From a Divided Campus, Thoughts on a Treetop Protest
"I would like to point to the root cause of the problems: the regents."

Greetings Beloved Community-This is Fresh, your local tree sitter. There has been a lot of confusion about my reasons for being here, so I hope to make clear my intent in this experiment with Tree Speech.

First and foremost, I'm saying this is a public university. It should serve the public good, not special interests. I would like to draw attention to a number of questionable practices our university is involved in and to point out the root cause, which is the regents.

As far as the large number of systemic problems with the University of California, I'll point out a few: nukes, 13,000 unreleased native remains, destruction of native burial grounds and a World War I Memorial (the oak grove), partnership with human rights/environmental offenders, animal torture, a non-living wage for custodians, lack of diversity of the regents, an increase in student fees while administration receives raises, reneging on a promise to build a multicultural center for the ethnic studies department, a continuous decline in funding for the humanities.

There are many groups focused on these individual causes; however, I think the problems are all the fruit of the same tree. The regents are the real problem. They are the decision-making force for the entire U.C. system and they act with no accountability to students, faculty or the communities in which the universities are placed. Appointed by the governor, the regents run the university like a private business whose purpose is to make a profit.

If we are to make change, focusing on bringing accountability and transparency to a diverse, democratically run board of regents would change the whole direction of the university. All of the problems listed above would receive the attention they really need.

Worldwide, college campuses have always played key roles in social change and revolution. Here and now, we think we have to wait to graduate to make change in our world. This is not the case. Now, I do not know how to make this change, or what it will look like. I am here to bring awareness and inspire dialogue. We as a community must join together to figure this out; there's no change without discourse and dissent. We must reclaim our university. Our time, energy and tuition fuel and support whatever fruits the U.C. is bringing into the world. It is not just our right, but our responsibility to have a say in its direction.

That's why I'm here. I wear a mask so that we may focus on the issues at hand, and not me as an individual. I hope my presence draws awareness to the criminalization of protest going on here in UC Berkeley, home of free speech. I am not afraid of jail. In fact, all my heroes have gone to jail: Gandhi, King, Mandela-none of them are now perceived as criminals, though they broke the law.

I put four years into UC Berkeley as a student, and consciously withdrew my enrollment because I decided not to lend my support to an institution that sows the seeds of destruction. That was my choice. You may choose another path, to stay in school. There is no shame in that, but I hope my sacrifices will inspire others to take up the experiment to reclaim our university, as students, faculty, administration, or community members. It is a public place.

May we all rise up with love.

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