. I’m willing to bet that many of the comments made where it’s time for chancellors to retire.

Academic Senate Chair Susannah Scott did not discuss the contents of the Chancellor Review.

She did say that Yang’s 30 years in the intense and stressful role of Chancellor was an anomaly.

SCOTT: And knowing him, he’s a little bit competitive, I’m sure he’s kind of proud of the fact that he is the longest serving UC Chancellor. So you know, at the same time that I’m sad to see him go, I’m not actually surprised he’s been here so much longer than any other Chancellor that I’ve known. And that’s across the system – in fact, across the country. It’s just not so common to have somebody make such a long commitment to one institution as he has.

While some see his long tenure as an accomplishment, 4th year political science student and Off Campus Senator Paolo Brinderson said, “like many other powerful California public servants like Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi, stayed in his position for much too long. I am glad he is finally retiring instead of choosing to pass in office. I hope for a younger more energetic face and leadership that will seriously address student concerns instead of being almost totally absent from campus life.”

And a student-activist speculated on Instagram that chancellor Yang may have been pressured to step down by regents dissatisfied with his response to the encampment. “UCSB’s encampment was the longest-running at 54 days, and certainly no one at the UCOP level or CA government level was happy about that. We knew that from the beginning he was receiving enormous pressure from the regents and the governor to shut us down, yet he did not. It remains unclear whether he actually made the final call to clear the camp, or was forced to. My opinion is that he’s a casualty of this movement, and will be replaced by someone more controllable.”

Former Assistant Vice Chancellor George Thurlow was uncertain as to why Yang decided to step down now.

THURLOW: I don’t think anybody knows, except Dilling [Yang’s wife]. Dilling is so important to this story. She was the stable factor in his tenure. It’s hard not to like Henry when Dilling is around.

Thurlow also says that Chancellor Yang has left a positive legacy at UC Santa Barbara.

THURLOW: We’re going to look back fondly on his tenure. And he was a unique leader, who’s not going to come along again. He was really, really good for Santa Barbara during these three decades that he was there.

Others, like one Instagram commenter, are saying “good riddance,” and, in the words of Declan Griffin, “we can only hope the next Chancellor remains more principled.”

Henry T. Yang, the longest-serving chancellor in UC history, will officially exit his position at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.

Thank you for listening.

With KCSB News, I’m Rosie Bultman.

This story was also made possible by KCSB’s Joyce Chi.

The post Henry Yang Announces Plans to Step Down as UCSB’s Chancellor appeared first on KCSB FM - KCSB FM, Santa Barbara.

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Story by Rosie Bultman and Joyce Chi || Photos by Joyce Chi || Listen to the story on SoundCloud || Link to Part 1

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BOSMA: We’ve been attacked by people who’ve claimed they’ve been neighbors for decades. And people who’ve done nothing but deplete everything in our community.

WEGIS: The main thing is it really has caused a lot of stress. I know some retired people that have taken money out of their savings account. It is very emotional for people, especially how it affects your pocketbooks and your livelihood.

The residents of Cuyama Valley are at risk of losing their water rights.

In 2021, two major carrot growers in the area – Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms – filed a lawsuit against Cuyama residents over water usage. This type of lawsuit is called adjudication, and it tries to determine how much water from a basin someone owns and can use.

Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms initially claimed the adjudication lawsuit was a fair process to determine how to responsibly distribute water, a claim that residents – and experts – dispute.

KCSB News has been exploring the Cuyama Valley water wars, and will be airing a two part feature on the topic.

In Part 1, we examined the background of this case: the land, the groundwater crisis, and the beginnings of the lawsuit. Today, in Part 2, we’ll discuss the lawsuit further, how residents fought back, and where the legal battle stands today.

I’m Joyce Chi. This is The Cuyama Valley Water Wars, Part 2.

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To understand the water use lawsuit here, it’s important to also understand the background of the Cuyama Valley. If you haven’t listened to Part 1 yet, here’s a quick refresher on what the Valley’s like.

The Cuyama Valley is located within four counties in Central California: Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, and Kern. It’s hot and dry, with open fields that stretch on to mountain ranges in the horizon. The Cuyama Valley community is small and impoverished, but very tight-knit – which isn’t too surprising, given that the Valley is home to just around 1,500 people spread across three “population centers” (not towns or cities). These are New Cuyama, Cuyama, and Ventucopa.

In the Cuyama Valley, with an annual rainfall of just eight inches, groundwater is everything. It’s the only source of water for the region’s domestic, agricultural, and municipal purposes. According to the United States Geological Survey (or USGS), the sheer amount of groundwater taken up since the 1940s means that the water remaining underground has decreased by as much as 300 feet.

The USGS also says most of this groundwater goes to irrigating agricultural crops. While there are smaller, private farmers in the Valley – like Jim Wegis, there are two growers whose production and profits dwarf others: Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms.

Both their produce of choice is carrots. In fact, The Santa Maria Sun reports that at least eighty percent of all carrots in the U.S. are produced by Grimmway and Bolthouse (Grimmway Farms is actually the largest carrot producer in the world).

Maybe you’re familiar with their products – I know I’ve definitely seen Grimmway’s baby carrots in the grocery store before, with that bold white font and green banner at the top.

It’s safe to say then, that in the world of carrots, Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms are titans. The residents of Cuyama Valley, like rancher Jake Furstenfeld, are no stranger to that.

FURSTENFELD: The fight, it’s not fair. It’s completely out of hand. That’s why we call it David vs. Goliath.

Jake is referring to the adjudication lawsuit launched by Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms in 2021.

On August 17th of that year, Bolthouse, Grimmway, and the property companies that lease farmland to them filed a complaint in the LA County Superior Court against, quote, “all persons claiming a right to extract or store groundwater in the Cuyama Valley Groundwater Basin,” end quote.

We mentioned earlier that the Valley’s groundwater has been severely depleted over time. In fact, the Cuyama Valley basin is considered “critically overdrafted,” one of 21 such basins in California.

As part of a landmark state bill passed in 2014 called the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (or SGMA), Cuyama Valley had to form a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (or GSA), and they were tasked with creating a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (or GSP). [You can hear more about this in Part 1.]

The Cuyama Basin GSA is made up of a Board of Directors – mostly of local county politicians and representatives of water agencies – and also a Standing Advisory Committee of local residents. Jake Furstenfeld’s a part of that committee.

FURSTENFELD: It was important for me to see how bad it was or what we’re up against…4:05 I’ve never been to college or anything like that. I graduated Cuyama High School and went to the army, Learned this lingo. Figure out what exactly is going on, looking at all these hydrographs, long meetings.

BOSMA: Like Jake Furstenfeld, he was not paid to be there. He’s just trying to do what’s right to help guide us through a really tough process.

But if you listened to Part 1, you know by now that on that voting Board of Directors – it wasn’t just local officials. There were also representatives from Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms. Jake says these representatives have stayed on the Board, even throughout the adjudication lawsuit.

For instance – the agenda from Cuyama Basin GSA’s most recent meeting on July 31st, 2024 lists Derek Yurosek as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors. Yurosek, whose grandfather invented baby carrots, is one of many representatives from the Cuyama Basin Water District – where he’s actually the President – but he was also once a Vice President at Bolthouse Farms for 14 years, from 1997 to 2011 (before SGMA and the GSP came into play).

That’s according to his LinkedIn and his biography on the website for Bolthouse Properties, on which he’s the Director of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Though they have an overlapping history, as the name suggests, Bolthouse Farms said in a statement that they’re completely separate from and unrelated to Bolthouse Land Company, which is still a plaintiff (since they lease land to Bolthouse Farms).

I know the Bolthouse name is becoming repetitive at this point, but hang in there. Because the thing is – Bolthouse Properties and Bolthouse Land Company are the same.

Bolthouse Farms said as much in that statement, AND the website for Bolthouse Properties lists Bolthouse Land Company under its “agriculture” section. Not to mention, they both have the same president, Anthony Leggio, who also previously served as Bolthouse Farm’s general counsel. That information comes from company websites and filings with the California Secretary of State.

So, TL;DR: the Vice Chair of the decision-making body for the Cuyama Basin’s approach to groundwater sustainability also works for a company with deep ties to the ongoing adjudication lawsuit. And by the way, Derek Yurosek was previously the Chair of the GSA, until he was voted out in May 2023.

Yurosek did not respond to our requests for comment.

Grimmway Farms themselves have acknowledged their relationship to the GSA. In a statement from October 2023, Grimmway Farms said they, quote, “were a leader in organizing the Cuyama Basin Water District and the Cuyama Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency,” end quote.

Here’s what Jake had to say about working with representatives of Grimmway and Bolthouse.

FURSTENFELD: They obviously were going for things that they wanted for their company and their companies’ best interest…With the adjudication and them being on the board, how are they influencing and playing the game there? So there seems to be in everybody’s mind, there’s a huge conflict of interest there.

Nevertheless, after years of work, the Cuyama Basin’s GSP was passed in December 2019. It was updated in 2022, but both versions have the same main finding: quote, “current analysis indicates groundwater pumping reductions on the order of 50 to 67 percent may be required basin-wide to achieve sustainability,” end quote.

FURSTENFELD: I would say getting cut back was probably one of the biggest components for them to be like, “okay, we’re not getting what we want through this process. Our last ditch effort is to adjudicate instead of this public process.”

Despite being involved in the drafting of the GSP, Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms still decided to launch this adjudication lawsuit against water users in the Valley – that includes all residents and the local school districts too.

Here’s Jake Furstenfeld.

FURSTENFELD: I’d say the first initial thing was everybody was scared. As time gone on, people became mad and upset at Grimmway and Bolthouse, wondering, “how can they do this? They’re the ones that are the biggest water pumpers in the valley. They’re the reasons why we’re in this situation. It’s not what everybody else is doing.”

Grimmway Farms said the lawsuit was, quote, “due in part to strong political opposition to exploring equitable long-term solutions at the CBGSA board” and that their intention “was to ensure an equitable allocation of water basin-wide,” end quote. The water cuts currently only apply to the Central Basin, but residents believe that Grimmway and Bolthouse want to spread these cuts to the entire basin.

BOSMA: I felt like our entire valley got sucker punched by two large corporations.

That’s cattle rancher and retired sheriff’s deputy Charlie Bosma.

BOSMA: Grimmway and Bolthouse are the equivalent of carrot versions of Pepsi and Coke. These guys are generally rivals in the business industry. To see them come together with the landowners for their properties and file this lawsuit jointly, I think to me – it’s a perfect picture of corporate greed overtaking everything else….They’re willing to overlook all of that to sue all these people in their valley to try to have a bigger slice of the water pie.

But, as UCSB Professor Casey Walsh said in Part 1, adjudication is unnecessary.

WALSH: The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act includes within itself everything that is needed to manage groundwater sustainability in a basin.

But even so, residents of the Cuyama Valley were left without a choice. If they wanted to keep their water rights, they had to participate in the lawsuit. Though some residents are taking their chances and not participating in the lawsuit, just as many have hired high-priced lawyers specialized in water usage to advocate for them.

BOSMA: 20 years in law enforcement, somewhat familiar with the legal system in general, at leas the criminal side of it fairly well. And basically, once I got done trying to figure out how to do it, I realized that it was impossible for me to represent myself.

That’s Charlie Bosma again. He says that because of the distance, filing in the LA County Superior Court also complicated chances of representing yourself.

BOSMA:I know of nobody who successfully has represented themselves that is not an attorney. It forced every person here to either go get an attorney and represent yourself or just, “hey, I’ll take whatever you guys decide.”

Charlie says that for almost two years now, he’s likely paid over 15 thousand dollars for an attorney who’s representing around 30 other people too.

Jim Wegis, the pistachio and olive farmer, says his legal representation follows a similar model.

WEGIS: There’s 10 growers from up the road. We have formed a group, and we have hired attorneys. So those attorneys are representing 10 of us. And it’s the majority of the people that farm in this Ventucopa area.

The local school district also had to hire attorneys, and the Superintendent told the LA Times that their legal fees have surpassed 28 thousand dollars.

In a statement from October 2023, Grimmway Farms said they are, quote, “not in favor of cutting the water rights of the Cuyama Community Services District, the Cuyama Valley High School, or small residential water users,” end quote.

WEGIS: Grimmway and Bolthouse want everybody in the basin to take equal cuts to bring the basin into sustainability.

This is despite the fact that Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms are by far the largest water users in the Cuyama Valley. As the Santa Barbara Independent explains, Bolthouse Farms and Grimmway Farms pump more than 20 thousand acre-feet of water out of the basin each year (As for all extractors, that number increases in drought years.)

And – in 2022, Grimmway and Bolthouse pumped enough groundwater to meet the annual supply for three cities the size of Santa Barbara.

Charlie Bosma says that in his opinion, despite the passage of the GSP, Grimmway and Bolthouse continued to pump more water.

BOSMA: If you’re a responsible person and you sit in this valley and you’re like, “okay, we need to cut back on water usage.” What’s the last thing you should do? I shouldn’t plant more trees. I shouldn’t go buy more cows. I should be responsible about cutting back. That’s the opposite of what they did. They plowed more, tilled more, opened up more ground, started using gross amounts of water because they know that the water cutbacks are going to be allocated on water.

You can watch them water dirt in the middle of July. It’s insane to watch…Is it to accomplish something? I’m sure they can come up with some rational explanation for every time a droplet hits the ground. When you water with overhead sprinklers in the summer, such a small fraction of that water actually makes it in the ground. It is such an atrocious waste.

Both Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms declined to comment for this story. But Charlie’s claims follow the idea of historical use – the amount of water you get reflects the amount of water you used. Professor Casey Walsh says the principle of historical use has long been used in adjudication, but could cross over into the GSP implementation.

WALSH: There’s some sense among people who have participated in this that historical use as an idea has become favored in the SGMA process, because it will line up with what the adjudication process is going to be based on.

This is despite the fact that SGMA seeks to avoid allocations based solely on historical use.

WALSH: It wouldn’t reward the inefficiency of the past by basing future allocations on those inefficient groundwater uses in the past.

Meanwhile, Jim Wegis is frustrated that he’s even included in the lawsuit.

