Last updated: May 22, 2006

The redwood forest aside Glen Canyon Rd. in Santa Cruz was the site of the first Coalition to Demilitarize the UC “Academic Convergence,” which took place on Saturday, May 20.  Students and facilitators from the “UC and the Bomb” classes at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz were joined by members of Tri-Valley CAREs and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation for a full day of discussions, workshops, brainstorming, and good food. 

Most of the Coalition to Demilitarize the UC Academic
Convergence folks pose for a picture, holding the
UC Nuclear Free campaign banner.

The retreat was an excellent space for community-building and networking; it was also very action-oriented.  The group devoted over two hours to discussing future projects for the Coalition to Demilitarize the UC.  In particular, we established plans for a massive, coordinated outreach campaign to take place at the beginning of fall quarter/semester 2006. The goal of the campaign is to make the UC’s decisive involvement with nuclear weapons and other forms of military research visible right at the beginning of the year.

UC Santa Cruz was by far the most well-represented campus at the event, with every member of the campus’ “Sustainable Planet in the Nuclear Age” class attending the gathering in its entirety.  The class is working to coordinate a Day of Awareness at UCSC called "UC: living under the Shadow of the Mushroom Cloud.”  The event will take place within the next few weeks.

The future for “UC and the Bomb” looks bright.  Students interested in facilitating the class next year have stepped forward at all three of the current “UC and the Bomb” campuses.

Check back later at ucnuclearfree.org to read some of the research reports and project summaries of students in each of the classes.