May 19, 2003
Open forum on UCSC and the USA Patriot Act on May 20
The campus community is invited to attend a town hall meeting to discuss
the impact of the USA Patriot Act on our campus. The forum will be held
on Tuesday, May 20, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Media Theater.
The USA Patriot Act, which was rushed into law in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, has implications for civil liberties in general and educational institutions such as UCSC in particular. The Act has provisions affecting:
- the privacy of student, staff, faculty, and administration records--including library records about who reads what;
- campus police cooperation with and use by the FBI--including secret searches;
- surveillance--including of e-mail and internet usage;
- academic freedom--including restrictions on topics of research and
written or spoken commentary;
- immigrant rights--including denial of visas to foreign students.
In order to help clarify the facts and their implications for the campus and to consider appropriate responses, campus officials and others knowledgeable about the issues will speak at the forum. Participants will include a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California; Larry Merkley, vice provost, Information Technology; Lee Jaffe, head of Library Computing and Network Services; Rebecca Sweeley, assistant director, Office of International Education; Barbara Epstein, chair, Senate Committee on Academic Freedom; and Stephen Thorsett, chair, Senate Committee on Research.
For more information, contact Norma Ray at (831) 459-4477 or
nray@ucsc.edu. The meeting is sponsored
by the Institute for Advanced Feminist Research; Center for Global, International
and Regional Studies; Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community; Center
for Cultural Studies and Institute for Humanities Research; and Senate
Committees on Academic Freedom and Faculty Welfare.