The Cuyama GSP established the Ventucopa Management Area and the Central Management Area. Jim lives in Ventucopa, and, as part of his legal battle, he’s seeking to prove that his water supply from the Ventucopa Basin is separate from the Central Basin water used by Grimmway and Bolthouse. Remember, it’s the Central Basin — the most overdrafted one — that’s been under the water restrictions.

The US Geological Survey says that groundwater samples suggest that water does not move freely between the Cuyama Valley’s sub-basins. Jim Wegis says that experts have been brought in to determine if the Santa Barbara Canyon Fault is permeable and allows for water to move, a fact that will determine his future in the lawsuit.

WEGIS: So you hire experts. They have experts, we have to hire experts. And they’re drilling monitoring wells. We have a well drilled, I allowed them to drill a well right 100 yards from here. Actually it’s three wells, one and they drilled one down the right on the other side of the highway. You passed a rig that they’re drilling, then they’ve done that in several other places in the valley trying to see how much water goes through. If any water goes through, there’s the permeability factor. Nobody knows exactly what that fault. I mean, we spent millions of dollars just studying that fault.

The more and more information you get, the easier it is to convince the judge. It’s not just my word against yours. They will have facts to back this up.

Jake Furstenfeld confirmed that he’s heard similar complaints from other residents using water not from the Central Basin.

FURSTENFELD: We’re not all overdrafting. That’s why there’s only one management area currently in the Cuyama Groundwater Basin, and that’s the Central Management Area, which Grimmway and Bolthouse farm in.

For three years now, the residents of Cuyama Valley have defended themselves in the adjudication lawsuit brought by Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms. But their resistance isn’t just limited to courtrooms.

BOSMA: My opinion is that the only way that we are going to get corporations like them to reconsider their decision-making is if we affect them financially. Which is why we’re asking people to boycott carrots.

Around the Valley, you’ll see many of the same orange and black signs and stickers that read “Stand with Cuyama against corporate greed. Boycott carrots.”

Stand With Cuyama is a movement organized by locals calling for the boycott of carrots produced by Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms. They’ve also created a change.org petition that has nearly 9,500 signatures.

The petition makes three demands for Grimmway and Bolthouse: to stop overpumping the Cuyama Valley basin; to reimburse locals for legal fees incurred in this adjudication process; and to go back to the GSP and to put pressure on the remaining plaintiffs to drop the lawsuit (more on that later.)

Here’s what Charlie Bosma had to say about Stand With Cuyama.

BOSMA: We as a community needed to do something to raise awareness to what was going on and ask people to reconsider their choices because of what they’re doing to our community. And I think a lot of us believe that if they’re successful, they will destroy this community.

I feel like if we can continue to put pressure on them, that’s gonna be the only way we get them to acquiesce and drop this – not a legal term, personal opinion – completely frivolous, bullshit lawsuit.

The carrot boycott is still active – even though Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms actually dropped out of the adjudication in October 2023 and November 2023, respectively.

Grimmway Farms said in a statement that they pulled out of the lawsuit because of the overwhelmingly negative response from locals, writing, quote, “our relationships with the residents of Cuyama are more important and valuable to us than this court case,” end quote.

Meanwhile, Bolthouse Farms expressed similar sentiment, but also told the LA Times that they had recently, quote, “re-evaluated its involvement in the adjudication and believe that, given our existing actions to reduce water, it no longer makes sense to continue as a plaintiff in this lawsuit,” end quote.

But the lawsuit is still ongoing, with four plaintiffs: Diamond Farming Company, Lapis Land Company, Ruby Land Company, and Bolthouse Land Company.

We reached out to these companies for comment, but have not heard back.

Both Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms do NOT own the land they farm on – they lease it from those property companies.

We already discussed Bolthouse Properties-slash-Bolthouse Land Company, and how one of their Vice Presidents still sits on the Cuyama Basin GSA’s Board of Directors; how their President was once the general counsel for Bolthouse Farms; etcetera.

According to Legal Planet, Grimmway Farms also inherently has shared interests with these landowners (Diamond Farming; Lapis; and Ruby), because it’s the landowners who typically hold the rights to groundwater.

The New Times of San Luis Obispo further wrote about this relationship. Lapis Land Company and Ruby Land Company are managed by Legacy Farm Management. Three of the managers of Legacy Farm Management have close ties to Grimmway Farms: Barbara Grimm-Marshall was the co-owner of Grimmway Enterprises; Brandon Grimm is the general manager of grower relations for Grimmway Farms; and Jeffrey Meger was the president for Grimmway Farms until 2016.

All are managers at Legacy Farm Management.

However, Dana Brennan, Grimmway’s vice president of external affairs and corporate responsibility, says that, quote “None of the individuals on the list provided by the New Times are current officers or directors of Grimmway Enterprises,” end quote.

Here’s Charlie again.

BOSMA: There’s a whole lot of inbreeding there, in the sense of what everybody possesses.

Regardless, for the residents of the Cuyama Valley, it doesn’t matter who dropped out or who’s still in. The adjudication lawsuit is still ongoing – and so is the carrot boycott.

BOSMA: Us raising awareness on what’s going on is not favorable to them. And to see those two entities drop out, I think we were hopeful that we were coming to the table on ending and resolving this situation. But the reality is that we’re not, because the other two entities are just plowing forward, and this keeps going.

That’s why, Charlie says, the boycott will continue until the adjudication lawsuit is fully dropped.

BOSMA: Carrot cake’s my favorite dessert. I haven’t had it in two years. We don’t eat carrots. My own daughter will pick the carrots out of the pot pie from Costco and leave them on the side of the plate. She’s nine.

A nonjury trial has been scheduled for February 2025, where they’ll discuss safe yield, the amount of water people can pull out of the basin. But Professor Casey Walsh says to understand the future of the lawsuit, we have to also come to terms with the future of our natural resources.

WALSH: The adjudication will go forward. People will spend a whole bunch of money. The companies are going to try to get as much water out of the ground as possible for as long as possible. // The big vision is that we as a society, as a state… We have to transition to a more sustainable form.

Three years in, Jim Wegis and Charlie Bosma are cautious, yet determined to fight for their water rights.

BULTMAN: So what do you think it would take to have the ideal outcome of this lawsuit?

WEGIS: The grace of God on our side. We’re doing everything we can to make them see. It’s the unknown factor that’s really causing a lot of stress and animosity. That’s the biggest thing, because you can talk to anybody in this valley anytime, and water will come up. It didn’t use to be that way.

BULTMAN: If Grimmway and Bolthouse win, what do you expect to happen?

BOSMA: I feel like it will cause a lot of people to have no other choice but to look elsewhere, and when you have to look elsewhere, we’re gonna lose families.

We just want to survive. We want to be able to use the water beneath us to responsibly live our lives.

Thank you for listening to The Cuyama Valley Water Wars. You can find Parts 1 and 2 on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Podcasts.

With KCSB News, I’m Joyce Chi. This story was also made possible by KCSB’s Rosie Bultman.

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BOSMA: It’s bleeding everybody in this valley. And the reality is that Grimmway and Bolthouse know this is an impoverished community. They know what they’re doing. If they don’t, like, I can’t speak to what their mindset is. I can’t speak to their mindset, but I can look at their actions and make some assumptions, right? And my assumptions looking at, I mean, I don’t know how large hedge funds type corporations, whatever they are, they don’t make mistakes, right? They make calculated decisions, and their calculated decision was to attack this valley in this manner fiscally, as well as to try to basically steal the water rights from everybody else in the valley. And when I mean everybody, I mean everybody. Our school district, our water district, our churches, our nonprofits, our small business owners, our farms, our ranches, our community members that live in the town site.

The residents of Cuyama Valley are at risk of losing their water rights.

Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms initially claimed the adjudication lawsuit was a fair process to determine water rights, a claim that residents – and experts – dispute.

KCSB News has been investigating the Cuyama Valley Water Wars, and will be airing a two part feature on the topic.

In Part 1 we’ll examine the background of this case. On Monday, in Part 2, we’ll discuss the lawsuit, its impact on residents (and how they fought back), and where the lawsuit stands today.

I’m Rosie Bultman. This is The Cuyama Valley Water Wars, Part 1.

The Cuyama Valley, as its travel website says, is “perfectly in the middle of everywhere.”

Hot, arid, and sparsely populated, it lies along the Cuyama River and within Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, and Kern Counties.

When we say “sparsely populated,” we mean it. Less than 1,500 people live in one of three “population centers”: New Cuyama, Old Cuyama (or just Cuyama), and Ventucopa.

Here’s Charlie Bosma, a rancher and retired deputy sheriff who you heard at the beginning, describing the community.

BOSMA: Fiscally impoverished. Very tight knit, very supportive. We’re able to survive and overcome things with each other’s help. We’re very independent in a lot of respects, and very live and let live in the sense of how we approach our community.

The average annual household income in the area is around 55 thousand dollars. For the lowest-income households – those making less than 20 thousand dollars a year – bottled water is a major expense, accounting for more than 7 percent of total income. When there’s so few people around, it becomes more expensive to pay for water systems. That’s according to a study by Casey Walsh, a professor of anthropology at UCSB who has done extensive research on Cuyama’s water crisis, who you’ll hear from later.

WEGIS: When oil came in the 60s, it was basically a middle-class, working-class community in the town of New Cuyama, and that’s where most of the people were.

That’s Jim Wegis, a third-generation Cuyama Valley farmer who lives in Ventucopa.

WEGIS: That’s when I grew up, and it was a great place to be. We were probably behind times in a lot of the things going on, but it was family-oriented, and it was a good place to be.

Jim took us around his farm and showed us his crops, which take years to grow and be ready for harvest.

WEGIS: This is a pistachio. See, it’s been bruised. See that? That white thing will be the nut. They grow clusters, like grapes. They’ll be big ones, and they’ll be all over the tree. Pistachios are clusters. As you get a big tree, there’s lots of these…This is one variety of olives, and these are… This is all for oil. All of this is done mechanically. The flesh is where the oil is and they will get quite a bit larger.

Jim’s great-grandparents came to the Cuyama Valley in 1852 from Ojai and Ventura. He said he’s lived nearly his entire life in Cuyama, and has seen first hand the changes the Valley has gone through.

According to Jim, Cuyama Valley was initially an agriculture and ranching town. Then irrigation and oil came in the late 1940s and 1960s. From his perspective, Ventucopa – his hometown – hasn’t changed as much as the central part of the Valley.

WEGIS: The oil fields don’t use near as many people. They’re automation, and the same in agriculture… // The price of labor has gone up. All costs have gone up, so we’ve had to become more and more efficient to survive. Agriculture is an industry throughout the United States that uses less people than it used to.

It isn’t just automation. Charlie Bosma has noticed a decrease in small farms in the Valley.

BOSMA: Large corporations are systematically buying up land, changing them from family farms into corporate farmland.

Charlie said he’s heard talk for years that big corporations might eventually become a problem for locals. He says the “live and let live” attitude at the center of residents’ respect for each other may also have exacerbated the situation.

BOSMA: We’ve been so live and let live and not making an issue of what somebody else is doing with their property and their resource…I have listened to people talk about the water problem…more so in the jest of people saying, “oh, you know, in 10 or 15 years, this valley is going to be a dust bowl because of how much water these large corporations are using.”

For residents of the Cuyama Valley, the only source of water – and the kind of water at the center of this lawsuit – is groundwater.

Groundwater forms when rain or snow seeps through the earth and accumulates between rocks underground. This is a process that takes hundreds of millions of years, according to Professor Casey Walsh, and the water that’s pumped out can be tens of thousands of years old.

WALSH: So places like Cuyama Valley – they have this immense resource of groundwater underneath them. That’s what’s so attractive to agriculture. You can basically put a well in anywhere and get water just by flipping a switch, which makes it very easy to grow delicate crops.

For big farms like Grimmway and Bolthouse, Cuyama Valley is the perfect resource, with its once-abundant groundwater and its extreme temperatures that make it difficult for insects and pests to live. But Cuyama’s water resources are depleting, which means they don’t have access to the water that they want to conduct their large-scale operations.

Here’s Professor Walsh again.

WALSH: Basically, groundwater levels were falling rapidly. The qualifiers were being pumped out to support agriculture. And this is a process that’s been happening for a long time.

Chances are, the carrots you consume on a daily basis come from Grimmway Farms or Bolthouse Farms — they are that big. The two farms, which came to Cuyama in the 1980s, are responsible for eighty percent of the US carrot market, raking in sixty-nine million dollars annually.

Despite their outsized presence in the Cuyama Valley, many residents do not consider Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms as part of the community.

BOSMA: When a decision based on how much water goes on a field is made by Somebody in an office in Bakersfield or somebody in a corporation office in New York that there’s no concept to What’s appropriate for the land?

Grimmway Farms and Bolthouse Farms are both headquartered in Bakersfield. Bolthouse Farms’ parent company, Butterfly Equity, is based in Beverly Hills, while Grimmway Farms’ parent company, Teays River Investments, is based in Zionsville, Indiana.

Also, many of the people who work in agriculture in Cuyama don’t actually live there.

Professor Walsh explained this further.

WALSH: The workers come and go, and they live in the Central Valley, and they spend their wages in the Central Valley. The businesses don’t really leave anything there. There’s no sort of derivative economy from this carrot production. It really just looks like an enclave, kind of like a little isolated production zone that really doesn’t generate anything locally, doesn’t generate any sort of expansion or economic growth or prosperity. That’s one of the things that people in the Valley recognize, that there are these enormous companies in the Valley using their water and land, but really not leaving very much there at all.

Charlie Bosma emphasized that he has no problem with the workers that come in to work on Grimmway and Bolthouse farms. He cites a tragic incident to illustrate his perspective that Grimmway and Bolthouse are harmful on multiple levels: the September 2023 death of 58-year-old Rosa Miriam Sanchez on a carrot field in New Cuyama operated by Grimmway Farms.

