Last week, more than 100 University of California, Santa Cruz students occupied a campus library in protest of ongoing and projected library budget cuts. On May 12, UCSC's Ombuds, Laurie McCann, offered to facilitate a dialogue with the protesters. About 25 students accepted and spent two hours discussing the issues with University Librarian Virginia Steel.
Despite "much anger" from the students during the meeting, participants eventually convinced the other students to leave the library before closing, effectively ending the three-day protest. McCann has been the Campus Ombuds at UCSC since 2002. (Library Journal.)
It would be SOOOO interesting to hear about the approach the Ombuds used when she facilitated the dialogue with the students in the library during the next Cal Caucus conference in November. Tina FEiger Santa MOnica college
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