6 UCI Protesters Are Arrested : Civil rights: Demonstrators supporting gay couples in their bid to live in campus family housing block the administration building’s entrance. The event draws 90 protesters and about 425 onlookers.

IRVINE —  Six UC Irvine students were arrested Wednesday after blocking the front doors of the college administration building, an act of civil disobedience that the protesters likened to the university’s decision to block gay couples from living in campus family housing.

The arrests followed a short demonstration in which 90 demonstrators sat cross-legged in front of the building, their arms linked as they sang spirituals and chanted slogans. The demonstration drew about 350 onlookers outside the building and another 75 inside.

After about 10 minutes, police warned the crowd sitting in front of the building to disperse, and most walked behind the police line about 25 feet from the front doors. The students who were arrested during the choreographed demonstration then linked arms to block the doorway, and police took them into custody one at a time.

One demonstrator shook hands with her arresting officer just before being handcuffed. The six were led to a van waiting in the parking lot and later cited for failing to disperse and blocking the doorway, both misdemeanors.

The protest followed Chancellor Jack Peltason’s decision to deny gay men, lesbians and other non-traditional couples the benefits accorded to married students, including the right to live in the Verano Place family housing complex.

“Our act of civil disobedience is an appeal to his conscience,” said Napoleon Lustre, a protest organizer who was arrested. “We demand that Chancellor Peltason set a precedent.”

Activists rebuilt their cardboard shantytown on campus Monday in another form of protest. After 10 days, the group tore down its original shantytown built last month but rebuilt it after receiving a response from Peltason that the protesters said was inadequate. The group, known as the Shantytown Committee, demanded Monday that Peltason reconsider his position and gave him 48 hours to respond. When he did not, the demonstrators blocked the doors.

But Peltason and university officials say they cannot change student housing policy, which is based on state law and decisions by the University of California Board of Regents.

“The university’s decision has been stated,” said Horace Mitchell, vice chancellor for student affairs. “It really must be pursued in the civil courts.”

In a response to activists who built the cardboard shantytown in February, Peltason agreed to consider hiring an advocate to handle gay concerns on campus. But he said he was forbidden by law and UC policies to accept the demands.

“This is seen as a broader social issue,” Mitchell said.

University ombudsman Ron Wilson said earlier this week that the demonstrators believe that they are fighting a civil rights battle that transcends UCI boundaries.

“They view themselves as fighting for dignity all over this country,” Wilson said.

Campus police were notified in advance of the demonstration, which began and ended precisely on schedule. Those who planned to be arrested wore magenta armbands.

The arrested demonstrators said they risked a lot by taking part in the demonstration. Protest organizer Judy Olson, an graduate student in English who hopes to become a university professor, began to cry as she described her fear that her actions could harm her future employment prospects.

“We’re asking the chancellor to take what I think to be a personal risk” in reversing the housing policy, Olson said. “When I ask him to do this, I’m not asking him to do anything I wouldn’t do myself.”

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