BOSMA: It’s not with the guys who moved the pipe. It’s not with the guys who pull the weeds like it’s not with I mean if you look it up We had a horrible tragedy out here a Year ago now and I can send you the information on it if you want to see it and it just goes to show the mindset and the ideology of this giant machine right and We had contract laborers up they were out in a field a Tractor operator I’ve Tractor operator truck operator. I can’t remember if he’s driving a truck or tractor ran over a field worker and killed her in front of her daughter and They stopped and literally moved them like rose over and told them to keep picking parents That’s not humane that’s inhumane

In a statement on Instagram after Sanchez’s death, Grimmway Farms said they were cooperating with a state investigation and would be launching their own.

In 2021, Grimmway and Bolthouse Farms filed a water usage lawsuit against the residents of Cuyama.

This adjudication lawsuit comes after the passage of the Cuyama Valley’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan, or GSP.

The Cuyama Basin is one of 21 critically overdrafted basins in California, which means the amount of water taken out of the basin was greater than its long term annual supply of water. Overdrafted basins can have adverse impacts on the environment, and don’t bode well for a community’s long-term water supply.

Jim Wegis says that Grimmway and Bolthouse are the largest water pumpers in the Valley.

WEGIS: Everybody in the main basin down there, Grimmway and Bolt House are the two largest pumpers in the valley. So their majority responsibility. If you just look at the straight numbers, they pump the most water, they farm the most ground, but they pump the most water so they’re most responsible. And they can’t argue that point. Did they break the law in doing any of that to this point? No.

He also illustrates what pumping water looks like for him, as a small independent farmer. This differs from the pumping that agricultural giants Grimmway and Bolthouse do.

WEGIS: The deepest well I have is 240 feet deep. You go down the road a mile and they’re 1200 feet deep. And 240 feet will not even get close to the water table. So that is the main difference.

In 2014, the state passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA (“sigma”). This bill requires local governments to create groundwater sustainability plans, or GSPs.

Professor Casey Walsh says SGMA was a landmark piece of legislation, as prior to its passage, there was little to no regulation for groundwater usage. There was only Article 10, Section 2 of the California State Constitution, which requires that water resources, quote, “be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable,” end quote.

Walsh also cites something called the “correlative rights doctrine.”

WALSH: The courts would decide whether this person extracting water from their parcel was harming others’ access to that water.

But the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act changed that. Instead of adjudication and fighting it out in courts, people – local officials, residents, and others – could collaborate on a plan to responsibly handle a region’s water resources.

Cuyama’s GSP was drafted by a Board of Directors and a Standing Advisory Committee. The Board includes many local officials – like Supervisor Das Williams, while the Advisory Committee includes local residents, like Jake Furstenfeld.

FURSTENFELD: I felt empowered that I was able to help be a productive part of this process.

After SGMA was passed in 2014, Jake says that they quickly got to work on drafting the GSP.

The most recent version of the Cuyama Basin’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan is 455 pages long and is available at cuyamabasin.org. Among the critical provisions is this: based on current data, groundwater usage in the area needs to be cut by as much as 50 to 67 percent. It’s important to note, though, there will be ongoing evaluations and studies to update those figures.

There are four phases of the Cuyama GSP, with the goal of achieving basin sustainability by 2040.

But even before the GSP was finalized, Jim Wegis changed the crops he grew, since water-intensive crops had become too expensive to maintain. (The deeper you go to pump water, the more electricity you have to use.) Jim used to grow alfalfa, but switched to olives and pistachios, which use around 50% less water.

WEGIS: This whole valley, basically the whole valley used to be in alfalfa, which was five to seven acre feet per acre water usage. And then it, the main part of the basin down there left when energy prices started. And I’m talking in the 60s, the energy prices started going up, alfalfa kind of went out. And then the price of hay came back up, and maybe in a 10 year period there wasn’t very much, there was potatoes and there were some other higher value crops. And then alfalfa came back, I used to farm, all of this was in alfalfa. But seeing handwriting on a wall, I I that that wasn’t going to be good in the long run, because you could see water, because water was becoming very, and it wasn’t so much here. And honestly I wanted to try growing some trees, I grew trees in the past, theoretically so we could get away more, but it hasn’t worked. That’s a big plan. It has helped, but but you’ve got to be here all the time too. And so our water usage is less than half of what we were using.

Besides local officials from the county and water agencies, the Board of Directors also includes representatives from Grimmway and Bolthouse including Derek Yurosek from Bolthouse Farms and Grimmway’s George Cappello. Representatives from Grimmway and Bolthouse served on the Board, even throughout the lawsuit.

FURSTENFELD: They’re going to want to influence the process to help benefit their needs, right?…It felt like this whole time, they want to cut back as little as possible. One of them was like, let’s not cut back to 2035. Are you kidding me? 2035? We could be out of water by then. They were going for their company’s best interest, but the majority of the community was going for sustainability. The goal is sustainability from day 1.

Despite their involvement throughout the process, the two farms decided to pursue a lawsuit.

BOSMA: There’s no good faith there, right. Like you don’t sit on a panel, create a document and we’re not talking about something that they threw together with like legal zoom in 15 minutes. This was over, I want to say, four or five years to create this document and to sit and to try to come up with something that was fair for everybody. That gets sent off to the state. They sue everybody.

In a statement to KSBY in 2023, Bolthouse Farms confirmed that every landowner in a basin that’s being adjudicated needs to participate in the adjudication process.

However, Professor Casey Walsh reiterated that SGMA was comprehensive enough so that adjudication was unnecessary.

WALSH: The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act includes within itself everything that is needed to manage groundwater sustainability in a basin.

The high stakes of the lawsuit has sparked a carrot-boycott movement, formally known as Stand with Cuyama, organized by residents like Jake Furstenfeld and Charlie Bosma.

Shortly after the movement’s inception, in October and November of 2023, Grimmway and Bolthouse officially withdrew from the lawsuit. But the fight is far from over, as both farms have close ties to the property owners that remain involved.

As the lawsuit draws on, Cuyama residents fear for their livelihoods.

BOSMA: I think a lot of us believe that if they’re successful, they will destroy this community. And I mean, like you asked before, what do you do without water? Would you do nothing? You move, right?

KCSB News will continue the story of Cuyama Valley Water Wars on Monday’s newscast.

Thank you for listening, with KCSB news, I’m Rosie Bultman. This episode was also made possible by KCSB’s Joyce Chi.

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At UC Santa Barbara, where 48% of undergrads and 31% of grad students face food insecurity, there have been efforts to achieve meal swipe reform since at least 2006. That year, according to the Daily Nexus, an Associated Students representative named Nathaniel Wood-Wilde advocated for meal swipe rollovers. It was not successful then, as the university raised concerns that rollovers would increase the cost of meal plans.

Then in 2020, the AS Senate unanimously passed a resolution in favor of rollovers, but that was unsuccessful too.

Now finally, meal swipe reform is coming to UCSB, in the form of rollovers, donations, and sharing. This is thanks to grassroots advocacy led by the campus chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, or YDSA, in collaboration with the AS Basic Needs Committee. To learn more, I talked to YDSA’s upcoming co-chair and outreach chair, Isabella Ferraro and Isabelle Prittie.

FERRARO: Yeah, I’m Isabella. I’m a fourth year political science major, and I’m going to be the co-chair for the second year at UCSB YDSA, which is Young Democratic Socialists of America.

PRITTIE: My name is Isabelle, and I’m an second year political science major, and I’m going to be the outreach chair for the upcoming 2024-25 school year.

I asked why YDSA chose to focus on the issue of meal swipe reform.

Isabella, YDSA’s co-chair, talked about how UCSB’s meal plan differed from other UCs. Prior to this meal swipe reform, UCSB was one of two campuses (along with UC Berkeley) to not offer rollovers, where unused meal swipes for one week would “roll over” to the next. UCSB and UC San Diego were also the only two to not allow meal swipe sharing.

FERRARO: I don’t know if you’ve ever visited a different UC, but a bunch of people who had were like, “oh, it’s so much better at pretty much every other school,” and their friends were saying, you know, “I can’t believe that it’s like that where you are…”

Isabella also said that many of YDSA’s members have meal plans themselves, as first or second years or through employment at the dining halls.

YDSA then moved to surveying students about meal swipe reform. Here’s Isabelle, YDSA’s outreach chair.

PRITTIE: We were getting some really shocking responses back in from students who had a meal plan and were saying that they weren’t able to, through that meal plan, have enough food to sustain themselves throughout the week. We had some people saying that they were getting faint biking back to their dorms. We had a lot of people saying that they had leftover meal swipes at the end of every week. We had some people saying that they didn’t have enough meal swipes. So just a lot of feedback kind of saying that the plan that we had originally was flawed, and that was something that we needed to work on.

FERRARO: One thing that really stood out to me was multiple people in different ways saying that it had worsened an eating disorder, because that was just very startling to hear just from, you know, completely different people filling it out over the course of the like month that we had it independently.

The survey was on YDSA’s Instagram, but members also took to doing walkthroughs, where they did door knocking in dorms.

FERRARO: So you just knock on each door, you have a little conversation with this person at the end. You’re like, “hey, can you fill out this survey?” And that was how we got it. I think we had over like 150 people fill that out through just door knocking and having it on Instagram.

With the results of the survey, YDSA published a petition and obtained signatures through Instagram, more dorm walkthroughs, and more tabling.

FERRARO: We were like, “Hey, I don’t know if you’ve heard about this thing that we’re trying to do, but we have a petition for it. Do you feel that this is something relevant to you? Do you support this kind of cause?” And the day was published, I think we got like in the hundreds of responses.

Here’s Isabelle talking more about tabling.

PRITTIE: I think that was a really good way of like connecting to people at UCSB, because we tabled outside the dining hall. So we were catching all the people who had the meal plans. And through that, we were kind of able to learn how widely felt it was. Everyone we talked to, like Isabella said, had a very strong response.

The petition, which garnered over two thousand signatures, called for meal swipe rollover, sharing, and donation. UCSB previously had a meal swipe donation program, where students could donate up to three swipes to the AS Food Bank. The cost was subsidized by a third-party non-profit called Swipe Out Hunger. This pre-pandemic program, though, ended due to budget cuts, according to the Nexus.

10 other campus organizations endorsed YDSA’s petition, including the AS Basic Needs Committee’s Chair Alvin Wang (now the Student Advocate General) and Campus Projects Liaison Denise Corrales.

FERRARO: They were a big part of it. They helped us write our proposals and get the actual meetings with admin.

YDSA says they had these meetings over the course of two to three months. Here’s Isabella again.

FERRARO: The first one was honestly just laying the groundwork of admin being like, “Well, this is why things are the way they are now. We actually have it in such a way that it’s as cheap as possible.” And then us saying like, “Well, what do you mean by that? What about donation? You guys literally had that a couple of years ago. How is it, you know, can you tell us the actual details of why it’s gone?”

So that was a lot of it is actually getting on the same page with them, because sometimes the school information is not transparent at all. So that was a big part of it. And then we honestly just ran out of time at that first meeting, figuring out how to navigate everything.

And then the next one was a lot more concrete, like getting some real timeline going about like, “OK, these are the things we want. And how can we work to make this happen?” And Alvin was one of the people that proposed, like, “we should offer to have a pilot proposal.”

And so that was a big way that we were able to actually make some real concrete advancements, because it was less just being like, “we want this.” And them being like, “We don’t know if we even could afford that. Or if that is logical.” We were able to say, “Well, what if you tried this? Because you have no idea of what the implications of it are, because it’s not tested.”

And so we offered them that idea, and they were receptive to it. I think it was like a week later, we submitted it to them and worked to schedule another meeting where we would hammer out what they were comfortable with and their response to it.

And I think that Admin was really, really receptive to that, which was really nice to feel like that effort and that student support was listened to. We honestly were very pleasantly surprised at how easy that part of it was, because we basically wrote down everything we had hoped for in the reforms into a pilot proposal, which was rollover, sharing, and donation.

The finalized 4-3-2 proposal is as follows.

The meal swipe donation program has been “immediately reinstated,” according to YDSA’s Instagram, with meal plan holders being able to donate three swipes a week to the AS Food Bank. Unlike the previous program that involved a third party non profit, this current program will be done internally by UCSB’s Housing, Dining, and Auxiliary Enterprises (or HDAE).

In a statement on behalf of HDAE, UCSB spokesperson Kiki Reyes said that this program would be voucher based, and that Campus Dining and the AS Food Bank would work together to determine how to best distribute these vouchers in accordance with Food Bank eligibility standards. Reyes said, “by partnering with the Food Bank as the distributors, we can ensure eligible students in need will receive these donations.”

The upcoming winter quarter will see a pilot program where four meals a week can be rolled over and two meals a week can be shared with any UCSB student. Reyes explained that ten percent of residential meal plan holders and ten percent of off-campus meal plan holders will be randomly offered the chance to participate in this pilot program.

Data from this study will be used to determine how to implement the reforms for all students in the 2025-2026 school year and beyond.

When asked what changed the university’s perspective on the issue of meal swipe reform, UCSB spokesperson Kiki Reyes said that HDAE “has always considered student perspectives and needs when designing meal plans and remains open to conversations about our practices to best serve UCSB students.”

Reyes highlighted the “collaborative discussions” between AS, YDSA, the Residential Housing Association, and university leadership to develop the pilot programs, which would “allow our team to implement changes without significant disruptions to our operations.” Additionally, Reyes stated on behalf of HDAE, “we appreciate the opportunity to partner with student leaders to improve our meal plan options.”

I asked Isabelle and Isabella which parts of the campaign they were most proud of.

PRITTIE: I like tabling a lot. I was involved in the tabling for the petition and for the survey in the beginning. And I really like that because there was a chance to connect with the students that we were actually affecting. Our whole campaign from the very start was about the students.

This is really an issue that is by the students, for the students. It was really nice being able to go on table and connect with the meal plan holders and find out what it is that they wanted and what they had issue with in the meal plan.

FERRARO: I’d have to say a pretty similar thing myself. Door knocking with people was really fun, getting to talk to people about their experience with it. I think a big part of that is that, as students ourselves and in interacting with other students, you’re trying to give people the building blocks or the tools to be able to do these kinds of things, like to try and change things around them. So that was a big part of it.

People were like, “Yeah, this is bad and something should be done about it.” It’s just one of those things that’s kind of bad, and you don’t even think that it’s possible for anything to change. You’re just like this is the era around me. You don’t even like notice it.

