UCSD Makes Bold Move Evicting Ché Cafe

by Counter Cultured | March 26, 2015 1:20 pm

by Gabriella Hoffman[1]

On Tuesday, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) allowed the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to seize the Ché Cafe. The co-op was handed an eviction notice on March 17, 2015,[2] after more than a decade of back-and-forth over the building’s decrepit state.

The controversial cafe- which pays homage to communist Ché Guevara and is a backronym for “Cheap Healthy Eats” – first opened in 1980 and is considered a “hip” concert venue among UCSD students. However, not all of us who attended UCSD hold that same view.

When I attended UCSD from 2009 to 2012, I viewed that place as a worn-out, shabby communist compound. Many campus leftists had congregated there. Admittedly, it was a scary place to stumble upon (especially at night). More importantly, few of my classmates questioned its very name and corresponding tribute to communist thug Ché Guevara.

The proposed eviction, which was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, has generated a lot of attention. Though outrage has been placed on the eviction, it’s greatly misplaced. Students and community members should be outraged by what the Ché Cafe stands for.

Read more at Counter Cultured here[3].