University Of California At Santa Cruz

Four animal activists have been arrested for their alleged roles in attacking and harassing animal researchers at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz over the last 18 months, the FBI announced Friday. The arrests are a breakthrough in the investigation of attacks against a number of University of California animal researchers that have long frustrated police and school officials.

Firebombs that struck the home and car of two UC Santa Cruz scientists this weekend were part of an increasingly aggressive campaign by animal rights activists against animal researchers at University of California campuses, officials said Monday. Santa Cruz police officials said the blasts, which occurred three minutes apart, caused one of the scientists, his wife and two young children to flee their home through a second-story window.

Two firebomb attacks last week on UC Santa Cruz scientists who conduct animal research have angered and worried academics throughout the UC system, who said their work has broad public support and that they will not be intimidated by bombers who crossed the line by targeting families. "It is outrageous when people's families are targeted," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. "This is incredibly serious because it could have led to loss of life. It's chilling."

The chancellor of UC Santa Cruz, a prominent advocate for women in technical fields criticized for seeking expensive perks and helping her partner obtain a UC job, apparently leaped to her death from the roof of a 43-story building here Saturday morning. Police and UC officials confirmed the death of Denice Dee Denton, 46, an electrical engineer who became chancellor of the Northern California school in February 2005 and apparently was the first openly gay campus leader in the UC system.

On the University of California's quiet campus here and throughout the UC system Monday, friends and colleagues of Denice Dee Denton struggled to find answers to a question that may ultimately be unknowable: What factors might have driven Denton, the 46-year-old chancellor of UC Santa Cruz, to take an apparent suicide leap from a San Francisco skyscraper Saturday, falling to her death on a rooftop below?

George Blumenthal, a UC Santa Cruz professor of astronomy and astrophysics and a former chairman of the UC systemwide Academic Senate, was appointed acting chancellor of UC Santa Cruz on Friday. Blumenthal, 60, coauthor of an astronomy text, will replace Denice Dee Denton, who apparently leapt to her death from a 43-story building last month. Blumenthal will begin immediately. Denton was an accomplished scientist and, at 46, one of the youngest UC chancellors in memory.

At first glance, this eccentric beach town and the UC campus up the hill in the redwoods would seem made for each other. On campus, students are proud to claim the banana slug as their mascot. Deer wander freely around the grounds. In town, prominent Santa Cruzans push a low-key campaign to "Keep Santa Cruz Weird."

The FBI is investigating possible links between animal-rights activists in Southern California and a weekend incident at the home of a UC Santa Cruz researcher. Patti Hanson, an FBI spokeswoman, said the bureau was examining possible connections to "domestic terrorism." A demonstration by six masked protesters in front of the home Sunday afternoon turned violent when the group pounded on the door and was confronted by the researcher's husband, police said. The husband was hit on the hand by an unknown object and fought back, throwing a punch or two, according to police.

Prosecutors won't file charges against 19 protesters who were arrested when officers moved in to relocate the "Tent University" bivouac at the entrance of UC Santa Cruz. The demonstrators, who were protesting higher student fees and low wages for campus workers, had faced a May 18 court date. The university had told the protesters that overnight camping was prohibited.