That’s a big part of it, is that it does feel really meaningful to see people who they hear about something and they’re like, “I want to be a part of this and I want to get like really engaged.” That’s really meaningful and ideally that transforms into continued engagement with — it feels weird to say politics or something like this, but I do think it is politics, because it’s food insecurity.

~~~

FERRARO: I’m really proud of what we were able to do with this program. But I also think it’s important to connect it with why we chose to engage in this.

Obviously we care about it, but we’re not doing this as like some poor like charity case thing that we’re doing for the school. It’s that the students in our club are in large part working class students, students who would greatly benefit from this being a thing and who see it as in line with our ideals of socialism and democracy.

That’s a big part of it, is making the school kind of more democratic, because it really felt in that first meeting that the admin was kind of like, “No, you just don’t understand. This is the way things have to be.”

And it clearly wasn’t because, by our second and third meetings, they were like, “You know, you’re right, this is kind of fun.” Not to downplay it, but they seemed to think it was actually a super good idea once we talked about it a little more and emphasized that 10% of students were on board with our program. That’s something important to me is connecting it to our values as a club — why we do anything.

PRITTIE: This is, I think, a really big organizing win on the part of the club and it’s something that a lot of us are really proud of. It’s good work that is reaching a lot of people, and it’s going to hopefully positively impact a lot of people and create better situations in people’s lives. And I think that’s kind of what this organizing is all about.

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Photo credit: Scott Safechuck/SBC Fire Department

Story by Joyce Chi || Listen on SoundCloud

A fire broke out in Los Padres National Forest over the weekend, with reports of the fire first coming in around 3.45 p.m. on Friday, July 5th. Since then, the Lake Fire has grown to over 20,300 acres with 8% containment as of Monday, July 8th. It is the largest wildfire currently burning in California. To learn more about the Lake Fire, KCSB’s Joyce Chi spoke to Kelly Hubbard, director of the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management.

HUBBARD: Yeah, Kelly Hubbard, I’m the Director for the Office of Emergency Management for the County of Santa Barbara.

CHI: Thanks so much for joining us today to talk about the Lake Fire. As of earlier today, July 8th, the fire has burned over 20,000 acres. First, could you describe a little bit like what the scene is like on the ground right now? How many firefighters are there? What kinds of challenges are they facing? Absolutely.

HUBBARD: Yeah, so the fire, as you mentioned, is well over 20,000 acres, only about 8% containment. The last personnel count that I got on the fire was over 1,000. I think even as I was leaving the incident command, there was more resources arriving, and so I think that number will continue to go up.

I think some of the challenges on the fire, I heard someone mention that they rate this as one of the most difficult ratings for a fire in terms of firefighting. And a couple of the complexities that I keep hearing is, one, the terrain. It’s steep, it goes up and down, and has lots of drop-offs, has different variables of different types of ecological features like oak trees that can fall, things like that.

But then also the fire goes through multiple elevations, and they’re actually having different weather effects at different elevations as well. So at the bottom of the fire, at the bottom of the hill, they have a marine layer in the morning, but it’s already 98 degrees on top. And then each of those canyons as they go around the fire have different wind patterns. And so it’s a really complex fire in terms of safety for firefighters and in terms of how they approach firefighting the fire.

CHI: And I know it’s still pretty early, the cause is still being investigated, but are there any potential standout theories you’re looking at right now?

HUBBARD: Not that it’s being discussed, no. Our focus is on fighting the fire and protection of lives of property.

CHI: There might have been some factors that might have contributed to how quickly the fire spread, things like especially the dry vegetation, if you could talk about that a little bit.

HUBBARD: Yeah, yeah, we had, you know, as everyone knows, we had a really wet winter season, and then it dried out really significantly. We had a heat wave going into this. We had excessive heat warnings. So both dry brush, dry, what we call dry fuels, which includes grasses and brush and those types of things. High heats, not a lot of humidity. All of those concepts contribute to how quickly the fire spreads, as well as the fact that the majority of this area has not burned. And I’ve heard anywhere between 17 to 20 years.

CHI: And you mentioned earlier that the focus right now is on protecting lives and property. Have there been any reported casualties or structural damage?

HUBBARD: No reported casualties. And in terms of structural damage, none that’s been reported to me. I know they continue to assess. So far the fire has burned mostly back into the forest area. We have some cabins back there and some like the park ranger station and the campground. And so I know the actual facilities and structures back there are still being assessed. And those have not been fully reported back in yet.

CHI: How are locals being impacted by this right now? Like, what is it like there for the neighboring towns?

HUBBARD: So we do have some areas that are under an evacuation order that that order only impacts A few residents and businesses and then the evacuation warning does impact quite a few more people. Somewhere, I think our number was around 200-300 homes. And so that evacuation warning though, when we’re in an area that is a warning, we highly recommend that you leave now if you have large animals, equine, cattle, or if you have pets. If you have any type of accessibility concerns, issues, any special needs, small children, it’s a good time to leave now.

If it’s going to take you a little bit longer to get out, don’t do that when it’s in the middle of the fire, really pressing down, right? We want to encourage those in the evacuation warning area to leave. Also, the air quality is really not great. And so, not a bad idea to not be in that area anyway. And then the community that is just below the fire — Santa Ynez, Los Alivos, all of that community there in the Santa Ynez Valley, all the way over to Solvang and Buellton — their quality has been impacted significantly and varied throughout the day.

And I know it’s even coming down into Santa Barbara and all the way up to Santa Maria. And so, we encourage residents to look at the Air Pollution Control District’s website, ourair.org, for more information on how to protect their health and also to monitor what their quality is.

CHI: What are the best and most up-to-date resources that you would recommend people to go to?

HUBBARD: The number one place I point anyone to is our county emergency website. So, that’s readysbc.org. And at the top, there’s a banner with red letterings. Click on that and it’ll take you to an incident page. And from there, we might point you to other websites like our county public works, roads, closures, Caltrans roads, closures.

We point you over back to that Air Pollution Control District website to the incident website, so that if you wanted very detailed information about firefighter personnel and those kinds of things, we point you back to that. But that’s kind of a one-stop shop. And then we have information about our evacuation shelter. If you need help with animal sheltering or evacuation of large animals, all of that information is right there in one space. And I think the last thing I would encourage everyone to do is to register for emergency alerts. That is the best way for us to get a hold of everybody. And so they can do that at that same website, readysbc.org.

If they are not comfortable with that or they’re… I know we’ve had a couple seniors call and say, I’m struggling with this website. We do have a call center open and that call center is for general information regarding the incident, but also if any residents want assistance in registering for emergency alerts, we can do that when they call the call center.

CHI: That was Kelly Hubbard, director of the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Management. The call center set up by the county is available in both English and Spanish from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. for information about the lake fire and for resources for those impacted by the evacuation notices.

The number is 833-688-5551. Visit readysbc.org for more information about evacuation orders and warnings.

Evacuation orders are instructions to leave immediately while evacuation warnings say to be prepared to leave at any moment. Evacuation warnings are in place for surrounding areas while an evacuation order has been issued for all areas from Figueroa Mountain Road at Junction Camp, that’s including Tunnel Road, to Chamberlain Ranch. The evacuation order also applies to all areas from Zaka Lake Road at Fox and Canyon Road, north to the Sisquok River, including east of Fox and Canyon Road to the 9,000 block.

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Story by Zoha Malik || Listen to the story on SoundCloud

The University of California at Santa Barbara released copies of its 2016-2021 contracts with defense contractors on May 20, 2024, after a three-year-old California Public Records Act, or CPRA, Request from Central Coast Antiwar Coalition Chair Marcy Winograd.

The twenty-four released contracts, which total to millions of dollars, show university partnerships with companies such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman, all of which provide some variation of weaponry or surveillance technology to Israel. They detail financial deals in which the university provides research or some other service for one of the aforementioned manufacturers in exchange for a sum of money, which range from $40,000 to nearly $6 million. These contracts are likely not all of those which the university held with these companies during the 2016-2021 time period, as the Public Records Office had reportedly written back to Winograd in 2021 that the university had approximately 398 Department of Defense related contracts.

Members of the UCSB Liberated Zone encampment were also involved in the effort to retrieve these documents. The UCSB Liberated Zone did not respond to KCSB News’ requests for comment. The Central Coast Antiwar Coalition, as well the Liberated Zone, have continuously called on the university to cut financial ties with military contractors.

I reached out to UCSB’s Public Records Coordinator, Monica Dussert, for comment on the three year waiting period. For context, to comply with the California Public Records Act, a response to a request must be given within 10 days and compliance should be done within 14 days unless there are unusual circumstances. During these unusual circumstances, a written notice should give reasons for the extension and should give the new date the documents will be provided. She referred me to UCSB spokesperson Kiki Reyes, who stated that while “CPRA laws require the University to acknowledge the requests within 10 days of receipt (which was done here), but the response times for the actual production of responsive documents may vary.” The same day I received this email, Dussert emailed Winograd telling her she would receive a response to her CPRA requests. Four days after these email exchanges, Winograd received the contracts.

The 2017-2018 Boeing contracts describe chip technology, Raytheon’s 2019-2020 contracts describe “energy-efficient, high-data-rate transmission of digital signals between computing systems,” and, in the case of the 2016 General Dynamics contract, “unmanned systems,” meaning — using robots to conduct military operations.

In a press release from the Central Coast Antiwar Coalition after these contracts were disclosed, the organization writes that the quote-unquote engineering jargon in these contracts — from Boeing’s “heterogeneous integration” to Lockheed Martin’s “cell architecture development”– likely refers to the purpose or end product of “robotic soldiers to weaponize space and laser-guided bombs for “warfighting” aircraft.”

Winograd had originally submitted the request for these contracts to find out what was happening at UCSB with military research, particularly after observing known relationships between UCSB and defense manufacturers who have historically worked in research with UCSB, as well as provide internships to students.

I spoke with Winograd after she’d received the contracts to learn more about what she thought of them. She told me looking at these contracts proved to her the university had financial ties with companies involved in Israel’s continued bombardment on Gaza.

WINOGRAD: “Now these contracts preceded October 7th, and what we’re seeing now [with] the annihilation in Gaza. But we have no idea if the research that students provided, basically [for] a low price, right, for these corporations, has been used in the development of weapons systems. But what I learned, basically, in receiving these 24 PDF documents, many of them modifications of existing documents, was that the university is partnering with these military contractors to develop technology for missiles, for fighter jets: F-35 F-16…”

Winograd went on to point out that much of the language in these documents is scientific jargon, which could make it difficult for the average person to understand. Here Winograd is speaking about the nearly $6 million 2016 General Dynamics contract.

WINOGRAD: “…And research laboratory’s “warfighting experimentation” in “unmanned vehicles,” — those are drones, right? Or robots, in this case, they are robots. Now, the Department of Defense, it says in the contract, is “exploiting technology and expertise where it exists.” Okay, that’s cheap labor at the university to promote “soldier trust and confidence” in semi-autonomous weapons with “biological limbs” perfected for “manipulation and mobility” and artificial intelligence to interpret non-verbal cues in “high tempo environments.” So we see euphemisms like “high-tempo environments.” What are those environments? Those are wars, right? So what we’re looking at is the university partnering with General Dynamics to contract with the [U.S.] Army Research Laboratory’s war-fighting experimentation in semi-autonomous warfare.”

She also points out the risks in developing these technologies.

WINOGRAD: “…and that carries great risks. Of course, I mean, all war is lethal and not only to us as the human race, but also to the planet, in terms of the pollution: land, water, air, and the greenhouse gas emissions. But now we’re talking about creating a world where we can somehow divorce ourselves, or think we’re divorcing ourselves, from the human suffering and misery that we inflict on others by developing semi-autonomous weapons that will do the killing for us. This is really grotesque.”

Winograd went on to speak about a separate contract with Lockheed Martin from 2016.

WINOGRAD: “Another agreement was a 2 million dollar 2016 contract with Lockheed Martin for sensor cell development and testing[…] the most advanced sensor family for precision targeting. We know there’s really no such thing as precision targeting, this is a myth. But what we’re talking about is fighter jets, missiles, bombs.”

Winograd described the role the military holds at UCSB, particularly with the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies on campus — which is described as an Army-sponsored University Affiliated Research Center (UARC).

WINOGRAD: “On the UCSB website, you can read about the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies. What’s that? That is specifically funded by the Department of Defense to develop technology, again, for robotic soldiers, radar absorbent missiles, 3D printed bomber parts, drones, and chemical “amplification,” to improve soldiers vision and hearing for the future battlefield.”

Another research program UC Santa Barbara joined recently which has sponsors including the Department of Defense, and partners such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman, is the California Defense Ready Electronic and Microdevices Superhub (California DREAMS), which UC Santa Barbara’s official news site The Current describes as “one of eight Microelectronics Commons regional innovation hubs.” It was established in October 2023 by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The agency’s first awards were worth a total of $238 million, which the Current goes on to say “are intended to create a national network and direct pathway to advance the discovery, innovation and fabrication of domestic microelectronic technology, such as circuits and chips, with funding from the “Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act.”” This bill, which was passed in 2022, intends to provide about $250 billion to invest in semiconductor research and development, among other related goals. Other UCs, including UC Los Angeles, UC Riverside, and UC San Diego, are also involved.

I spoke with Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Director of the UCSB Nanofabrication Facility, Jonathan Klamkin, who is the lead representative for UCSB for the California HuB, and who also serves on the Technological Steering Committee.

