{"id":46434,"date":"2026-01-31T12:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46434"},"modified":"2026-01-31T12:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T20:37:08","slug":"progressive-us-house-candidate-saikat-chakrabarti-speaks-on-freedom-of-speech-at-asuc-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/01\/31\/progressive-us-house-candidate-saikat-chakrabarti-speaks-on-freedom-of-speech-at-asuc-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Progressive US House candidate Saikat Chakrabarti speaks on freedom of speech at ASUC event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/users\/profile\/Jackson%20Woodward\">Jackson Woodward | Staff<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jan 30, 2026 (dailycal.org)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/dailycal.org\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/3\/2b\/32b47d93-bd6c-43d6-bad0-6feb8c35bcae\/697cf498820b4.image.jpg?resize=400%2C258\" alt=\"saikat_Phillis Wan_ss.jpg\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">While ASUC members and campus students questioned Chakrabarti on Wednesday night, the senators also said they were taking notes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/users\/profile\/Phillis%20Wan\">Phillis Wan | Senior Staff<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>ASUC staffer Luca Martinez met Saikat Chakrabarti,&nbsp;a progressive running&nbsp;for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s seat in Congress,&nbsp;at a town hall meeting in December 2025.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Martinez asked Chakrabarti to come to campus, and Wednesday night, around a month later, Chakrabarti was there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over roughly an hour and a half,&nbsp;Chakrabarti presented his campaign and took questions from campus students as part of an event titled \u201cHow Grassroots Movements Beat Establishment,\u201d organized by ASUC senator Margaret Solomon and South Asian Office Chair Niyati Ram.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an interview with The Daily Californian after the talk, Chakrabarti said he had been considering protections of freedom of speech.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou have to pass legislation that proactively protects freedom of speech at universities, protects the campus protesters,\u201d Chakrabarti said. \u201cI think it\u2019s been a real shame that we\u2019ve passed legislation in California, one of my opponents has in fact (supported the legislation), attacking campus protestors, attacking freedom of speech.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>California Sen. Scott Wiener,&nbsp;who is also running for Pelosi\u2019s seat,&nbsp;sponsored SB 108,which pressured the UC system to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/news\/campus\/administration\/uc-tightens-enforcement-on-protests-amidst-pressure-from-ca-senate-to-secure-full-funding\/article_7986b9c6-5f7f-11ef-8044-2b6e9c3529f1.html\">tighten<\/a>&nbsp;restrictions on student protests&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/news\/campus\/student-life\/free-palestine-encampment-reaches-agreements-with-campus-disbands-from-mario-savio-steps\/article_7b801406-126e-11ef-b73e-a723ed2170bd.html\">following<\/a>&nbsp;the 2024 pro-Palestinian encampments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese are the Trumpian tactics that we are seeing being utilized against protesters and students all over,\u201d Chakrabarti said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing the same kind of stuff coming out of our own state senator here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Chakrabarti is running to represent San Francisco in the 11th Congressional District \u2014 which does not include Berkeley \u2014 he said Berkeley students often canvass for his campaign, and that his aspirations in Congress reach beyond the borders of the 11th District.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of Chakrabarti\u2019s aspirations include making public colleges and trade schools tuition-free and expanding federal support for new housing developments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA lot of the things I\u2019m talking about \u2026 (require) some optimism,\u201d Chakrabarti said. \u201cMy experience in politics has been that optimism, that belief, comes from younger people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Steadily&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/news\/uc\/uc-regents-vote-to-raise-tuition-for-future-students\/article_ea745910-1513-40e3-aa31-73e22bd494f2.html\">rising<\/a>&nbsp;tuition across the UC system has previously drawn criticism from multiple student organizations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chakrabarti\u2019s presentation Wednesday drew on his experience as a staffer for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders,&nbsp;as well as his brief tenure&nbsp;as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez\u2019s chief of staff.&nbsp;Chakrabarti left that position amid controversy surrounding his aggressive approach to what he would call \u201cestablishment\u201d Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPart of my politics is (that) you create the moment and you honestly push and make that movement happen,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While ASUC members and campus students questioned Chakrabarti on Wednesday night, the senators also said they were taking notes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the talk, Martinez said campus administration should not be surprised if students practice civil disobedience in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ASUC staffer Luca Martinez met Saikat Chakrabarti,&nbsp;a progressive running&nbsp;for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s seat in Congress,&nbsp;at a town hall meeting in December 2025.&nbsp; Martinez asked Chakrabarti to come to campus, and Wednesday night, around a month later, Chakrabarti was there.&nbsp; Over roughly an hour and a half,&nbsp;Chakrabarti presented his&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/01\/31\/progressive-us-house-candidate-saikat-chakrabarti-speaks-on-freedom-of-speech-at-asuc-event\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46434"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46435,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46434\/revisions\/46435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}