By filing the lawsuit, the civil rights groups, including the ACLU of Northern California, are seeking an injunction to prevent the university from banning students again, if there are additional protests in the upcoming fall term, which begins later this month.
EdSource reports the complaint, filed in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on Monday, says that more than 110 students and faculty were banned from campus for up to 14 days after being arrested at a pro-Palestinian encampment on May 31.
Campus officials at the time invoked section 626.4 of California's penal code, which allows campus chancellors to ban individuals from campus for up to two weeks if they disrupt the orderly operation of the campus.
The lawsuit, however, alleges that campus officials violated the law by not first providing the individuals with a hearing before banning them.
The lawsuit cites precedent in a California Supreme Court case, Braxton v. Municipal Court, when the court ruled that campus officials can ban someone without a hearing only if their continued presence "constitutes a substantial and material threat of significant injury to persons or property." According to the lawsuit, the campus didn't provide the banned individuals with findings about how they presented such a threat.
UC Santa Cruz officials were not available for an interview. In a statement, a campus spokesperson said "the decisions made in the spring were necessary and critical to preserve safety, access, and operations of the campus."
The lawsuit comes on the heels of UC President Michael Drake announcing that encampments would be banned across the 10-campus UC system this academic year. He asked each campus to come up with its own policy to enforce those rules.
