Monday, June 23, 2014

SAVE THE CHE ACTION: Email Writing Campaign

Hearing all kinds of confusing information about what’s going on at the Che?

Wondering how you can help out?

We are currently in the process of compiling emails to send out to the chancellor to stress how important the Che Café is to us students, patrons, musicians and community members. 

We want to write the UC administration and tell them about how upset we are with their decision to evict us as well as tell them about our great experiences at the Che and plea for them to help keep us open.

We think it’s important to make note of the harm that will be done to the San Diego community if the Che lease is terminated by stating distinct harms (loss of a minority space, loss of a sober space, loss of a non agent booking venue, loss of an all inclusive consensus run space, etc) as well as individual stories stressing the importance of the Che to all our lives.

Please address these emails to
chancellor@ucsd.edu
and thechecafe@gmail.com

With the subject
Che Café Solidarity

We’d love it if you could write an email and show us some support. Keep your eyes and ears open for future actions and invite your friends and allies! Any support you can show us is greatly appreciated. You can also help us out by continuing to come to our shows and supporting your local DIY community.

We are many and we are not going anywhere. 
Solidarity forever!
-The Che Cafe Collective
Here’s some key notes we think are important to mention.
The Ché Café is one of the few safe, sober, all ages venues for concerts, art shows, and theatrical performances. The University community, with a large population of students under the age of 18, needs this venue.
Ché Café has earned international acclaim in the music and art worlds and deserves the highest level of support from the University.
Ché Café and the other student co-ops at UCSD provide a highly successful laboratory for students to learn about worker-owned and operated enterprises. Co-operatives of many varieties are and have long been a significant part of the economy. The skills that students learn in co-op staff meetings and in running the co-ops also translate very well into what people need to know to become sole proprietors or partners in starting new small and medium sized businesses. This hands-on laboratory education is stuff you simply cannot learn in a classroom.
Ché Café and the other co-ops have long been in the forefront of supporting union and workers rights for campus faculty and staff and economic and social justice issues on the campus and in society. Ché Café, over more than 30 years has sponsored countless benefit shows for campus and community groups and causes. Ché Café deserves the broad support of the progressive community.
To date, more than 11,000 people have signed the petition to keep the Ché Café open in its current facility, with proper funding for maintenance. These are students, alumni, faculty, university staff, and citizens in the community at large. No one reading these petition signatures and comments can say there is any lack of student (or other) support. Few other buildings at the UCSD campus could ever garner this kind of support to defend against a threat of demolition. Few other groups on the campus enjoy this level of support.
The UCSD administration has a long and history of threats to close down the Ché Café and the other co-ops. The elements include gross overestimation of costs for maintenance; gross exaggeration of health and safety issues, and failure to honor contractual (and ordinary landlord) obligations to maintain tenantability of the buildings.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1441879266080664/

Monday, June 16, 2014

URGENT!

URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT: 
The Che Cafe has been served a 30-day notice of eviction! After being called in for a meeting with no agenda we were informed that our lease was being terminated. More info on the specifics behind the University's reasoning, or lack thereof, to come soon.

During the meeting Vice-Chancellor Alan Houston noted that the major reason for this decision was a lack of student support. If you are a student/alumni, know students/alumni or are able to reach out to students/alumni, please express your support in writing to:

Vice Chancellor – Student Affairs, Alan Houston: ahouston@ucsd.edu
Assistant Vice Chancellor-Student Life, Gary Ratcliff: grratcliff@ucsd.edu
Associated Students (AS) President, Robby Boparai: aspresident@ucsd.edu
Graduate Students Association (GSA) President, Rahul Kapadia: president@gsa.ucsd.edu

Keep it cordial.
Thanks for the continued support,
La lucha sigue


Any events booked after July 13th - Bands, booking agents, etc -
Please get in contact with the collective and/or whoever is setting up your event to discuss what options there are

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The Cheron Van Bruggen Cafe Collective


In retaliation to the misinformation being perpetuated by university administration about our Collectives affiliations, debts and closure, we will be temporarily changing our name to the Cheron Van Bruggen Collective. We see this as a symbolic gesture of resistance and as an act of non-violent protest and satire.

We the Cheron Van Bruggen Collective are a collection of community members, students, artists and activists all working together to create and maintain safer and sober, all ages, all inclusive spaces for the community, regardless of what our name may be.