Students, Homeless Hold Sproul Sleepover

It wasn't your usual Saturday night college outing. No party. No booze. No movies.

Bundled up in winter clothing and warm sleeping bags, about a dozen CalPIRG students spent much of the night on Sproul Plaza with some of the city's homeless.

Brightly colored signs reading "Sleep is a Human Right" and "Rest In Peace" adorned the steps in protest of the limited public space for homeless people to legally sleep.

"Nobody wants to break the law," said sophomore Jessica Sedley, CalPIRG Hunger and Homelessness Campaign co-coordinator. "They just want to find a place to sleep."

The evening began with testimony from the homeless and their advocates.

Michael Diehl, from Berkeley's Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, said stepping outside the comfort zone to join the homeless would help students learn effective ways to aid the homeless.

And that was the main goal of the night: leaving comfort zones to start open dialogue between students and the homeless.

"We're trying to solve a problem and the best way to do that is to hear the experiences of those who the problem affects," Sedley said.

Homeless people told students about their lives-the lack of money to pay for apartment rent and the lack of room in the local shelters.

With only hundreds of beds, many of the approximately 830 homeless people in Berkeley often are without shelter. And most public places are forbidden for sleeping.

"Everybody's got a place to live," said John Lacy-known to many as ‘Papa' and ‘Crazy Texan'-who has been homeless in Berkeley for five years. "Why can't I?"

Abandoned at age two in the Houston slums, Lacy made a living as an auto mechanic. But after injuring his neck in a car accident, he was no longer able to work and sometimes resorted to selling marijuana to get by.

Many homeless people said police regularly hassled them for sleeping in public places, and complained about receiving tickets written for trespassing.

"Criminalizing them for being homeless is the biggest crime that our society commits," said senior Toff Peabody, a Suitcase Clinic coordinator.

By 10 p.m. many of the homeless left to find places to sleep away from campus-somewhere, they said, where they would not get hassled.

With midterms and work, many of the students also headed off to a warmer location. Four stayed until morning.

The night went fairly smoothly except for two brief encounters with police.

Shortly before 11 p.m. police came by to inform students that being on campus with the intent to lodge was prohibited.

But falling asleep on campus without the intent to lodge or sitting awake on campus throughout the night was legal, police said.

They returned once to rouse those that had fallen asleep on the steps.

UC Berkeley senior Julie Tran said it seemed that the cops had been easy on them.

"There is a double standard," she said.

Both curious homeless people and students stopped by throughout the night. One passer-by even offered to buy everyone hot drinks and hot dogs.

And as the students drifted off to sleep, a whiff of marijuana filled the air around many of the homeless with them.

In the morning the students dined on popcorn, tea and coffee.

"I feel that I have a slightly better feel for what they're going through," Sedley said. "I know my experience is nothing like the people that have to stay out here every night, but just to get a tiny glimpse of that has been really meaningful."

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