The CUC Board of Overseers has spoken. Apparently, according to Brenda Barham Hill, the CEO of CUC, our college environment is a democracy. Indeed, according to her, the decisions regarding building on the BFS were done in a democratic fashion. Thus, the student activists protesting this development are acting against the spirit of give and take that is inherent in a democratic system. By not accepting the result of a democratic decision, the protestors are denying the will of the people and are resorting to mob rule. "Voices have spoken and been heard" regarding development on the Bernard Field Station.

Well, frankly, none of this is true. Calling open forums and meetings means nothing unless the people who are voicing their opinions actually have some influence in the matter. The key motivation behind the occupation of Pendleton was that the Students for the Field Station were forced to resort to extralegal measures after going through every proper, legal channel available. Before this action, students and community members have for several years held debates, organized rallies, wrote letters, tried to put legal initiatives and referendums on the ballot, and met with the presidents and Brenda Barham Hill,. In discussions about private property rights and the validity of direct action, this simple fact seems to have been lost.

In this regard, Hill’s assertion in the last issue of TSL that "CUC has endeavored to be a responsible neighbor and good citizen in the process it followed" is laughable to say the least. The "numerous discussions, meetings, and dialogues with interested parties at the colleges and public hearings convened by the city regarding development plans" of which she speaks produced an overwhelming community outcry in support of the preservation of the Field Station. The majority of the student body may not support the use of direct action, but the issue for which that action was undertaken has the support of not only students, but also faculty and community members.

Another point which has been misstated is the intent and legality of the land trusts to which CUC loves to refer. Ellen Browning Scripps did not donate the land north of Foothill Boulevard specifically for future colleges, as the administration maintains. Rather, she entrusted the land simply for "educational use," which can, according to documents recently unearthed at Denison Library, mean educational buildings but also athletic fields and even parks. Even if the personal language of the trusts’ donors specified development of the land, times have changed. When Scripps donated the land 75 years ago, there was almost nothing north of what is now Foothill Boulevard; in fact, this entire area was mostly rural. Now, however, the BFS, itself a small chunk of the original donation, is all that is left of this open space.

Another piece of disinformation on CUC’s part is the allegation that the lockdown was preventing hourly workers from being paid on time. CUC officials admitted the Monday of the lockdown that the entire payroll system was online and could be accessed from other buildings on campus. Negotiators from the Students for the Field Station offered to escort CUC employees inside the building to obtain other necessary materials, but CUC refused, maintaining that they needed to be inside the building. When asked to explain specifically why, the response was "we don’t need to explain this to you, it’s just not realistic." Word came shortly after from financial offices at Pomona that CUC had indeed already set up payroll operations elsewhere. Workers were not affected by the occupation at all–in fact, payroll came out early that week. CUC, by spreading this disinformation, is trying to play divide and conquer by making the student activists look like a bunch of uncaring radicals.

This strategy of disinformation has been CUC’s approach throughout the entire development process. It has paid lip service again and again to community concerns, claming, as I stated earlier, that it has listened to these concerns–but they have been completely ignored. Hill also states that "this open process over the past two and a half years resulted in a legal settlement agreement that is a compromise for all." The fact is, the compromise agreement with the Friends of the Field Station, a community group, is not a "compromise for all" in any sense, for it isn’t a compromise. The timetable of setting aside roughly half of the Field Station for 50 years in the agreement is the amount of time it would have taken for CUC to build the new colleges on the Field Station anyway. Furthermore, no one outside of the five-person board of the Friends of the Field Station was consulted in anyway about this agreement.

More ominously, CUC also has lied about its use of police force during the lockdown. The organization told student negotiators on Monday that any police action would be peaceful and respectful, with plenty of advanced warning. In fact, they called 40 riot police and removed and arrested people with a "two-minute warning" that at three of the four doors was in fact a no-minute warning. The actions of CUC regarding the police are disturbing, for what happened that very tense Tuesday morning was not an attempt to regain access to a building–it was a dangerous attempt at intimidating and silencing dissent that could easily have escalated into a violent situation.

The fact is, CUC is so thoroughly ingrained in corporate culture that it refers to the students under its wing as "customers" in its mission statement. If CUC really believes that, as its web site states, "satisfaction of customer needs is our top priority", it would not have ignored the community for so long.

I argue that the entire structure of CUC must be changed. While this may seem to be calling for a lot, an organization that acts as an hegemon over the colleges without any form of community input runs directly counter to the colleges’ stated goals of upholding democracy and the fair exchange of ideas. Brenda Barham Hill has openly admitted in meetings with student activists that CUC is not accountable to the students and faculty of the colleges. If not, then who is it accountable to?

Here’s a hint: it’s green, it’s rectangular, and right now, it smells.