KLAMKIN: “So the Microelectronics Commons is a program that came out of the CHIPS and Science act. So for those that may have heard about the CHIPS and Science act in the media, this is a major program that passed through Congress sometime ago. It’s been active for about a year, but now funding is starting to flow down. And what this came from was the need for having more semiconductor manufacturing on shore. Oftentimes, we develop things and then send the manufacturing overseas, and you know, while that’s okay for certain technologies, if you offshore all of your manufacturing, that poses some problems when it comes to things like national security and supply chain security and whatever [unintelligible] innovation security. So, if you recall there were issues during COVID with a shortage of chips. Car manufacturers had problems getting cars off their line because they couldn’t get access to chips. And that puts the US in kind of a difficult position, if a lot of these very important chips that go into consumer products and in the government products are all made, you know, very far away. It kind of complicates the supply chain and creates a security issue. So what the CHIPS and Science Act is hoping to do is bring a little bit more of that manufacturing back to the US, in part because it’ll provide a lot of jobs. It’ll help secure important technology [in] the supply chain for this important technology and it’ll also allow us to continue to innovate if we have more people working in some of these semiconductor fabs. We’re going to generate more intellectual property and be able to transition some people from, say, jobs as car mechanics to very high-tech jobs in the semiconductor workforce.”

I asked Klamkin why it was important for the university to maintain research ties to companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, or Raytheon. He told me that, due to their regional proximity, the school is playing into its local strengths.

KLAMKIN: “So regional strengths for us for example are wireless communications. A few other companies that you didn’t mention, a lot of small companies that are involved might not have been mentioned in the press releases because they’re not receiving direct funding from the base Hub, but they are getting funding from the research projects. So there’s a number of startup companies that have spun out of UCSB that are involved. There’s companies like PDF Solutions, Qualcomm, Keysight, a few others that sort of work in this area and are either already members of our Hub or are trying to join. So that’s playing to our regional strengths because the aerospace industry is very big in Southern California. You could imagine a team that formed, maybe, in Northern California would try to partner with some of the Bay Area companies, like Google or Facebook, that are doing things in the AI space. In Southern California, wireless communications is very strong, telecommunication sensors.”

I asked Klamkin to clarify the role national security had to play in the research we do at UCSB.

KLAMKIN: “Well, you know, national security has a lot of meanings, but if the high-tech chips that we make, that go into a lot of our products, if those chips are not made at all in the US and somehow, you know, something happens in another part of the world that cuts off that supply, that puts us in a very difficult position. You know, what if Apple suddenly couldn’t get any more chips? How were they going to manufacture phones? What if Nvidia suddenly couldn’t get any more chips? A lot of people are starting to use these AI features on their phones, in their computers. Nvidia has a lot of those chips made in other countries. I think you really just need a good balance between where things are made, if only 10% or 12% of the world’s Advanced chips are made in the US, that doesn’t put us in a very good position to provide national and economic security, you know, so maybe there’s a better balance. Like some percentage of that should come back to the US, it’s good because it’ll provide jobs, it’ll allow us to continue to innovate in manufacturing and high tech. And we won’t be, you know, entirely reliant on certain other countries to make chips. You really want, you know, your chips to come from multiple sources and at least some fraction of them to be made on-shore.”

A news release from the U.S. Department of Defense from September 2023 cites Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks during a briefing at the Pentagon, when she said “the Microelectronics Commons will get the most cutting-edge microchips into systems our troops use every day: ships, planes, tanks, long-range munitions, communications gear, sensors and much more.”

Concern over the university’s relationships with defense manufacturers and the military is not unique to Winograd. UC Divest at UCSB, a coalition made up of groups like UCSB Jewish Voice for Peace and UCSB Students for Justice in Palestine, has been calling for divestment since January of this year — and individually, SJP has been calling for it for much longer. One post on UC Divest at UCSB’s Instagram publicizing a rally earlier this year stated that the UC system continues to “invest in war manufacturing and defense contractors that directly contribute to this genocide,” referring to Israel’s bombardment on Gaza. UC Divest at UCSB did not respond to KCSB News’ requests for comment.

Actions to push for and materially divest have been taken by the UCSB student government’s legislative body, the Associated Students Senate, which passed a resolution to divest and a bill to use AS funds in alignment with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movements, within the past two months — such actions have been attempted by students at UCSB since 2013. KCSB News previously reported on these legislative actions.

It is unclear whether or not UCSB has considered the demands of the AS Senate, student groups and local activists like Winograd.

In response to questions from KCSB News on why the university continues to maintain these relationships, whether the university plans to end them, or whether the university is concerned about the wider, global effects of these relationships, UCSB spokesperson Kiki Reyes stated that UC Santa Barbara itself “does not conduct classified or weapons research,” as “such research would carry dissemination restrictions that are generally not acceptable.” Reyes went on to state that “the campus conducts fundamental research under export control regulations, which allow for the open publication, dissemination, and use of research information.” Reyes has not yet responded to follow-up questions on the relationships the university maintains with defense manufacturers.

As a whole, the UC system has remained opposed to divestment. AP News reported that UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher told UC Board of Regents in May that, halting its investments in weapons manufacturers, the investment firms Blackstone and BlackRock, and two dozen companies across the entertainment, technology and beverage industries, which is what the UC Divest Coalition is asking for, would cost the UC system 32 billion of its 175 billion dollar portfolio, meaning nearly ⅕ of it — an action the UC is reluctant to take. And, according to a statement from the UC Office of the President from April of this year, the university system will not boycott or divest from Israel because “a boycott of this sort impinges on the academic freedom of our students and faculty and the unfettered exchange of ideas on our campuses.”

However, Winograd stated she considered this evaluation by Bachner as a step in the right direction.

WINOGRAD: “It would cost the university system the UC system 32 billion of [the] 175 billion dollar portfolio. Okay, that’s, you know, that is in itself a victory. It may be a small one. But we have to say this is disclosure and that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that kind of disclosure.”

KCSB News has submitted two CPRA requests to view contracts on this topic. The first CPRA request was on May 15, 2024, for the number of and copies of UCSB’s DOD-related contracts, between 2020 and the present, with Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris for weapons development and research, as well as the dollar amount and any amount between the university and those companies to rent out a lab space. UCSB Public Records Coordinator Monica Dussert responded, stating that the university does not “have any records responsive to this request.”

The second KCSB News CPRA request was on May 23, 2024, and detailed a more specific request for any and all documents, correspondence, agreements, contracts, memoranda of understanding, or materials related to UCSB’s involvement California DREAMS and the Department of Defense’s Microelectronics Commons regional innovation hubs. I also requested records for communication between UCSB and the corporate entities including but not limited to Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Teledyne Technologies, and HRL Laboratories, from January 1, 2020 to the present. Dussert replied, stating that due to a high volume of requests, they anticipated providing a response around August 26, 2024.

This story is ongoing. Thank you for listening. With KCSB News, I’m Zoha Malik.

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Story by Zoha Malik || Listen to the story on SoundCloud

At 53 days, the Liberated Zone encampment at UCSB was the longest-running and last-standing UC encampment, until it was forcibly cleared by around 80 police in riot gear in the early hours of Sunday, June 23. Five demonstrators were arrested, and 40 demonstrators remained at the encampment throughout the operation, which began after 12:30 AM and ended a little before 4 AM. There were no physical injuries reported.

As of Sunday, June 23, students in police custody at the Santa Barbara County jail were released. Lieutenant Jarrett Morris told KCSB News that demonstrators were charged with unlawful assembly by the University of California Police Department at UCSB (UCPD). They had a bail set at $2,500 but have all been released with a citation to appear in court.

The forceful decampment comes after the Liberated Zone encampment received an email earlier that day which informed them that the encampment was now “in violation of UC policies” and “an illegal trespass,” and which called on demonstrators to vacate the encampment immediately.

The day of the operation, an encampment media liaison told us they had been notified police were mobilizing a little after 12:30 am, blocking off entrances from Highway 217, Mesa Road, and the Thunderdome.

At 4 PM on Friday, June 21, administrators had reportedly given the encampment until Monday, June 24 at 5 PM to make a decision on ending the encampment. Hours later at 9:30 PM, the Liberated Zone alleges, administrators told them that they had to decamp and offer a contingency plan by 5 PM on Saturday, June 22 or have police forcibly remove the encampment. The Liberated Zone said this deadline change, quote, “undermines the trust and good faith we have tried to maintain,” end quote.

The Liberated Zone had responded stating they would voluntarily “consolidate the camp under certain conditions,” to which they received an email back from UC Legal Senior Counsel Nancy G. Hamill, stating their presence on the lawn was “illegal” and asking them to immediately decamp.

“Given that notification, as well as further communication from trusted sources, we figured that a police raid was potentially going to happen tonight or tomorrow,” an encampment media liaison told KCSB News.

The encampment took to Instagram to call on community members to mobilize, due to a subsequent expectation of police presence.

The encampment media liaison said they were preparing by “getting all of our folks here to witness what could happen — obviously, people’s risks and tactics are different depending on the individual. As it stands, we are willing to follow through with the dispersal order if a dispersal notice is given.”

Joyce Chi/KCSB News

Just past midnight, police officers from departments including the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Maria, and San Luis Obispo arrived to support UCPD’s request for “mutual aid.” Officers wielded riot gear, batons, non-lethal rifles, rope, and zip-ties, materialized on campus and surrounded two entrances of the encampment, leaving the west side open for students to evacuate. Beginning at 1:20 AM, they began issuing a 20 minute warning that students in the encampment must decamp or be subject to arrest and expulsion, among other sanctions.

After around 20 minutes, at 1:40 AM, police began moving forward every few minutes in increments. Demonstrators continued to chant and verbally protest their presence. As officers moved forward in a line, they would tell students to move back, while taking down tents, signs, equipment, and other structures they moved past.

As officers moved into the main lawn of the encampment, they also dismantled the main kitchen and pantry of the encampment.

Some demonstrators did not move even as officers moved in. One officer was seen aiming a non-lethal weapon at a demonstrator and warning them to move back.

Demonstrators were warned if they did not move back, they would be hit.

Mario Fuentes-Godinez/KCSB News

At 2:10 AM, police arrested a demonstrator and led them away with their hands zip-tied. Soon afterwards, two other demonstrators who refused to move were also arrested, alongside another who was reportedly a Chumash community member. The final arrest was after the police had moved through the majority of the encampment, when, for unclear reasons, officers charged forward and detained another protester.

After the police had moved all the way through and maintained a line blocking entrance to the encampment, two trucks with storage units pulled in and the encampment began to get cleared up while demonstrators continued to protest.

A little before 4:00 am, the remaining 20 or so demonstrators left. “After consulting with everyone, I don’t see why we’re wasting our f–king time while they’re paid to do absolutely f–king nothing. So I say we all go home,” said one protestor.

The pro-Palestinian Liberated Zone encampment was set up on May 1st to call for things like divestment from weapons manufacturers, ending relations with Israeli universities, and statements from UCSB administrators acknowledging the violence in Gaza as a genocide.

The encampment was reportedly in talks about demands with Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Margaret Klawunn, Chief Financial Officer Chuck Haines, and Executive Director for Academic Affairs Christian Villaseñor earlier last week — but negotiations had reportedly not occurred.

KCSB News has reached out to UCSB administrators for comment on the police presence and its subsequent student arrests, and received a written statement from UCSB Spokesperson Kiki Reyes, who said that “several individuals who remained at the site on Sunday morning and were given multiple warnings to leave the area before and during the clearing of the tents.” She went on to write that while “most of the individuals complied with the warnings, five individuals declined to disperse and were taken into police custody,” with the university now resuming normal operations.

In a press release from the encampment posted on their Instagram, they described the events of the operation and stated police “capitalized on intimidation tactics and threats of violence to force protestors out of the camp.” The press release went on to say that organizers of the UCSB Liberated Zone “remain committed in pressuring the university to divest from militarism, war, and the genocidal violence resulting in the murder of nearly 40,000 Palestinians.”

In a livestream by the encampment, it was incorrectly stated that KCSB News reporters were taken into police custody. No KCSB News reporters were arrested during this operation.

The lawn where the encampment used to sit is now empty. It is unclear whether demonstrators intend to set up another.

This story is ongoing. KCSB’s Joyce Chi, Brandon Yi and Mario Fuentes-Godinez contributed to this reporting.

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Each year, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) brings filmmakers from all over the world to our little town. For 14 days, you can spot Hollywood professionals walking up and down State Street wearing SBIFF badges as they make their way from independent films to panels, and even to glamorous red carpet award tributes with the year’s most popular Oscar contenders. This year, the KCSB News Team, joined by a few cinephile members of the Executive Committee, brushed shoulders with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Mark Ruffalo, Emma Stone, Charles Melton, and more! Read on to get the inside scoop on this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Virtuoso’s Award – Yas & Zoha

Saturday, February 10th, was the Santa Barbara Film Festival’s Virtuosos Awards, during which noteworthy talent — including America Ferrera, Lily Gladstone, Greta Lee, Charles Melton, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Andrew Scott, as well as Danielle Brooks and Coleman Domingo who couldn’t make it — was recognized and representation was discussed. KCSB’s Zoha Malik attended the red carpet alongside Yas Tsipena, speaking with talent including honoree Charles Melton, then covered the ceremony.
Listen to the full story here:

International Directors Panel – Marion

