O.C. prosecutors file criminal charges against 19 UC Irvine protesters

In a move that some students called overly harsh, Orange County prosecutors filed criminal charges Thursday against 19 UC Irvine protesters who stormed into an administration building last February and chanted slogans, blew whistles and banged on walls outside the chancellor’s office.

Authorities said more than 400 people had to be evacuated from Aldrich Hall during the demonstration and that two of the protesters pushed a dumpster up against the administration building and rolled another one into a street, blocking traffic.

There were no reports of injuries during the incident.

The protesters were charged with a variety of offenses stemming from the Feb. 24 demonstration, including disorderly conduct and false imprisonment. The protesters, 15 of whom were UCI students, were supporting campus janitors who had been rebuffed in their effort to be hired by the university.

If convicted, the protesters face sentences ranging from probation to a year in jail.

John Bruning, one of the students charged with false imprisonment, said he believes the arrests are intended to silence students from speaking out against university policy.

“I feel like they are trying to ramp up the pressure now,” said Bruning, who said he is a member of a campus activist group called Radical Student Union and is about to graduate. “I think it’s really deliberate.”

Though state universities in California have seen activism over tuition and fee increases this year, criminal charges have been filed only infrequently in cases not involving vandalism or violence.

UC officials estimated that on average, each of the system’s nine undergraduate campuses suspends at least one student group every year, usually for alcohol-related incidents or other unacceptable behavior.

But at UCI and other university campuses, cases involving student protests provide no clear patterns of discipline, and officials often will not comment because of federal privacy rules.

Cathy Lawhon, executive director of communications for UCI, said it is confidential whether the students charged by the district attorney are also facing internal disciplinary action.

She said any action the Orange County district attorney initiates is separate from the university.

“We aren’t in a position to speak to how the D.A. conducts its business,” she said.

Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office, said her office examined the students’ conduct and found criminal wrongdoing.

“We had to evacuate 400 people from the building,” she said.

Some of the charges were more serious than others. Bruning and James Eric Lagergren were charged with one count of false imprisonment and one count of obstruction of a public place. Lagergren also was charged with a misdemeanor count of being a public nuisance.

Eric Kitayama, of Anaheim Hills, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of trespassing and one misdemeanor count each of disturbing the peace and refusal to disperse. Sixteen other defendants were each charged with a misdemeanor count of trespassing, refusal to disperse and disturbing the peace.

In December 2009, eight people were arrested at UC Berkeley after vandalizing the chancellor’s residence. Because of a lack of evidence, no charges were filed.

Thomas Frampton, a second-year law student at Berkeley and a member of the Campus Rights Project, a group that helps defend protesters at the school, said Berkeley thus far hasn’t seen criminal charges, just internal university charges.

“I think that criminal charges show that they are willing to threaten these kids’ job prospects and futures off campus and beyond the educational setting as well,” he said of the UCI case.

“That’s really concerning especially for nonviolent protesters.”

Frampton said California’s budget issues won’t be ending any time soon, and that university officials will continue to have to deal with protesters.

“There’s a definitely a sense that student activism is continuing and isn’t going anywhere,” he said.

nicole.santa-cruz@latimes.com