May 8, 2021 at 6:35 pm by Sindhu Ananthavel
UC Santa Barbara students and faculty participated in a National Day of Refusal on May 3 to demand the removal of police from campus, with participants cancelling or refusing to work â whether that be missing virtual classes or not holding classes at all â to show their support for the abolitionist initiative.
A âvirtual walkoutâ video projection was held outside of I.V. Theater by UCSB FTP.
Courtesy of Charmaine Chua
Organized by the North American abolitionist coalition Cops off Campus, the Day of Refusal took place across the United States and some locations in Canada, including on several UC campuses and other universities. The Day of Refusal marks the first event in a full month of pro-abolition actions that Cops Off Campus has dubbed âAbolition May.â
California University Students, Employees Demand Removal Of Campus Police
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 | Sacramento, CA
A group paints signs calling for the abolition of police on the UC Davis Campus, Monday, May 3, 2021.
Andrew Nixon / CapRadio
At universities across California, students and workers refused to attend class or meetings, answer emails and clock into work Monday as part of a “day of refusal” organized by the group Cops Off Campus Coalition. The work stoppage began Abolition May, a series of actions grounded in a central demand: Remove police from all campuses.
Though the action was all-virtual due to the pandemic, 27 centers and departments in University of California schools and over 1,100 individuals throughout the nation signed a pledge to participate in the day of refusal.
5 May 2021
Left-wing students and staff within the University of California (UC) system staged a one-day “virtual” walkout Monday to demand that UC “abolish” campus police forces whose primary responsibility is to keep students safe.
Capital Public Radio reported:
At universities across California, students and workers refused to attend class or meetings, answer emails and clock into work Monday as part of a “day of refusal” organized by the group Cops Off Campus Coalition. The work stoppage began Abolition May, a series of actions grounded in a central demand: Remove police from all campuses.
Though the action was all-virtual due to the pandemic, 27 centers and departments in University of California schools and over 1,100 individuals throughout the nation signed a pledge to participate in the day of refusal.
University of California Pushes to Militarize and Expand Its Police Force
Close to 40 students, community members, clergy and labor allies protest in front of the University of Southern California (USC) Department of Public Safety, demanding the university take immediate steps to abolish the USC police force and reinvest those funds in affordable housing for the surrounding community in Los Angeles, California, on June 30, 2020.
Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
By
As campus-based and grassroots movements against anti-Black and racist state violence continue to proliferate around the globe, university police and âcampus safetyâ infrastructures and policies are rapidly losing their institutional legitimacy. Multiple national organizations, including Scholars for Social Justice and the American Studies Association, have endorsed the call for college and university campuses to join the national âCops Off Campusâ May 3, 2021, âDay of Refusal