The International Director’s Panel was attended by almost all of the directors nominated for best International Picture- these included the legendary Wim Wenders for Perfect Days, Jonathan Glazer for Zone of Interest, Ilker Catak for Teacher’s Lounge, and Matteo Garrone for Io Capitano. Wim Wenders spoke about the life affirming and positive message behind his newest film, and the way he wanted to highlight a simple and exemplary life without making the film feel didactic. Additionally, Wenders spoke about the role that musicians like Patti Smith and Nina Simone play in the film- as sources of pure and unfettered joy- as well as the influence of Yasujirō Ozu on this film. Jonathan Glazer spoke about the incredible feat of filming Zone of Interest without having any crew inside the house with the cast- but instead filming through hidden cameras. Glazer also spoke about the role that sound played in this film- while Glazer never shows the horrors of Auschwitz, the audience experiences them through the incredibly gut wrenching sound design.

Variety Artisans Award – Marion

The Variety Awards, an award intended to highlight film industry craftspeople who are exceptional in their field, included honorees such as: Stephane Ceretti (VFX for Guardians of the Galaxy), Billie Eillish and Finneas (songwriters for Barbie), Ludwig Görasnsson (compower for Oppenheimmer), Sarah Greenwood & Katie Spencer (production designers for Barbie), Kazu Hiro (hair styling and makeup for Maestro), Jennifer Lame (editor for Oppenheimer), Rodrigo Pietro (cinematography for Killers of the Flower Moon), Michael Semanick (sound for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), and Holly Waddington (costume designer for Poor Things). Once Billie Eillish and Finneas arrived at the Arlington Theater, the line of eager fans- which wrapped around the street corner- went wild. Once inside, the honorees were brought out one by one and were interviewed regarding their roles in the films.
During the panel, the artisans revealed how they implemented their expertise to aid in the creative vision of the film. For example, Ludwig Orenson revealed that the 6 note motif known as “Oppenheimer’s Theme” took months to arrive at, but that eventually he sent a voice note of his musical epiphany to Nolan. Immediately upon hearing the motif, they both knew that they discovered the one because of the theme’s “fragile and vulnerable feeling.” By contrast, Billie Eillish and Finneas shared that they discovered the chords to “What Was I Made For?” almost instantaneously after sitting down at the piano, 24 hours after watching a cut of the film. At the end of the interviews, all of the honorees received their awards and posed on the stage for pictures.

Mark Ruffalo American Riviera Award – Marion

This year, Mark Ruffalo was selected as the recipient of the American Riviera Award. This tribute event was attended by Ruffalo himself, with a special appearance by his co-star in Poor Things, Emma Stone. On the carpet, KCSB-FM’s Internal Music Director asked Ruffalo about the role music plays in his creative process. In response to this question, he said that he “[loves] anything that’s Elliot Smith … he just connects [him] to [his] emotional life, so I could use him for anything.”

Inside a packed Arlington Theater, the audience cheered as Ruffalo took the stage and conversed with the host about his career. The conversation was intercut with snippets of the performances spanning a decades-long career. Ruffalo’s charm and charisma shone, as well as his humble nature, really shone through throughout the interview- in which he talked about moving his family to upstate New York, the early days of his career, and generous insights about what it was like to prepare for each of his diverse roles (from Avengers to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). At the end of the interview, Emma Stone showed her love and appreciation for her co-star by giving a beautifully warm speech. Ruffalo thanked the audience and ended the night by emphasizing the need for more peace in the current state of our world.

Directors Award – Brandon & Marion

On Tuesday February 15, 2024, SBIFF invited Oscar nominated directors, the legendary Martin Scorsese and upcoming brilliance, Justine Triet to receive the SBIFF 2024 SBIFF Directors of the Year Award. The panel stood as an open space for Scorsese and Triet to share their experiences of youth and the occasions for their creations. Scorsese shared stories about his past as a sick child having to lens the world through his apartment window in Queens, New York’s Elizabeth Street.

Montecito Awards – Brandon & Zoha

On February 15, 2024, actor Jeffrey Wright received the Montecito Award at the 39th annual Santa Barbara Film Festival while representing the film American Fiction. KCSB’s Brandon Yi and Zoha Malik attended the red carpet prior to the ceremony, and spoke with Wright about identity pieces.
Listen to the full story, along with Brandon’s interview of Jeffrey Wright, here:

Writer’s Panel – Joyce and Marion

On Tuesday, February 13th, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival hosted its Writers Panel, which featured the seven Oscar-nominated screenwriters behind Poor Things, Maestro, Past Lives, Anatomy of a Fall, May December, the Holdovers, and American Fiction. KCSB’s Joyce Chi and Marion Suchowiecky got to speakwith some of the writers on the red carpet. Listen to our interviews with Celine Song, Arthur Harari, Sammy Burch, and Tony McNamara.

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California’s primaries will be held on Tuesday, March 5th, 2024. Ahead of the March 5th primaries, KCSB News interviewed each of the three candidates running to represent California’s 24th Congressional District (which covers Santa Barbara County, most of San Luis Obispo County, and some of Ventura County). The two winners of the primaries will advance to the general election ballot in November.

Candidates were asked about their stances on the same four topics: housing, the environment, the border crisis, and the War on Gaza. See what each candidate had to say below. Visit soundcloud.com/kcsbfm to hear the full-length and abridged conversations with the Congressional hopefuls.

Full-length interviews available here:

More information on voting is available here.

HOUSING

CARBAJAL: “So first, to make sure the federal government continues to provide the resources that it has always provided to ensure that we have low income housing tax credits, which recently through the tax plan that I voted for just this last month. It’s gonna improve the low-income housing tax credits percentage available to the state of California by 12.5% and that is the biggest single… impetus for bringing affordable housing in our country.

Of course, we have Community Block Grant Development Grants (CDBG). We have home funds, Emergency Service Grants (ESG), making sure all those resources continue, but I’m very proud of three pieces of legislation that I have been a part of or have introduced myself. The first one is Home for The Brave Act, which will provide increased vouchers and housing opportunities for our veterans…

The second one is the Housing for All Act, which would dramatically increase housing in every way, [like with] Long-Term Housing Tax Credits. It would increase our funding for CDBG. It would increase housing completely across the board for all programs… And, of course, the last one is the Dash Act, which I am an original co-sponsor of, and that one actually will even provide first time home buyer assistance for middle class families… 500 billion [dollars] over 10 years. The Dash Act will provide tax credits for renters. And first time home buyers… And of course, these are all bills that are making it over the finish line this Congress, but if not, sometimes it takes a number of years for them to make it over the finish line.

COLE: “When you spend $200 billion on a proxy war in a foreign country like Ukraine, and it’s killed like 600,000 young people and violating a treaty with Russia that NATO is supposed to stay out of Ukraine. And nobody’s talking about that, because in fact, if you do, you get taken off of YouTube. So there’s censorship of just basic facts of that war.

So instead of doing that, I would say, you know what? That is a waste…If you divide that $200 billion into 52 different congressional districts, you get $450 million, almost $500 million. You could build a house for every homeless family in the district for that money right there.

But Salud is very proud of spending $200 billion over in Ukraine, and he’s bought like $2 million home in federal dollars to build a little apartment in Guadalupe for illegals…So it’s all about America last, and I am America first. Stop blowing up people around the world and start building housing in our area.”

(Ray Briare: “Fact-checking Mr. Cole’s assertion that the U.S. has spent $200 billion on Ukraine. According to the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, in total, Congress has allocated $113 billion in a combination of mostly military, government, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. President Biden has asked for another $61.4 billion. About half of that money would go to the Pentagon to replenish weaponry it is supplying, and the other half for humanitarian assistance. For now, that proposal is stalled.
Regarding Cole’s figure of 600,000 young people killed in the war, Reuters says a declassified U.S. intelligence report in December assessed that the Ukraine war has cost Russia 315,000 dead and injured troops. Ukraine treats its losses as a state secret, and officials say disclosing the figure could harm its war effort. But a New York Times report in August cited U.S. officials as putting the Ukrainian death toll at close to 70,000.”
On February 25th, 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the war so far. (NYT)

PASQUARELLA: “I would go for House Resolution Bill 1111, which is a bill proposed by Barbara Lee, the representative from Oakland. And what it does is it cuts the military spending in half and uses any funds that we can take from that and invest domestically in peace building initiatives. They say that we could solve the unhoused problem here in our country with $20 billion. So why are we sending $14 billion to Israel when we know we could do that here?

What they really do need is a housing situation where they have their own space, address, and social services. There’s counselors and people to help them get jobs…I definitely feel that if we’re not spending the money on the military that we would have the funds to do projects like this.”

ENVIRONMENT

CARBAJAL: “I am a sponsor of the Energy and Carbon Dividend Act, which would place a fee on carbon throughout the United States, incentivizing businesses and corporations who emit or provide significant emissions to move towards more innovative, creative technology, that will reduce emissions… and at the same time, take those fees, those dollars, that are collected and give them back as dividends to all Americans. It’ll be a win-win for everyone.

I mentioned that last term we passed the Inflation Reduction Act that brought significant investments to incentivize renewable energy offshore wind in the northern part of my district, off of Morro Bay. I’ve been working to bring about more offshore wind… technology, and just continue to work to make sure that we provide the charging stations throughout the state of California, our country, and the Central Coast, to incentivize the purchasing of more electric vehicles so that we have the infrastructure [to] charge them and the whole system works. [Also], allowing everyday homeowners to be able to retrofit their homes to save energy… To address climate change and change the culture from using fossil fuels to transitioning to renewable energy.”

COLE: “Now, this is another one where I want to talk to the young people and tell them that CO2 is 0.04% part of our atmosphere. That’s pretty small. And studies have just come out, for instance, that man’s work in the last 200 years has maybe changed that 0.04 by 3%. Whether that’s causing our climate to warm up has not been proven…

Young people are telling us that the end is near, the world is ending, and you got to get an electric car. You’re powering that car with gas from Arizona and oil from Saudi Arabia. So if they knew that, would they think differently? Would they go home? That sounds suspicious. That’s what I’m going to be telling young people and trying to point out, historically, we’re just a little blip in time right here, and they should get a longer view.”

(Ray Briare: “Fact-checking Mr. Cole. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, CO2 levels have increased by 50% since pre-industrial levels, leading to more frequent and extreme weather events.”)

PASQUARELLA: “Cutting the military will be a great start, because it’s one of the major problems. The government knows that if they were more transparent, they would be really shunned by everybody, because of the waste and the toxins that they’re putting in the air and in the ocean, with all of the military equipment, boats, planes, and bombs that they’re using in our environment.

Climate change is huge. We have to cut fossil fuels. We have to look at alternatives and we have to create wind, solar, and regenerative farming. That’s another thing I really want to get back into is the idea of working with nature, not against it.”

BORDER CRISIS

*Please note that Thomas Cole’s answer contains mentions of sexual assault.

CARBAJAL: “The reason we are who we are is because of immigration. I came to this country when I was five years old. I immigrated to this country when the system was a little less broken, now, it’s really broken. So I stand for comprehensive immigration reform, but short of achieving that, which has not been possible because of our colleagues and the other side of the aisle…

You’re having an overwhelming number of people… they want to come to the border and there’s valid cases, and then there’s some cases that are now being exploited.

Everybody acknowledges that there’s two issues. It’s what’s happening at the border now and then, and the need to provide comprehensive immigration reform to address all of those that are here: the DREAMers and individuals that are contributing to our economy and we got to do both, but now the attention is on the border. Certainly, I think it shouldn’t be addressed in the context of negotiating on foreign policy as it relates to whether we provide aid to Ukraine or not — which seems to be the reason we got into a negotiation in the Senate. Nonetheless, a bipartisan deal was achieved initially, and then Republicans, they said we really don’t want to solve this because politically it works in our favor to not solve it. They have now overtly said no, we want to help Trump. We want to be able to still say that it’s Democrats at fault for what’s happening at the border, not us.

The American people will now clearly see where they stand. So, in terms of immigration, I think that I’m for comprehensive immigration reform, even doing it incrementally. I have been a proponent and sponsor of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, as well as the Dream and Promise Act.

COLE: “We simply just have to close the thing off. If you look at the border between Egypt and Gaza, that thing is 30 feet high wrapped with barbed wire, and it’s just one continuous wall all along the Egypt-Gaza border. Nobody’s getting into Egypt. We have to do that in the USA…

We should at least close off the areas where people are streaming through unhindered, because they’re just mules for the cartel, bringing in big backpacks of fentanyl…Plus, the sex trade that is going on is unbelievable. The cartel will rape everybody coming through. Where are all the feminists worrying about all the young girls getting raped?…

If you flood in 10 million people in a year or two or three, that’s 10 million people taking up housing right there. That’s destroying our available housing. So how can you possibly be worried about housing in America while you’re saying ‘give me an open border?’”

PASQUARELLA: “Part of the reason that it’s a problem is that the industry promotes that undocumented workforce, so that it can keep the wages low. And it stops them from being able to unionize in the workforce and such. So I would propose a work program so that they could have a visa to work here. Also many of the farm workers wouldn’t necessarily want to live here, because it’s very expensive, and they’re not working all year either because of the seasonal nature of the work. It would be better because then they could work here and then go home.

Another issue about the migration issue is that I believe that we have to look at the reasons why people are coming and why they’re migrating. For example, there’s seven million Venezuelans who are refugees from their country all over Latin America and Central America. The reason for that is because of our policies towards that country. And we have embargoes and sanctions on them. And it has devastated the economy. And so people have no option but to go and leave their homes.”

WAR ON GAZA

CARBAJAL: “…During this conflict after Hamas, which is a listed terrorist organization, proactively went and slaughtered over 1200 innocent, civilian Israelis in an atrocious way, I supported Israel’s right to defend itself, and to go after Hamas and to remove its operational capability. That has been my posture all along.

