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Save Anna Head School Steering Committee Press Release May 16, 2024
We were greatly distressed yesterday afternoon to learn that a group had occupied the Anna Head School and Channing Hall in particular.
Chair of the Steering Committee to Save Anna Head School, Paul Chapman, visited the site at 4:00, spoke with security personnel to learn what had happened, talked with the UC Police about their response, and met with a group at the encampment in front of Channing. He gave them background about our efforts to work with the University to save Anna Head, explained that the building is over 130 years old, landmarked, and in fragile condition due to a recent water leak that damaged the entire structure. He asked that, quite apart from the reasons for their occupation of the building, they respect its legacy for the community and do no damage to the structure.
We have asked that the University take immediate action to minimize damage to Anna Head. We have asked that they expand security coverage from the force stationed at People’s Park, as we had previously requested, and that they move swiftly to end the occupation. Our committee has received many emails and calls from concerned members of the community—alumni, UC faculty and administration, current students, Berkeley city residents--about the impact of the occupation on the Anna Head School. We hope this crisis impels the University to take steps to protect the site and confirm a plan to save Anna Head School.
Anna Head School Steering Committee members include Paul Chapman, Chuck Palley, Kit Ratcliff, and Nan Warren. For information about their four-year effort to work with UC Berkeley to save historic Channing Hall and to build student housing on a portion of the site, see the Saving Anna Head School website.
For an account of the occupation, please see the article by Frances Dinkelspiel in The Berkeley Scanner, Preservationists worry about fate of occupied Cal building, May 16, 2024.