How to Contact UCSC Administrators Concerning Carlos Cruz
Contacting Chancellor Larive and Vice Chancellor Baszile directly is one of the best ways we can collectively demonstrate our support for Carlos, and to show we care deeply about the verdict of his appeal. Although email is one means to contact administrators, we also believe sending letters to their homes and offices will be very effective. At this critical juncture, we encourage you strongly to do both. These letters and emails do not need to be long, but in order to have effect, they must be SENT. Please consider sending as many as you can!
Below you will find information on Chancellor Larive and VC Baszile, and example emails, letters and addresses. Please modify the text to fit your experience/ position. If writing an email, create your own unique subject line to avoid filters, and bcc: hands.off.cc@gmail.com
Information On Chancellor Cynthia Larive
Address: 120 Getchell St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Email: chancellor@ucsc.edu / clarive@ucsc.edu / contact form BCC: hands.off.cc@gmail.com
Information:
Cynthia Larive has served as Chancellor of UC Santa Cruz since the beginning of the 2019-20 academic year. She has so far disowned any involvement in the decision to target Carlos, and only Carlos, with hefty punishment through the student conduct process. At this stage, however, she cannot deny responsibility for the decision to remove Carlos from our community. As the code of conduct clearly states, “Each Chancellor may appoint faculty, student, or other advisory committees, or hearing officers, as specified in campus regulations, but the final authority for administration of student discipline rests with the Chancellor” (104.20). Larive has delegated responsibility for deciding on Carlos’ final appeal to VC Baszile, but she retains the ultimate authority and responsibility for administering any punishment.
Example Letter / Email to Chancellor Cynthia Larive:
Dear Cynthia Larive,
I am writing in support of History PhD student, Carlos Cruz, who is currently in the final stage of appeal against an unjust, two-year suspension. I understand that you have delegated decision-making power for this appeal to VC Baszile, however the student conduct code clearly states that the final authority for administering student discipline rests with the campus chancellor.
For this reason, I am calling on you to accept the student conduct board’s recommendation to overturn the suspension. This will work towards restoring confidence in the student conduct mechanism, as well as representing a genuine step towards “healing” campus relations, to which you commit in your public emails. Without this, it is difficult for many members of the UCSC community to accept your overtures in good faith, and it hardly seems fair to expect a good faith response from everyone else if the university rejects such a highly regarded community-member as Carlos Cruz.
I urge you in the strongest possible terms to accept the recommendation of the conduct board. The failure to do so can only sow more distrust, more resentment, and more anger.
Sincerely,
<Name>
Information on Vice Chancellor Jennifer Baszile
Address:
Jennifer Baszile
Chancellor’s Office
Student Affairs and Success Division
UC Santa Cruz
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, California 95064
Email: jbaszile@ucsc.edu / vcsas@ucsc.edu / contact form
Information:
Jennifer Baszile is the Interim Vice Chancellor for the Division of Student Affairs and Success and has been employed at UCSC since July, 2019. From her work at UCSC and her previous appointment at Trinity College, she appears to be committed to student retention and supporting first-generation and low-income students, and may be sympathetic to Carlos’s case. You can find out more about her here and here. If you know Carlos as your TA, colleague or fellow graduate student, it might be effective to share that with her in your email or letter.
Example Letter / Email to VC Baszile (Long Version):
Dear Jennifer Baszile,
I am writing to you concerning Carlos Cruz and his recent appeal. As the responsibility for reviewing his appeal now rests with you, I encourage you to accept the student conduct board’s recommendation and overturn his two-year suspension. Carlos is widely known and respected within the UCSC community as a dedicated educator, scholar and community builder who has shown unparalleled support and care for both undergraduates and graduates throughout his time here, as many people at UCSC can tell you. The constant outpouring of support throughout this unjust process attests to this.
It is extremely troubling that such a brilliant first-gen student activist, alone among all participants in the wildcat strike of last year, is being subjected to these suspect disciplinary hearings at our university. Further, the content of the police evidence provided in these proceedings clearly demonstrates that Carlos has been subjected to racial profiling.
The UCSC administration has lately made overtures towards healing the fractured relations on campus. It is difficult to accept these as good faith efforts if, on the other hand, the university singles out one of our most highly regarded community members for effective banishment. This community is better and more robust for having Carlos within it. Countless undergrads, grads, faculty, and service workers could tell you the same.
I am aware that you have a strong record of supporting first-gen and low-income students like Carlos since at least your tenure at Trinity College. Carlos Cruz absolutely deserves, and needs, this kind of support right now. Please accept the recommendation of the student conduct board and overturn the suspension.
Sincerely,
<Name>
Example Letter / Email to VC Baszile (Short Version)
Dear Jennifer Baszile,
I am writing this [letter/email] to you to encourage you to accept the UCSC student conduct board’s recommendation, and overturn Carlos Cruz’s two-year suspension. As so many people at UCSC will clearly tell you, Carlos is a dedicated educator, scholar and community builder, and it is extremely troubling to see such a brilliant first-gen student activist subjected to these suspect disciplinary hearings. Carlos has our full support, and he deserves, and needs, yours too.
Sincerely,
<Name>