This renewed determination comes in response to an unfavorable court decision which would allow the University to build a strip mall on the land. On Thursday, April 6, Judge Abby Soven ruled in favor of the CSU motion to dismiss the case based on the CSU contention that the law protecting Indian sacred sites on public land is unconstitutional since it violates the principle of separation of church and state. The decision will be appealed. The law is question is a section of the Public Resources Code which charges the Native American Heritage Commission, a state agency appointed by the Governor, with preserving Indian sacred sites on state owned land in California.
Opponents say the ruling flies in the face of common sense.
They point out that the Indian plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU, which is well known as the premiere organization fighting to preserve the separation of church and state. The Indian plaintiffs stress that they have never asked for exclusive use of the land, only that it not be destroyed. No objections were raised to earlier uses of the land. When the Organic Gardens were still open the land was used to grow food for the poor, for educational purposes by Art and Biology classes, and for summer day camps for children. The lawsuit points out that the law in question only gives Native American burial grounds and sacred places the same protection that white cemeteries and churches enjoy.