Judge upholds Ché Café eviction
A judge on Tuesday upheld UC San Diego’s effort to evict the student-run Ché Café from the ramshackle building it’s occupied for more than three decades.
But it remains to be seen if the legal ruling spells the end for the counterculture hub that has survived similar upheavals over the years.
The cafe will have five calendar days to leave the premises once the written order is signed by the judge and the university files a writ of possession. That means the venerable student collective could be out by mid-next week.
Rene Vera, a core member of the collective and a recent UCSD graduate, said the cafe will continue to run its vegan kitchen as it has, until it’s told unequivocally by the university to evacuate.
“Today I don’t feel like we lost. I’m still going to continue to organize,” Vera, 26, said after the ruling. “I don’t see this as an end, but another hurdle.”
Ché’s attorney, Bryan Pease, said an appeal is being considered. In the meantime, he is hoping to reopen negotiations with the student body and university to either let the cafe stay or, should the cafe ultimately have to pack up, allow it to return in the future.
“We are calling on the university to engage in the process on campus,” Pease said.
University spokesman Jeff Gattas said in a statement that UCSD “appreciates the court’s decision.”
“We are hopeful that we will have a smooth transition as we move forward. The university is committed to supporting UC San Diego’s student organizations and providing a broad range of cultural and artistic events and activities on our campus,” he said.
He did not specify how the school plans to move forward.
The two-day trial held in San Diego Superior Court last week and the verdict Tuesday drew a crowd of about a dozen cafe supporters at a time, from alumni to current students to parents.
The collective was formed in 1980, originally called Cheap Healthy Eats. The 1940s-era building became a canvas for budding artists’ socially-conscious murals and paintings, including depictions of revolutionary icon Che Guevara. The student-run nonprofit operates on democratic votes and volunteer work.
The alcohol-free venue became a renowned spot to hear both up-and-coming bands and big name acts like Blink 182, Bright Eyes, Jimmy Eat World and Smashing Pumpkin’s Billy Corgan.
“Ché Café is one of the few, if only, things that brings in people from the greater San Diego community,” Vera said.
La Jolla mom Kerry Cooper said she’s been letting her son attend functions at the college cafe since he was 12. Now a senior in high school, he is applying to UCSD.
“It’s been a positive impact on his life. … It’s a safe place you can let children go to learn about different opinions. It’s sad. It’s a huge loss if it happens,” Cooper said of a possible closure.
There have been threats to close before. In 2011, the venue couldn’t pay its insurance premiums. And in 1989, there were issues with fire codes. But the cafe still found ways to stay open.
The current legal dispute erupted over a 2006 lease between UCSD and the cafe. The lease was good for a fixed two-year term, giving the cafe the option to renew it. When the two years was up in 2008, the university and student collective began years of negotiations over the terms of a renewal, but the cafe never formally requested to extend the lease. Over the past six years, the cafe continued to operate on a month-to-month basis under the lease.
The university said it decided to evict Ché Café when the Graduate Students Association voted to decertify the collective in June. The resolution cited problems with the cafe’s finances and concluded the graduate student body had lost confidence in the cafe.
“It’s not because we don’t like music. It’s not because of any reason people might speculate about,” Daniel Park, one of UCSD’s attorneys, said during closing arguments. “The GSA had been telling Ché for quite some time they needed to get their act together.”
The university served the collective with a 30-day notice to evacuate, citing the graduate students’ loss of support in the cafe. Park points out that the university wasn’t required to provide a reason under the terms of the lease, since it was on a month-to-month basis, but did so as a courtesy.
Members of the collective argued that the graduate students’ vote hardly represented the student body; only 26 of the 100 or so student representatives voted during the end-of-the-year session. The collective still has the certification of the undergraduate Associated Students.
Attorneys for Ché Café filed a lawsuit several days later fighting the eviction.
In issuing her ruling Tuesday, Judge Katherine Bacal said there was not sufficient evidence that the cafe sought formal dispute resolution through the school to settle the issue, before the cafe filed a lawsuit. With that, she ruled the university’s eviction to be legal.
Pease, the collective’s lawyer, said afterward that the ruling was somewhat confusing, because the cafe did ask the university to work with them on the matter. He said they only filed the lawsuit when the university rebuffed their requests. An appeal is being considered on that point, he said.
The judge addressed the group of supporters in the courtroom, saying she found the case to be “very interesting.”
“I understand why you’re here and I understand your interest in this matter,” Bacal said. “I found this to be a very difficult case, but there’s what I’m required to do under the law and under the lease, and that’s why I’ve taken the action I have.”
The judge also ordered the cafe pay back rent for the days it’s continued to operate in the space, about $260.
One major sticking point that was not addressed during the trial is the fate of the building, with or without Ché Café.
University officials have said the building needs some $700,000 in repairs to remain open and safe for use, including installing a sprinkler system and renovating the restrooms. In May, the University Centers Advisory Board voted not to fund the Ché’s repairs in its 2014-2015 budget.
