Protesters Arrested At UC Board of Regents Meeting

SAN FRANCISCO—Thirteen protesters were arrested at the UC Board of Regents meeting today after a group demanding a discussion of the university’s role in nuclear weapons development disrupted the meeting.

About 60 protesters made their way to UCSF, including many who said they are continuing to fast as part of a UC-wide demonstration demanding that the regents stop managing labs involved with nuclear weapons development.

Ten of those arrested were students, said UCSF Police Department Capt. Jon Easterbrook.

Demonstrators filtered into the meeting room before the Committee on Oversight of the DOE Laboratories was set to hear a report on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s vision for the Nuclear Weapons Complex of 2030.

Protesters asked the regents to open discussion on the management of the labs as the committee began its meeting. But the regents decided to recess and police were brought in to clear the room.

"I would hope that you would understand that we have to go forward with the business of the university," said Regent Norman Pattiz, who chairs the committee, telling the students that their point had been made and advising them to "go and have some lunch."

Earlier in the morning, many of the protesters spoke to the regents during the public comment period of the meeting, expressing concern over nuclear weapons development.

"I’m very embarrassed to be receiving a diploma from a university that says let there be light, but that light is the light of a nuclear holocaust," UC Berkeley senior Matthew Taylor told the regents.

Taylor was among the protesters who were later arrested for trespassing and was carried out of the room saying he hoped to continue a dialogue with the regents.

Police warned the protesters remaining in the meeting room that they would be arrested if they did not leave, but a group sat down on the floor, locking arms and saying that they just wanted to stop the meeting and have a dialogue.

Pattiz said the university’s links with nuclear weapons research ensure a level of transparency that he said might not be possible if the university were not involved in the management of the U.S. Department of Energy labs.

"If this weren’t at a university, I doubt the debate would be anywhere near as public and spirited," Pattiz said after the protesters had been removed from the room.

The protest comes after a UC-led group won the seven-year contract to manage the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory last week.

"I felt that if we were going through with the hunger strike then we really should be visible to the regents," said UC Santa Cruz sophomore Maggie Lawrence who has been fasting for nine days. "I really just hope that they consider what we have to say and that they actually listen."

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