UCLA Protesters Make Point With Clean Sweep
Pete Torres, house manager of Royce Hall, could hardly believe the final act of 300 boisterous protesters who forced the cancellation of a mayoral debate.
After breaking into UCLA’s performance hall and noisily occupying the building for four hours Wednesday evening, then spilling out to declare victory in their fight to restore affirmative action, many politely returned to tidy the room.
Sweeping through the auditorium with garbage bags, they picked up empty pizza boxes, cups, bottles and every scrap of paper.
This ain’t Berkeley--or even UCLA--in the ‘60s.
“Back then, they bowled over the barricades, they were rowdy,” said Torres, a UCLA employee since the era of student radicalism three decades ago. “This bunch, they make their point, but they seem to be concerned not to do any property damage, let anyone get hurt or make a mess.”
UCLA leaders, in turn, treated the protesters with respect and kept police at bay so as not to provoke them. Unlike their reaction to the last big demonstration, about two years ago, they did not call in LAPD in full riot gear.
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