University Takes Aim at 'Californian'

Berkeley's student newspaper, The Daily Californian, has become a target of administration reprisals in the wake of last Saturday's disturbances around the People's Park.

An editorial in last Tuesday's paper had called for a party on the People's Park site to commemorate the second anniversary of the university's use of national guardsmen and police to reclaim the park. The editorial read in part: "For two years our boycott of the park has stood witness to the blood that flowed there. It is time we honored that blood with action-we must take back the park."

Campus officials were reportedly angered at the militant tone expressed in Tuesday's editorial, so the paper responded with several reaffirmation of its commitment to total nonviolence.

The university's Board of Regents, which claims ownership of the newspaper, has threatened it with withdrawal of all ASUC (Associated Students of the University of California) funds. In previous years ASUC has contributed upwards of $38,000 towards an annual budget of approximately $250,000.

But this year, the paper has accepted only the $18,000 in salaries for three secretaries in what staffers term a move towards independence.

The Californian's governing board, the Publication Board-a group of Chancellor-appointed students and faculty-met last night to vote onthe removal of the paper's top five editors, who together decide the editorial policy. No final decision was reached, but the board will vote today on the removal of the top three editors and the censure of a fourth.

The People's Park, a plot owned by the university and now used as a parking lot by university officials, was the center of violent clashes between police and students in May 1969 which resulted in one death, one blinding, and several wounded. Students had attempted to turn the area into a park for local residents but police and national guardsmen were called in to remove the students.

Saturday's disturbances saw police repeatedly use tear gas and putty-like crowd-control pellets to control roving bands of demonstrators. There were 41 arrests.

According to James Blodgett, Managing Editor of the Californian, the question of ownership of the newspaper is based on a murky agreement made in 1954, when student membership in ASUC was made mandatory by a university-wide referendum.

The university has claimed ownership of the paper ever since it took over handling of ASUC funds after the 1954 referendum. At that time, all students were required to pay a small membership fee of seven dollars per quarter and the chancellor's office took over the collecting of the fee.

Money from the fees was used by the ASUC in the building of new offices for the Californian. Blodgett said last night that the administration has repeatedly claimed that since the Chancellor's office collects the membership fees, it is in fact the owner of the ASUC and thus has final control over the operation of the paper.