FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Contact: Danielle Back

danielleback@gmail.com
(480)329-9007

In a State-Wide Protest, Arizona University Students

Rally for Human Rights
Arizona students demand that ABOR supports human rights in Arizona

Tucson, AZ-- This Thursday, students, faculty, and community members from all three
public universities in Arizona will unite at the University of Arizona to rise up for human
rights.

The event will begin at 11:30am, with Arizonans rallying to commemorate International
Human Rights Day (Dec. 10). At noon, Isabel Garcia, (co-chair of Derechos Humanos
and legal defender of Pima County), Dr. Roberto Rodriguez (assistant professor at the
University of Arizona), and Edith Garwood (Israel and the Occupied Territories specialist
for Amnesty International) will speak on human rights issues in Arizona and the rest of
the world.

In the afternoon, the Arizona Board of Regents will meet to decide on policies regarding
Arizona’s public universities. Although ABOR explicitly exists to benefit Arizona’s
residents and their communities, the Regents continue to ignore student voices and issues
of human rights in Arizona. Despite months of students attending ABOR meetings and
speaking in the ‘Call to the Audience,’ the Regents continue to ignore student concerns
about human rights.

The human rights violations in Arizona have reached a critical point: higher education is
on the verge of privatization; Senate Bill 1070 continues to create a hostile environment
for students on and off college campuses; the regents’ historic commitment to social
responsible investment has been abandoned.

After the rally, students and community members will attend the Arizona Board of
Regents’ meeting and pressure the regents to fulfill their obligation to students and
respond to student concerns about human rights issues that impact students, families, and
communities well beyond the university educational system.

“If ABOR refuses to address human rights violations in Arizona in its December
meetings, we will rise up and demand that our voices be heard come this spring,” said
Twyla Haggerty, one of the organizers of the event.

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