Please help distribute this release, to friends and family, and to any press contacts you have. - mk
Please note: forwarded message attached
Please note: forwarded message attached
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 13, 2014
CONTACT:
Rene Vera (619) 865-8696 grveraxxx@gmail.com
SAN DIEGO – On Wednesday, October 15, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. in Department 69 of the San Diego Superior Court, 330 W. Broadway, Judge Katherine Bacal will preside over a trial on the eviction lawsuit filed by the Regents of the University of California/ University of California at San Diego (“University”) against the C.H.E. Café Collective to determine whether or not the Collective can continue to operate the iconic 34-year old, vegan, student-controlled café, venue, and creative space, the C.H.E. Café (originally “Cheap Healthy Eats”).
At last Friday’s trial call, over 50 C.H.E. Café supporters and media packed the courtroom. Trial is anticipated to run through at least Thursday.
The University argues that the 2006 Space Agreement between the University and the UCSD student/worker cooperatives, including the C.H.E., should be ignored. The agreement was intended to last through 2016, when the parties could then re-negotiate it. Instead, in late May when students were leaving for the summer, the University, along with members of the UCSD Graduate Student Association (“GSA”), secretly pushed through a flawed resolution "decertifying" the Collective, so the University could bypass the agreement.
Despite receiving hundreds of emails, calls, and letters of support from UCSD students, alumni, faculty, staff, organized labor, and community members, as well as petitions signed by over 14,000 supporters, the University refuses to negotiate with the Collective to preserve the space. In fact, the University rebuffed several good faith attempts to negotiate the issues and a proposed resolution, and instead continues to sink valuable public and student funds in pursuing the unfounded eviction.
It is estimated that the University has likely spent at least $70,000 in public and student funds on its high-paid outside attorneys, including the firm Kimball, Tirey, and St. John, who was recently replaced by the firm of Paul, Plevin, Sullivan & Connaughton LLP (“Paul, Plevin”). Paul, Plevin specializes in the aggressive defense of employers when sued by workers over discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and wage & hour claims.
The eviction is the latest in the ongoing historical attack on the Collective by the University, which not only refused to meet with students to discuss any issues related to the Café, but actively interfered with the C.H.E.’s ability to operate as a café, including blocking a $35,000 grant to the C.H.E. by another student organization and cutting off the gas lines at the Café so it could no longer cook and sell food (a large part of its revenue). Despite these attacks, the Collective repeatedly requested meetings with the University administrators, but the University continued to ignore and/or rebuff attempts to work together.
The C.H.E. filed its own action against the University to challenge the alleged GSA decertification and will ask the Court for an injunction against all further actions against the C.H.E. on October 31, 2014. In the meantime, the eviction trial will proceed.
Meanwhile, the C.H.E. continues to operate as it has since 1980 as a student-controlled, democratically-run space on campus for students to have a safe and alcohol-free atmosphere for entertainment and meetings.
Several fundraisers and other events have been planned, with more information to be released. Supporters continue to join the cause, not the least due to the hundreds of iconic artists and musicians who have been hosted over the years, including those listed below.
The Collective invites any and all supporters to join it on Wednesday, October 15, 2014, at 9:00 a.m. in Department 69 of the San Diego Superior Court, 330 W. Broadway, to show your support in the court room.
To read comments from supporters, show your support, and/or donate to the C.H.E., please visit:
MUSIC AND THE C.H.E.’s LEGACY:
A short list of national and international indie acts who played the C.H.E. includes:
At the Drive-In, Blonde Redhead, Black Dice, Blink 182, Botch, Bright Eyes, Citizen Fish, Billy Corgan, Chumbawamba, Descendants, Deerhoof, Dum Dum Girls, Green Day, Hella, Inside Out, Jawbreaker, Jets to Brazil, Jimmy Eat World, Lightning Bolt, Los Crudos, Mike Watt, No Age, Pennywise, Rise Against, Sleep, Subhumans, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Get Up Kids, The (international) Noise Conspiracy, and Unwound, among many, many others.
A few of San Diego’s seminal artists that have been hosted by the C.H.E. include:
Album Leaf, Antioch Arrow, Aspects of Physics, Crossed Out, Clikatat Ikatowi, Crash Worship, Rob Crow, Drive Like Jehu, Gogogo Airheart, Heavy Vegetable, Heroin, Physics, Pinback, Pitchfork, Rocket from the Crypt, Struggle, Swing Kids, Retox, The Black Heart Procession, The Locust, Three Mile Pilot, and Weatherbox, among several others.
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