The CPLL’s Rachel Lederman, along with The ACLU Foundation of Northern California and civil rights attorney Thomas Seabaugh filed a lawsuit against the University of California Santa Cruz for banning more than 100 students and faculty members from campus after they were arrested at a pro-Palestine protest this past May.
The bans were “unconstitutional and overbroad, depriving students and faculty of their due process rights,” said Chessie Thacher, Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Northern California. “UCSC issued these bans en masse without making the findings required by law. Officials used Penal Code section 626.4 to justify their actions, but UCSC’s own actions violated that very statute, as well as long-standing California Supreme Court precedent.”
“It’s time to hold UCSC accountable for its illegal use of Section 626.4 campus bans against students and faculty as a tool of censorship,” said attorney Thomas Seabaugh. “Our clients did not engage in conduct that posed a threat of significant injury to anyone or anything. Banning them on the spot was not just heavy-handed, it was unconstitutional and a violation of basic democratic rights and academic freedoms. We’re suing to ensure that in the coming school year, UCSC officials comply with the law and respect the constitutional limits on their power to ban students and faculty from campus.”
University of California President Michael Drake has announced that in the 2024-2025 school year, the University will strictly enforce restrictions on protest to maintain “orderly operations” on campus. The complaint asks the court to prevent UCSC from banning students, faculty, or staff without the findings and protections required by the constitution and California law.