Now, of course all loss of life is tragic and Israel has gone about prosecuting this war in a way to accomplish their mission, their goal, which I have been supporting… In the prosecution of the war, way too many lives have been lost and it is something that’s concerning to me. That’s why I pressed for a humanitarian pause and more humanitarian aid to go into Israel. It concerns me greatly. I have been critical of the way Israel has been prosecuting this war and the loss of life that we have seen.

I don’t want to dwell on a [humanitarian] pause versus ceasefire; the reality is, I want to restore peace and I do want this war to come to an end, but I will tell you that I think there’s a lot of diplomacy going on to achieve a ceasefire and there’s still over a hundred [Israeli] hostages that Hamas [took] so who would reward ceasefire with Hamas until those hostages are released and that’s part of the negotiations that are going on.

[ZOHA] Okay, so if hostages were returned, you would be for a ceasefire?

[CARBAJAL] I think that’s part of what a negotiation looks like, and absolutely, I think we need to get to a point where that is negotiated.”

COLE: “This is a great 2000 year old problem that’s been happening over there…I would support Israel’s right, certainly, to defend itself. Anything it wants to do to defend itself is not up to America. I know people want to say, oh, make the Congress, make Israel do something, or make Gaza do something. But Congress’s job is not running Israel or Gaza.

I’m kind of an old school Congressman. If I were to be one, I’d be like the old days where you don’t tell other nations what to do. And that’s part of our American problem – we think we’re going to bomb people we don’t like and supply bombs to people we do like, so they can bomb their neighbors. And one of my big phrases is we’re not going to fund proxy wars. The U.S. will not fund proxy wars… If Israel wants to bomb Gaza, they, you know, they probably should not do that, but are we going to tell them to stop? No. Stop funding war. Stop funding Gaza, because they simply take relief money and put it into missiles and bombs and tunnels.”

PASQUARELLA: “Every day, I’m doing something to make people aware of what’s happening in Gaza and the genocide there. I’m posting. I’m going to meetings. I’m protesting, because it’s all connected. Our country is allowing this to happen with the continual financial and military support to Israel…We need to stop the military industrial complex…I’m seeing polls that say that 75% of Democrats want a ceasefire, and we’re just not listening to them.”

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Our News Director attended the AS Senate meeting to report on the passing of a resolution to condemn Hamas, amid a walkout protest for Palestine. Find the transcript below.

JOYCE: On Wednesday, November 15th, the Associated Students of UCSB Senate convened at Corwin Pavilion for their weekly meeting, where they discussed two major resolutions, S.R. 7-101A and S.R. 6-101B: one to condemn Hamas, and one to condemn both antisemitism and Islamophobia. The Senate session culminated in a walkout and the passing of only one of those resolutions.

ZOHA: I’m Zoha Malik.

JOYCE: And I’m Joyce Chi.

ZOHA: We were at that meeting. Here’s what we observed.

JOYCE: First off – it’s important to note that originally, there was only one resolution, S.R. 6-101, condemning both Hamas and antisemitism. AS Senators say that after reaching out to campus organizations and hearing students’ comments during public forum, they decided to split the resolution into two and to add a condemnation of Islamophobia.

ZOHA: The original resolution’s student sponsors did not include a single Muslim or Arab cultural student group. It did, however, include representatives from several pro-Israel groups, including Tamid, an internship program in Israel, Chabad, a Jewish outreach and awareness group, the AS Jewish Commission, and Students Supporting Israel.

JOYCE: The original resolution, brought by AS Senators Coleton Cristiani, Michelle Lebowski, Mia Goren, and Ephraim Shalunov, was S.R. 6-10, which denounced, quote, “the hateful rhetoric of pro-Hamas student groups.” Many Palestinian advocates felt the resolution falsely equated the goals of Palestinian liberation with Hamas as a whole.

ZOHA: Dozens of undergrads stated their concerns during long public comment periods at recent Senate meetings.

JOYCE: Though the original resolution stated AS would, quote, “mourn all civilian loss of life in Israel and Gaza as a result of the ensuing war” following the October 7th attacks, it was also criticized for not specifically condemning Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza, which have since killed over 11,000 Palestinians. One attendee told us that was what they wanted to see from the Senate – a resolution condemning Israel’s disproportionate retaliatory actions.

ZOHA: Another criticism focuses on the original resolution’s clause against misinformation. In spite of that, quote, “vehement condemnation of misinformation,” during a Senate meeting on November 8th, Senators Cristiani and Shalunov mentioned unverified claims when talking about their support of the resolution, including, respectively, of beheaded babies and of fetuses cut out from a pregnant woman.

JOYCE: Now, back to the AS resolutions. The Senate meeting was slated to begin at 6:30, but due to issues with the Zoom livestream, it began closer to 7 PM. They also did not get recorded audio of the first thirty or forty minutes of the meeting. At times, the audio cut out, either due to technical difficulties or someone muting the livestream. The Senate would later be criticized, especially by the AS Commission on Disability Equity, or CODE, for failing to make proper accessibility accommodations for audiences listening at home.

ZOHA: Later, Dan Siddiqqui of CODE brought up these accessibility concerns and asked the Senators who just spoke to summarize what they had said while the video was down.

JOYCE: Though brief summaries were supplied, some Senators voiced concerns about time, as they were already an hour or two behind schedule. Senator Shalunov spoke about Siddiqqui’s request, saying, quote, “asking me to summarize everything I’ve said when everything I’ve said is on the minutes, has been recorded, and will be released… is obstructionism, designed to prevent us from getting to a vote.”

ZOHA: Here’s Dan Siddiqqui talking about this.

[Dan Siddiqui at the walk-out]

“I respectfully asked… The Zoom was not working for over two hours. There were over 40 UCSB students [waiting to listen over Zoom.] I respectfully asked could the Senators who made statements that lasted over an hour long, please, at the very least, give a short summary of these statements or repeat them for the entirety of the statements that they made, so that the individuals on Zoom can have an understanding of what was going on, before public forum started.

What I was met with, number one, was an accusation of obstructionism, by the First President Pro-Tempore, Ephraim Shalunov.

Secondly, I was met with mockery, laughs, and sneers, from Sohum Kalia, the Internal Vice President, and the rest of the Senate […] during that meeting. Senators Shalunov, Carlson, and Cristiani all went to make a mockery of my request to give a summary and essentially make ableist comments, such as, ‘Oh, I said, blah blah blah.’ It is embarrassing and humiliating that a simple request to make a Senate meeting, that is supposed to represent all students, more accessible is met with ableist comments, accusations of obstructionism, laughs, and sneers.”

JOYCE: Let’s talk about each of the new resolutions now.

ZOHA: The first resolution, SR 6-101B, condemns Hamas. It was brought by the same four Senators who wrote the original resolution: Cristiani, Lebowski, Goren, and Shalunov. Student sponsors include the AS Jewish Commission and Students Supporting Israel – but again, not any Muslim or Arab student organizations.

JOYCE: The resolution’s “whereas” clauses, which provide the reasoning behind a bill, says Hamas’ 1988 charter declares its purpose as, quote, “the murder of the Jewish people, and that the terrorist group will never pursue peace through any other means,” end quote.

ZOHA: For reference, the Hamas Covenant of 1988 states, quote, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” And, quote, “Our struggles against the Jews is very great and very serious,” end quote.

JOYCE: Hamas’ most recent charter, from 2017, states that the group, quote, “does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine,” end quote.

ZOHA: Back to the new AS Senate resolution, which says that, quote, “Some student groups have praised and justified the horrific actions of Hamas…holding rallies supporting the atrocities Hamas has committed under the false guise of liberation,” end quote. The Senators did not clarify which pro-Hamas student groups they were referring to.

JOYCE: Therefore, among other provisions, the resolution condemns Hamas for the, quote, “undeniably barbaric” October 7th attacks, which were carried out “primarily because the victims were Jewish.” The resolution also mourns civilian deaths in both Israel and Gaza and, quote, “finds it self-evident that legitimate expressions of solidarity for the Palestinian people are distinct from endorsements of Hamas and terrorism,” end quote.

ZOHA: The second resolution, SR 7-101A, condemns both antisemitism and Islamophobia. It was brought by Senators Shalunov, Cristiani, Lebowski, Alvin Wang, MingJun Zha, Diana Kero, and Eric Carlson. There are no non-senator student sponsors on this bill. According to Senator Carlson, student sponsors are generally rare, since people usually do not attend Senate meetings. More on that later.

JOYCE: The resolution’s “whereas” clauses lists several instances of hate speech and violence across American college campuses.

ZOHA: For example, as the Associated Press reports, a student at Cornell was charged with threatening to shoot and stab Jewish people. ABC News reports that at Stanford, an Arab Muslim student was injured in a hit-and-run, which is still being investigated as a possible hate crime.

JOYCE: At UCSB, the resolution says in May, the Chabad, quote, “was defaced with antisemitic graffiti before their Mega Shabbat event,” end quote. Specifically, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was spray painted on the road.

ZOHA: Additionally, at the November 8th AS Senate Meeting, Arab and Muslim students reportedly had flyers on their cars calling Arabs, quote, “wild, lawless, and crazy,” end quote. One Jewish student said their life was threatened and their door set on fire, and that they were subject to physical assault.

JOYCE: Therefore, SR 7-101A, quote, “strongly condemns the surge of Islamophobia and antisemitism,” recognizes that the war and conflict “may be categorized as ethnic or religious in nature,” and “encourages bold, controversial, and diverging discussions of all political issues, including the ongoing Israel-Hamas war,” end quote.

ZOHA: The AS Senators then spoke on the two bills.

JOYCE: Senator Coleton Cristiani said the bills respond to student concerns, and that the condemnation of Islamophobia was added after public input.

ZOHA: Here’s Senator Shalunov.

[Senator Ephraim Shalunov]

“The first version of this resolution that was discussed last week – there was some pretty valid criticism of it. Namely that criticism was that it left it too vague as to who it condemned. There was this point about “Pro-Hamas student groups” that left people rightfully scared that they might be [relegated] something they were not.”

“I want to reiterate that this resolution is not against anybody in this room I hope, since I should hope that nobody in this room supports Hamas.”

JOYCE: Senator Eric Carlson’s speech was especially long and comprehensive. He discussed feeling disillusioned and a deep fear of making the wrong choice. Towards the end of the meeting, he would later attempt to resign from AS Senate. [Correction: To clarify, Senate Eric Carlson attempted to resign as Second President Pro-Tempore, but has not yet. As of the November 29 AS meeting, he is still serving in that position.]

ZOHA: Senator Carlson said he recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself.

[Senator Eric Carlson]

“I, as a college student at UCSB, grant Israel, because I have somehow that power, the right to defend itself. If I was a nation and I was attacked, I would go in there and probably kill everybody too.”

Senator Carlson also said that Israel is a racist, albeit legitimate, state, and compared it to the United States.

[Senator Eric Carlson]

“I recognize both are built on stolen land just as much as I recognize that both have contributed greatly to the loss of civilian life, when [this was] avoidable.”

He also criticized his fellow Senators.

[Senator Eric Carlson]

“The Senate does not debate in good faith, as you all know. There are cases where Senators have lied through their teeth and made up facts in the middle of debate for the sake of winning or advancing a set narrative that answers this view. I myself am sometimes guilty of this… The prospect of minimization of cultural, sexual, and racial identity does occur in the Senate, and I have bore witness to it on multiple instances.”

“Is it too hard to ask the student Senate for something more substantial? Is it too difficult to condemn settler colonialism?

“This resolution does not call or contain calls for a ceasefire. It does not contain condemnations of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. And it does not, but should, make calls from the pulling of student fees for funding the corporations that continue to build weapons used to slaughter Palestinian civilians.”

“I want you to go home after this meeting and tell your friends and roommates that you love them. Because doing that will do more good than passing anything related to this conflict that we could ever hope to accomplish.”

JOYCE: The meeting then moved to public forum, where speakers can talk about anything, not just what’s on the agenda. But of course, most talked about the bills at hand.

ZOHA: One speaker, Mariela, dismissed the idea of “pro-Hamas groups” on campus, while another, Caela, was disappointed that the bill failed to acknowledge ethnic cleansing in Palestine, denouncing the Senate as being too afraid to take meaningful action.

JOYCE: Now, here’s Alexa Butler, the co-chair of the AS Black Women’s Health Collaborative.

ZOHA: As she spoke, she was warned several times that she went over her allotted three minutes and was also asked to leave, but she continued on anyway.

[Alexa Butler in public forum]

“What we are experiencing is an orchestrated attempt to restrict our free speech and isolate our voices with censorship and intimidation. We refuse to be silenced any longer. In recent weeks, our commitment to advocate for marginalized communities have been faced with cowardly attacks, including unwarranted scrutiny, hostility, and intentional suppression rooted in systemic anti-Blackness. We once again emphasize our support with Palestine and recognize our shared struggles. On this campus, Black and Palestinian students have been continuously neglected. [Internal Vice President can be heard warning her that her allotted time was up.] Let it be clear, the BWHC stands in solidarity with Palestine. We hear you, we see you, we will continue to fight until Palestine is free.”

“I want to acknowledge and express my gratitude to the individuals sitting right here. I thank you for your courage, your bravery, and your unwavering support. This is a testament to the fact that I am not alone, you guys are not alone. You continue to advocate for each other, I’m standing with you and I thank you for standing with us.”

JOYCE: She then encouraged students to walk out in protest.

[Alexa Butler in public forum]

“I encourage all of you guys to get up and walk out, based on the ableist accessibility to this meeting. I need you guys to walk out right now, if you stand with the BWHC, if you stand [against] Islamophobia, and if you stand [against] anti-Blackness. Thank you, no questions [will be taken.]”

ZOHA: About a third of the students attending followed suit and then walked out of the AS Senate meeting.

[Underlay audio from walkout]

“Free Palestine, free Palestine! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

JOYCE: Attendees walked out in support of the BWHC, and other campus organizations, many of whom had previously expressed pro-Palestinian sentiments. More on that later. They gathered outside of Corwin Pavilion, where they held open three sets of doors so that their protests and messages would be heard by the Senate and others in attendance.

[Underlay audio from walkout]

“We are bigger than AS Senate! […]”

ZOHA: Despite the Senate’s attempts to bring the meeting back on track, they eventually called the second recess of the night, for security reasons.

JOYCE: Using megaphones, around 50-60 protestors, who appeared to be mostly students, discussed the following grievances with members of the AS Senate and Internal Affairs Committee.

[Walkout speech]

“We feel as if ours and our fellow students’ voices are being silenced, which is why we are out here speaking.”

ZOHA: First, some AS organizations, or BCUs (which stands for Boards, Committees, and Units) say they were not given “essential resources.”

JOYCE: In an email sent by Alexa Butler of the BWHC, but representing a collection of BCUs, they said these essential resources include access to their emails and email lists.

ZOHA: One of the Chairs of the AS Student Commission on Racial Equity, or SCORE, said their work to combat hate and racism, quote, “starts with trust within communities, which cannot occur without proper access to our emails.”

JOYCE: These BCUs also say that “their consideration into conversations surrounding their organizations” was also not given.

