Long Range Resistance is an ad-hoc coalition of concerned individuals on and off the UCSC campus. It is our intention to speak and act on behalf of the forest and the silent majority in Santa Cruz whose interests have been grossly under-represented in the debate over UCSC's future.

We want to provide factual information, and ask the difficult questions. We don't have an answer for what everyone should do with their frustrations, or what course of action will be most strategic to stop the current LRDP. We have a lot of ideas, and we are acting on them, but what we really want is to hear yours.

We are not officially affiliated with any organizations. This website attempts to connect the dots, providing a gateway to the wide variety of perspectives that oppose UCSC's current development plans. You are welcome to contact the editors with questions, thoughts, or suggestions:

lrdpcounteraction [at] gmail.com

Haven't heard of the LRDP? It's no accident! The discussion of our future is held behind closed doors.

The 2005 LRDP (Long Range Development Plan) is UCSC's "general plan" for expanding the campus in order to accommodate 4,500 new students (with associated faculty and staff) by the year 2020. This LRDP and it's accompanying Environmental Impact Report have been shadowed by a storm of controversy on and off campus ever since the draft plans were revealed in 2004.

The administrative side of this story is readily available in news articles and campus bulletins. Far less accessible is any critical analysis or factual overview of the issues to counteract the self-congratulatory statements of trained university spokespeople.

There are many more than two sides to the complex issue of campus expansion. On this page we offer a sampling of critical arguments addressing budgetary, academic and ecological planning concerns, followed by a list of sources that you may use to develop your own informed perspective.

UCSC's new Long Range Development Plan:

- Proposes unsustainable growth and disregards the concerns of Santa Cruz residents. The resource capacity to support this expansion simply doesn't exist. The addition of 4,500 new students and construction of associated infrastructure will result in overcrowded, unaffordable conditions, as housing, traffic and water resources are already critically stressed.

- Plans a rapid expansion of facilities in the midst of a serious lack of funding for existing programs, instead of planning in such a way that addresses this deficit and the deep seated structural problems that created it.

- Is the bulldozer clearing the path towards privatization, which will be justified by the intensifying budget crisis. Privatization increases tuition and changes academic priorities. Corporate-funded research and prestige-generating graduate programs are emphasized, to the detriment of undergraduate programs and unprofitable departments like the arts & humanities.

- Has been opposed by the Santa Cruz City Council and numerous prominent faculty members including Craig Rienarman (Sociology), Robert Meister (Politics) and John Isbister (Economics). The Santa Cruz Faculty Association has provided highly critical analysis of the expansion and many of its members oppose the LRDP.

- Would destroy 120 acres of beautiful redwood, chaparral and mixed evergreen forests in the currently undeveloped upper campus. Alternative, environmentally superior expansion options exist.

- Is accompanied by a flawed and spineless Environmental Impact Report that understates impacts and proposes inadequate mitigation measures. There was no outside review of the EIR, the UC Regents themselves are the certifying authority, and binding language has been consistently avoided, meaning that the UC has no legal obligation to perform expected mitigations.