SAN DIEGO — More than a hundred graduate students from UC campuses across California gathered outside the San Diego County courthouse in downtown Monday afternoon. They were there to show their support for two current UCSD students and a recent graduate who now face felony charges.
“On Thursday, June 29 two Scripps colleagues and I were arrested just outside our homes by UCPD and jailed overnight on allegations of felony vandalism and conspiracy,” said Jessica Ng, a post-doctoral researcher.
Ng and her colleagues were protesting on May 30 outside UCSD's new Marine Conservation and Technology facility at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. They say the university hasn't been honoring the terms of their new contract so, with sidewalk chalk, they wrote "fair wages now."
A month later, they were arrested.
“Two felony charges for writing with sidewalk chalk on campus, that is not rational behavior,” said Neal Sweeney, president of UAW 5810. “That is an abuse of power. that's intimidation and it's designed to silence us and scare us. Are we going to let them silence and scare us? No!”
The university released a statement saying the chalk caused damage that cost more than $12,000 to repair, adding
"The vandals used materials that defaced the walls of the new facility, and those materials seeped into the concrete. The concrete had been specially treated to withstand the marine environment and had to be professionally repaired."
The protestors held their rally outside the county courthouse Monday afternoon because the three people charged were scheduled to have their arraignment after lunch, but the arraignment didn’t happen.
The district attorney's office says UC police still haven’t filed the necessary paperwork. CBS 8 emailed UCSD to ask why the paperwork hasn’t been filed, but have not received a response.
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