DAVE HILL/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Hector
Perla, a political science graduate student who helped
erect the crosses in the background, camped out on the steps of
Kerckhoff Hall Wednesday night in case administrators decided to
remove the display.
By Linh Tat
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
After granting a student group permission to display crosses for
three days in honor of Dia de Los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the
Dead, administrators requested Tuesday that the days be shortened
to one.
Conciencia Libre, a student social justice organization
concerned with Latin American issues, violated its agreement with
the university, administrators said, by displaying crosses outside
the designated Westwood Plaza area and by planting them on the
lawns.
But members of the group contend administrators also violated
the agreement by requesting they remove the crosses before Thursday
““ the day originally scheduled for removing the crosses.
“It violates the agreement we had with them. It violates
our free speech,” said Hector Perla, a political science
graduate student and Conciencia Libre member.
The group erected nearly 600 crosses in memory of Latin
Americans who have died crossing the San Diego border since the
1994 implementation of Operation Gatekeeper, which extended border
security 116 yards out into the Pacific Ocean.
Group members said they were told they had to remove the crosses
by 5 p.m. Tuesday or the university would hire workers to remove
them. Also, they said the organization would be charged a fee for
the workers and would be suspended.
Berky Nelson, director of the Center for Student Programming,
who had originally approved the display, said the crosses
weren’t supposed to be planted in the ground, but should
stand on a base.
“The understanding was that the crosses were going to be
free-standing,” Nelson said. “They did not do what they
told the adviser they were going to do.”
Nelson was also concerned the exhibit would incite other
conflicts, such as tensions between campus groups split over the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“Crosses can signify death when there’s
conflict,” he said.
But Conciencia Libre members said the display does not pose a
threat to the community.
“There’s not really a potential for students to get
hurt,” Perla said. “We’re just trying to draw
attention to a human rights problem.”
In response to administrators’ request that the display be
taken down, the organization started a petition and collected close
to 1,000 names, members said.
Some students camped outside Kerckhoff Hall Wednesday night to
ensure no one would remove the crosses. Equipped with blankets and
food, students attempted to study for their midterms the next day.
They returned home only to shower and nap before returning to
campus, members said.
They also took their grievances to Lyle Timmerman, executive
officer of Student and Campus Life, who told the students they
couldn’t display the crosses at Meyerhoff Park.
In most cases, the university prohibits displays in Meyerhoff, a
part of campus designated for free speech. It also prohibits items
from being planted on the lawn.
“Having 600 crosses stuck in the lawns … facilities
cannot accommodate that use,” Timmerman said.
Conciencia Libre had only requested to have the display on
Westwood Plaza, not at Meyerhoff, Sycamore Alley, or the Fowler
Museum where the crosses were planted.
“The facilities use form did not provide for the crosses
to be exhibited where they are,” Timmerman said.
Members of the organization said though they had obtained
permission to display the crosses on Bruin Plaza, an employee from
the J.D. Morgan Center complained about them. As a result, the
group decided to move the display to Meyerhoff.
“We assumed that since it’s a free speech area, that
it’s open to any kind of free expression, but that’s
not the case,” said Mark Jimenez, a fourth-year Latin
American studies and history student.
He said the group was willing to remove the crosses provided
they receive an alternative location to display them, such as
outside Royce or Murphy Halls, but administrators denied the
request.
University officials would not comment on whether they would
take further actions against the group, who removed the crosses
Thursday night.