ZOHA: Again, the President of the Muslim Student Association, or MSA, later told us that the group was never contacted about the resolutions, even the one condemning Islamophobia and antisemitism, which the MSA called “ironic” and “performative,” in a statement posted on Instagram after the Senate meeting.

JOYCE: An anonymous source also told KCSB News that Students for Justice in Palestine were reached out to on Instagram two days before the Senate meeting, which did not give enough time for a resolution that should instead require weeks of collaboration. The AS Senate and Internal Affairs Committee (IAC) reportedly requested to invite the Black Women’s Health Collective, SCORE, and the Jewish Commission, quote, “into a dialogue about their statements on the ongoing violence in Palestine and Israel,” end quote.

ZOHA: For context, the BWHC and SCORE had both issued statements standing in solidarity with Students for Justice in Palestine and the Palestinian Liberation Movement.

JOYCE: The BWHC said, quote, “it is not merely a conflict, but a profound liberation movement tirelessly fighting for justice by individuals who have long been subjected to discrimination.” Here’s a SCORE representative speaking during the walkout.

[SCORE Representative speaking at walk-out]

“Before we begin, we would like to make something extremely clear. Before we are ever asked, we condemn all attacks on civilian life, which means that while we do condemn Hamas, we are making it clear that we also condemn the needless, ongoing violence the Israeli government has been committing to Palestinians…”

ZOHA: These BCUs contend that AS did not give adequate notice for the Senate and IAC meeting, as the invitation for this November 7th meeting was sent on November 4th. A representative of SCORE then said an AS Senator, who they declined to name out of privacy concerns, contacted them to, quote, “discuss the concerns they have received from the Jewish community.” The Senator allegedly asked SCORE to keep these communications private, since they did not go through the organization’s AS Senate liaison.

[SCORE Representative speaking at walk-out]

“At the end of this message, the AS Senator ended with this, quote, ‘there is absolutely nothing wrong with expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people or national movement. It is, however, completely unacceptable for your organization to publicly state its support for the murder and brutal abuse of civilians,’ end quote. Right here, and right now we say that it has never been SCORE’s intent, nor will it ever be.”

[Walk-out chanting]:

“You will hear us! You will hear us!”

JOYCE: A few Senators went over to the demonstration, most notably, Senator Renee Faulk.

ZOHA: She alleged that an unnamed fellow Senator heavily discouraged her from bringing a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, or BDS, bill to the floor. BDS institutes economic sanctions against Israel to pressure compliance with international law in Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. For context, UCSB is the only UC that has not yet instituted BDS, despite attempts to institute a resolution to Divest from Corporations Violating Palestinian Human Rights as recently as 2021.

[Senator Renee Faulk at the walk-out]

“Now, here we are being forced to make foreign policy decisions again, on a different side. But, I was told that if I brought a BDS bill to the floor without telling this person, that they would block all bills I brought to the floor for the rest of my time as a Senator. [Crowd yells “shame!”] I apologize for the actions of my committee, I never wanted to hold that meeting. I was trying to delay it and I should’ve just stopped it. I should’ve communicated more with the people around me. I’m glad you guys gave me a chance to amplify my voice even though I’m not on the same side as you…”

ZOHA: Meanwhile, inside Corwin Pavilion —

JOYCE: In front of a remaining audience of a hundred or so viewers, the majority appearing to be pro-Israel, the remaining Senators attempted to carry on with proceedings as the demonstration went on.

[Underlay audio from walk-out]

“From the river to the sea! Palestine will be free! From the river to the sea! Palestine will be free!

ZOHA: Other Senators temporarily left the building due to their concern for their safety.

JOYCE: Senator Eric Carlson, upon hearing the chants, said

[Senator Eric Carlson]

“I know that I try to present nuanced takes. But it is also my nuanced take that ‘From the river to the sea’ is a genocidal statement.”

JOYCE: And was met with applause from the remaining audience members [applause.] Senator Ephraim Shalunov also said this slogan makes Jewish people feel unsafe.

ZOHA: However, Palestinian-American writer Yousef Munayyer argues the phrase expresses a desire for a state where Palestinians can live in their homeland as free and equal citizens.

[Senator Emphraim Shalunov attempting to speak over demonstration]

“…You are more than welcome to stay here… there is no [megaphone audio from walk-out grows louder]… there is no…”

ZOHA: As the demonstration continued, with the speeches from outside drowning out much of the conversation inside, the police were called over reports of an assault.

JOYCE: Our External News director, Zoha Malik, spoke briefly with one of the two UCPD officers — named Miller — who were called to the scene, and who remained nearby for the rest of the meeting.

ZOHA: Here’s what he said when I asked why he was called out here today.

[UCPD Officer Miller]

“Primarily we came out because there was a report of a small altercation, something with a cell phone… and just to come out and kind of have a presence and make sure everyone had equal rights to talk and converse and carry out their meeting.”

[KCSB’s Zoha Malik]

“And were the people involved in the physical altercation spoken to?”

[UCPD Officer Miller]

“Uh, I don’t know as of yet. Yeah, we’re still kind of sifting that out.”

JOYCE: Officer Miller affirmed this information would be available through UCPD’s public record. According to the crime log, there was one report filed for battery and vandalism at Corwin Pavilion that night.

ZOHA: We obtained videos of multiple angles of the incident. One student was filming the walkout from inside Corwin Pavilion, when two people from the walkout appeared to attempt to stop the person from recording. One put their hand up to block the camera, and another, who was holding a Palestinian flag, began counter-filming. We did not see that person directly touching the person recording when they hit the phone out of their hand.

[Video audio of incident]

“Assault! He just got assaulted!”

“I just got assaulted, wow.”

ZOHA: No charges were filed, and according to a statement later posted by UCSB’s Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter, the vandalism charge referred to the phone case of the person attempting to film. The matter was allegedly settled privately, with the other student agreeing to purchase a replacement phone case.

JOYCE: Palestinian activists have previously had concerns about doxxing, often wearing masks during vigils and demonstrations to hide their identities, given things like the Canary Mission, which lists the names and faces of people who supposedly, quote, “promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews.”

ZOHA: Canary Mission largely includes Palestinian advocates, including members of college chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine. According to the Intercept, many students were added after they got involved in campaigns led by SJP to get their universities to divest from corporations supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

JOYCE: Inside Corwin Pavilion, pro-Israeli students gathered in a circle and sang Hatikvah, the national anthem of Israel, against the sound of pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanting.

[singing of Hatikvah inside alongside walk-out chanting of “You will hear us!”]

ZOHA: As demonstrators remained outside, the Senate meeting moved forward after motioning and voting to allow public comment from only three more speakers.

JOYCE: One speaker spoke about the Jewish community feeling unsafe due to the death of a Jewish man following a confrontation with a pro-Palestinian demonstrator in Thousand Oaks earlier this month, and because, quote, “so-called activists who’s hate of the state of Israel is stronger than the love of their own people.” The next speaker, Jasmin, alongside Senator Shalunov, condemned the usage of the phrase “From the river to the sea,” as genocidal. Here’s Jasmin criticizing the nature of the demonstration.

[Jasmin at public forum]

“..We gave them a voice to speak, and when you protest, you’re supposed to protest because your voice isn’t heard, but their voice was ready to be listened to, and they decided to walk out, which, like, look at the way we’ve responded to that! Look at how peaceful we’ve been!”

ZOHA: And here’s Tom Hirshfeld, Chair of the AS Jewish Commission, speaking about how the resolution to condemn Hamas would make him feel safer.

[Tom Hirshfeld at public forum]

“… Hamas tried to kill my family on October 7th, there’s a lot of people here [who’s family Hamas tried to kill on October 7th…] these are people who are asking you to condemn Hamas, it’s not a big ask, it’s a terror organization. We would be a whole lot happier on this campus, and we’d feel much more safe engaging in that dialogue that needs to be engaged in for this campus to remain a space for learning, if this resolution was adopted.”

JOYCE: A.S. President Tessa Veksler also spoke in support of the two resolutions and discussed her heritage.

[Tessa Vekslar speaking at public forum]

“Yes, I am Jewish, yes, this is personal. I cannot remove my identity from my bones and my history simply because I’m your Student Body President, and you shouldn’t expect me to.”

ZOHA: The Senate then moved into debating on the two resolutions on hand. Senator Shalunov and Carlson introduced the resolution to condemn Islamophobia and antisemitism to the floor.

JOYCE: Here’s some of what Senator Carlson said in his introduction. He appeared to disagree with the actions of the demonstrators and how other colleges have not condemned Hamas, as UC Santa Barbara is among the first of the UCs to do so.

[Senator Eric Carlson speaking]

“I think it’s very telling that the Jewish community here walked that line of peace tonight.”

“We vow to not go the route [other colleges in America have taken.]”

ZOHA: Senator Michelle Lebowski called the demonstration “terrifying,” but said UCSB made her feel safer than other UC campuses.

JOYCE: She also spoke in support of the bill, repeating that she believes this bill is uncontroversial.

ZOHA: The Senate then went into a discussion about who was involved in the making of the bill. The first to bring it up was Senator Jeffrey Adler’s proxy, who said the original resolution seemed to be “only endorsed by a certain demographic.” As we mentioned earlier, the resolution the Senators were voting on – the antisemitism and Islamophobia condemnation bill – had no student sponsors.

ZOHA: The discussion over the lack of student sponsors continued. Here’s Senator Faulk, Shalunov, Lebowski, and Carlson, in that order.

[Senator Renee Faulk]

“I feel like it would be stronger if we could get student sponsors who were both Jewish and Muslim.”

[Senator Ephraim Shalunov]

“I think that this legislation is important in tandem with our condemnation of Hamas, which we can’t delay. And so, I don’t necessarily oppose the idea, but I think that that could easily be kind of followed up on.”

[Senator Michelle Lebowski]

“I also would like to reiterate how myself, and other fellow Senators, did meet with students this week. And, we also heard a great deal of students last week in public forum, this week in public forum…”

[Senator Eric Carlson]

“Student sponsors… if we still are interested in doing that, I’m still happy to [be] like, ‘send me an email.’”

Senator Nayali Broadway then asked if student organizations were involved at all in writing the resolution. Senator Carlson maintained that a public forum is the most public way to present a resolution and receive input. Here’s Senator Carlson and Gabrielson speaking on the lack of student groups consulted.

[Senator Eric Carlson]

“Short answer is no, groups weren’t necessarily consulted with it. But, the long answer is, yes, because we took directly from the horse’s mouth… all the evidence that they gave us through public forum.”

[Senator Nicole Gabrielson]

“There is a lot of different Senators on this specific resolution with different viewpoints. So, it’s not like there’s a one-sided, biased Senator writing this entire legislation.”

JOYCE: Later, Senator Faulk would point out there are no Muslim or Arab students on the Senate.

ZOHA: The Senators then moved to vote on the resolution with secret ballots. However, during the secret ballot voting, a representative from the Muslim Student[s] Association said they were never contacted. Here’s Senator [Micah] Littlepage speaking about this.

[Senator Micah Littlepage]

“They are saying they were not contacted.”

[MSA Representative in crowd]

“We never were. President of the MSA…”

[Senator Micah Littlepage]

“Never were. So, that being said, I was told that they were contacted, and knowing they weren’t — I think that does change the circumstances of the vote. I yield [my time.]”

Senator Lebowski, who previously maintained she had met with students, objected, saying, “I think this is obstructive to our vote.”

Senator Littlepage responded to this criticism, saying,

[Senator Micah Littlepage]

“I had reservations about this bill, but I supported it because it was sent to Muslim students to approve… if it was not sent to them, then why are we voting on it? And to be accused of being an obstructionist, when we have had to sit through this entire meeting, it’s very upsetting, like, truly. So, I yield [my time.]”

JOYCE: After double-checking the bureaucratic processes with the Parliamentarian, a motion was made to rescind the previous vote. The Senate moved on to perform another vote through a secret ballot.

ZOHA: On the resolution to condemn antisemitism and Islamophobia, the votes were as follows: 13 yeses, 5 nos, and 2 abstentions.

JOYCE: It would have needed 14 votes in the affirmative. The resolution to condemn antisemitism and Islamophobia thus failed to pass by one vote.

ZOHA: After expressing disappointment, Senator Shalunov moved to the resolution to condemn Hamas. Senators, including Goren and Shalunov in that order, reemphasized what they called the uncontroversial nature of this bill.

[Senator Mia Goren]

“The issues that this bill raises are being conflated with the overall Israel-Palestine conflict.”

[Senator Ephraim Shalunov]

“The fact that this is the second week that we’re sitting through this mind numbing debate offends me, and is so totally preposterous to the values that I have heard people at this table claim that they represent.”

JOYCE: Senator Carlson expressed support for the current resolution, which, unlike the original one, maintains that “legitimate expressions of support for the Palestinians are distinct from Hamas and terrorism.” By calling student groups “pro-Hamas,” he says, the original resolution equated them to terrorists.

ZOHA: The Senators then moved into the voting process. With support from Senator Zha, Senator Lebowski tried to move into a recorded or roll-call vote, but Senator Littlepage objected, saying that Senators have faced intimidation in the past.

[Senator Micah Littlepage]

“We literally have had Senators talking about how they’ve been followed, having people take photos of them, having [people vandalize their houses]… why would we take an open vote on this?”

JOYCE: The Senators eventually agreed to a secret ballot.

ZOHA: The votes on the bill were as follows: 16 yeses, 4 nos, and 1 abstention – the resolution to condemn Hamas passed.

JOYCE: In a statement posted to Instagram on November 17th, two days after the Senate meeting, Santa Barbara Hillel, quote, “celebrated this extraordinary accomplishment.” Yet they also called on the UCSB administration to investigate Students for Justice in Palestine and “allied campus organizations” for their, quote, “organized effort to intimidate students, create a hostile environment, and disrupt an official student government proceeding.” According to SB Hillel, after passing the resolution, UCSB’s student government became the first of all U.S. public universities to condemn Hamas.

ZOHA: In their Instagram statement, the UCSB chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine expressed “deep concern” that the resolutions did not consult with or consider, quote, “students and organizations who would be directly impacted by them.” SJP said the perspectives in the resolutions were “one-sided” and “biased,” as they lack the voices of Palestinian students and advocates. They called on the AS Senate to table the resolutions until “all relevant stakeholders” could meet to consult on and write new resolutions.

JOYCE: Similarly, UCSB’s Muslim Student Association criticized the Senate’s claims they contacted the MSA, and the general lack of Muslim voices on the bills. They are demanding an apology from the Senate “for how they attempted to intimidate us, lied about our involvement, and excluded us from the authoring of the resolution.”

ZOHA: The replays of the AS-UCSB Senate’s November 8th and November 15th meetings can be found on their Facebook.

JOYCE: Thank you for listening. With KCSB News, I’m Joyce Chi.

ZOHA: And I’m Zoha Malik.

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