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Our campus is blockaded off today, in a desparate attempt by the administration to stop people from celebrating April 20th, which has become one of the most celebrated holidays of the year here.
3 days ago, the Vice Chancellor sent out this email to all students about the draconian security measures being imposed this year to ensure that nobody fires up a phatty on campus...
( April 20th campus closure notice )
A summary for those who don't feel like clicking behind the cut:
Smoking pot in the Porter meadows at UCSC has become such a popular annual tradition on April 20th, it attracted over 5000 participants last year, including hot dog vendors, musicians performing, and tents set up selling refreshments. And of course, a giant cloud of pot large enough to get you fully high just from walking around in it. It has been growing each year, to get up to this level. As I understand it, the administration has always just looked the other way in the past. But I guess this year, they decided it is now a big enough problem they need to shut the party down. So they sent us this email saying that the entire campus is closed on April 20th. They blockaded off one entrance entirely, and the other entrance is guarded with about 6 police officers. The city busses which usually go on campus as a part of their normal route, are forbidden to drive on campus today. The only people allowed in are those who can show both a student ID and a parking pass, and have some official business on campus. Although you don't have to say much about what that business is. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get on today, as my main reason for coming to campus was that I don't have internet access at home right now. I waited in the long line of cars trying to get in, and then told the cops that my official business was that I was a graduate student and needed to conduct research on campus today (partially true... I did do about 30 minutes of research today, but I've been here the rest of the day catching up on lj! and the research part I could have done at home)
All visitor privledges have been suspended for campus residents for both last nignt and tonight. I was thinking of heading over to the meadows at 4:20pm to see if anyone was there, but I'm sure the place is crawling with cops. So I decided to just enjoy my internet access and stay in my office. Cablemodem is getting set up at home on Tuesday. I guess I'll find out later from friends whether I missed out. I heard there was going to be a March onto campus starting from somewhere on the West side, but I don't know if they successfully made it past the law enforcement.
The cops gave me a special event parking pass that says "April 20th Parking Pass" in huge letters on a red background. I'm going to save it as memorabilia :)
This has been![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spoonless, reporting to you from inside the 4/20 blockade.
P.S. I just noticed that the first picture in the Wikipedia entry for 420 is a picture of the event on our campus last year (which I of course attended).
3 days ago, the Vice Chancellor sent out this email to all students about the draconian security measures being imposed this year to ensure that nobody fires up a phatty on campus...
( April 20th campus closure notice )
A summary for those who don't feel like clicking behind the cut:
Smoking pot in the Porter meadows at UCSC has become such a popular annual tradition on April 20th, it attracted over 5000 participants last year, including hot dog vendors, musicians performing, and tents set up selling refreshments. And of course, a giant cloud of pot large enough to get you fully high just from walking around in it. It has been growing each year, to get up to this level. As I understand it, the administration has always just looked the other way in the past. But I guess this year, they decided it is now a big enough problem they need to shut the party down. So they sent us this email saying that the entire campus is closed on April 20th. They blockaded off one entrance entirely, and the other entrance is guarded with about 6 police officers. The city busses which usually go on campus as a part of their normal route, are forbidden to drive on campus today. The only people allowed in are those who can show both a student ID and a parking pass, and have some official business on campus. Although you don't have to say much about what that business is. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get on today, as my main reason for coming to campus was that I don't have internet access at home right now. I waited in the long line of cars trying to get in, and then told the cops that my official business was that I was a graduate student and needed to conduct research on campus today (partially true... I did do about 30 minutes of research today, but I've been here the rest of the day catching up on lj! and the research part I could have done at home)
All visitor privledges have been suspended for campus residents for both last nignt and tonight. I was thinking of heading over to the meadows at 4:20pm to see if anyone was there, but I'm sure the place is crawling with cops. So I decided to just enjoy my internet access and stay in my office. Cablemodem is getting set up at home on Tuesday. I guess I'll find out later from friends whether I missed out. I heard there was going to be a March onto campus starting from somewhere on the West side, but I don't know if they successfully made it past the law enforcement.
The cops gave me a special event parking pass that says "April 20th Parking Pass" in huge letters on a red background. I'm going to save it as memorabilia :)
This has been
spoonless, reporting to you from inside the 4/20 blockade.P.S. I just noticed that the first picture in the Wikipedia entry for 420 is a picture of the event on our campus last year (which I of course attended).
