Quentin Williams cancelled the Graduate Student Commons “February Friendship First Friday,” a popular recurring grad student community event, because it was advertised as a “strike activity.”
From: Quentin Williams
Date: Fri, Feb 7, 2020
To: GSC Governing Board
Hi GSC Governing Board,
Let me be a bit more clear: the FF event is being (and has been) advertised as a strike activity. That cannot be supported by the campus, approved by the campus, or be associated with organizations on the campus. I have cancelled university approval of the event, associated PO’s, alcohol approval, etc.
It is cancelled.
Sincerely,
Quentin Williams
aVPDGS
From: Graduate Student Commons <gscommon@ucsc.edu>
Date: Fri, Feb 7, 2020, 1:42 PM
Subject: [grads-group] GSC FIRST FRIDAY CANCELLED
To: <grads-group@ucsc.edu>
Dear Graduate Students,
We apologize for the short notice and untimely announcement that our February Friendship First Friday, to be held today at 5 – 7 pm at the GSC, has been cancelled by the University administration. They withdrew all funding and support related to this event due to the purported presence of “strike activity”.
This morning, the GSC Governing Board was informed 30 minutes before going shopping for food and drink that we have lost our funding for First Friday. Shortly after, we received an email from the University administration officially cancelling First Friday.
The Graduate Student Commons is a space for all graduate students to access and enjoy. All graduate students with a registered student ID card should still have 24-hour access* to the GSC.
*If you haven’t received 24 hour access, please stop at the GSC front desk TODAY before 5pm to have a student intern program your student ID card.
We again, apologize for the short-notice and we are grateful for all our graduate students who have dedicated their time to support and attend our events. And while this event has been canceled, we especially want to acknowledge the time and effort that many grads put toward planning it.
If you still want to meet up with your fellow graduate students tonight, join us downtown at Salsa Night at the Palomar from 8:15 to 11:30 PM!
Sincerely,
Graduate Student Commons Governing Board