7 UCI Students Held at Nevada Nuclear Test Range : Civil disobedience: The demonstrators join a five-day Decade to Disarm protest of UC’s participation in nuclear weapons research at laboratories in Livermore and Los Alamos. Nearly 600 activists are arrested.

Seven UC Irvine students were among the first anti-nuclear activists who were arrested Saturday during a daylong protest at a federal underground nuclear testing range.

Eighteen UCI students and alumni were among about 1,500 protesters at the Nevada Test Site, 68 miles northwest of Las Vegas. By late Saturday, nearly 600 protesters had been arrested, with dozens more waiting to be processed.

As they stepped onto test site property, the seven UCI students were met by Nye County sheriff’s deputies, who smiled and chatted with them. The students handed the officers handmade toy missiles, which were used in a mock theater presentation staged just before their arrests to protest the University of California’s participation in nuclear weapons research at laboratories in Livermore and Los Alamos.

The demonstrators were participating in a five-day Decade to Disarm protest, sponsored by three peace groups: American Peace Test, the Western Shoshone Council and a Soviet anti-nuclear group called the Nevada Movement.

Nevada Highway Patrol Capt. Glenn Jewett said most of the arrests occurred when the demonstrators crossed a cattle grate at the main Mercury entrance and stepped onto the federal property that includes the nation’s top-secret nuclear testing grounds.

“It is important that some students take the step and cross that line,” said Jessica James, a first-year music and biology student who was arrested.

“Being from UCI, we have a specific aim in opposing the connection that (UC) has with nuclear weapons,” she said.

The arrested UCI students were taken to a holding pen. Authorities said they would be cited for trespassing and released on their own recognizance.

Also arrested were: Joetta Moon, 25, a UCI graduate; Jeff Rouder, 23, a graduate student in anthropology; Caephren McKenna, 20, a political science and psychology major; Stephanie Lasko, 19, a drama major; Kate Sullivan, 19, a sophomore undeclared major, and Bob Harrison, 19, a freshman English major.

Shortly before being arrested, the students donned mortarboards fashioned from black construction paper. On their backs, they hung signs noting their class year. They then lined up, blindfolded themselves with white streamers and began humming a loud rendition of “Pomp and Circumstance,” the graduation theme.

Each student handed play money to a fellow student, who wore a sign designating her to be a UC representative. The students then accepted “diplomas”--in the shape of miniature missiles, covered with aluminum foil and tied with a red ribbon. They then read statements condemning UC involvement in nuclear research.

The presentation was meant to symbolize that students blindly hand over money to the UC system without questioning how it is being used, said Wendy Doetkott, 23, a UCI senior and a protest organizer.

“A few of us have thought we’d come to the university’s graduation and repeat the same ceremony,” said Joetta Moon, 25, a UCI graduate. “That’s still being discussed.”

Authorities promised to return the mock missiles to the students after they are released.

The action began Thursday and was timed to coincide with last week’s deployment of the Trident II missile from Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in southern Georgia, organizers said. The Trident II is the Navy’s most powerful nuclear weapon.

Similar demonstrations were held this weekend in Great Britain, West Germany and the Soviet Union, American Peace Test spokeswoman Katherin Dress said.

Highway Patrol spokesman Jewett said Saturday’s action was peaceful. “It’s a good crowd,” he said.

However, protesters closed the access road at the Mercury entrance for more than five hours when they blocked the highway, then built a rock wall across it.

Highway Patrol trooper Phillip Dart said the highway had been closed for about five hours when Department of Transportation workers were called at 5 p.m. to remove the rocks. The road was expected to be cleared early Saturday evening.

The student action was part of a demonstration that has taken place annually at the test site for several years.

But this year’s crowd appeared to be smaller than in previous years, when protesters numbered about 8,000, Dart said.

Many members of Saturday’s crowd linked arms and skirted the perimeter of the site, creating a colorful band against the bleak, brown desert property.

Some carried flags and banners. Others carried water and beat small snare drums, giving the otherwise-cheerful crowd a solemn tone.

Most of those who set up camp about a mile from the main entrance of the site were college students, including contingents from UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara.

Several high schools, including Brentwood High School in Los Angeles County, were also represented.

Michael Valleo, 18, a student at Brentwood, said a recent visit to the Soviet Union convinced him that the U.S.S.R is as interested in peace as the United States is.

“I don’t see any reason to kill millions of people when we could be saving them,” he said. “We all want peace.”

The Irvine students said they hope the demonstration and their arrests will inform other students of UC nuclear activities and pressure the governing body of the system, the Board of Regents, to cut ties with the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense that involve nuclear weapons.

The UC Irvine Academic Senate is expected to take up the issue this spring. Similar discussions are taking place at other UC campuses.

In the heart of conservative Orange County, it is often tough to be an activist at UCI, said the students who camped out on the stretch of desert, but they found the company of the fellow protesters reassuring.

“At Irvine, you can feel so alone,” Harrison said.

But the students said such protests show that their activism is changing. From beside a large tent decorated with a U.S. flag emblazoned with a peace symbol, UCI students such as Doetkott said the emphasis on nonviolence in protests is the biggest change.

“You don’t see the kind of atrocities that occurred” in the 1960s, she said, noting that both police and protesters are educated now in civil disobedience.

The police “treat us a lot better,” she said.

Equally important, the students said, is that UCI activists are more organized than ever. They use the word networking, have newsletters and have a core group that acts as an umbrella organization for their causes.

Several students protesting Saturday have also demonstrated for gay rights at UCI and have demanded more participation in student affairs.

“What we’re dealing with is serious,” McKenna said. “We’re dealing with the future.”

Associated Press and United Press International contributed to this story.