Venue: Ché Café
Town: California, US

The Ché Café is a worker co-operative, social center, and live music venue located on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. Zack de la Rocha described the Ché Café as "A place that is not only a great venue, but a source of inspiration and community building for any artist, student, or worker that has entered its doors." Ché Café was founded in 1980 by several UCSD students, including Scott Kessler, Ruth Rominger, Kim Higgs, and Joy Every. The name is primarily a nod to the late Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, but was registered as a backronym for "Cheap Healthy Eats" with the university administration in an attempt to avoid political scrutiny. During the 1980s, collective members began to host reggae and punk rock shows, and in the 1990s, the space became an internationally recognized staple of the hardcore/punk/post-punk/indie rock scene. Today, the Ché operates primarily as a venue for a variety of musical genres, many based around the DIY ethic, and is an on-and-off again vegan cafe and catering operation. It also acts as a resource for the music and art departments on campus through hosting art shows, performances and film screenings. Despite the university's initial support for the co-ops at UCSD, the relationship between the university and student co-ops has been in decline, with recent improvements made through mediation since 2003. The Ché Café in particular has for a long time had a very strained relationship with the university, and as with the other co-ops, there have been numerous attempts made by the university to close the space. In the spring of 2000, UCSD attempted to close the space by changing the locks without members' consent, resulting in a lock-in by members and supporters. The UCSD administration cited as motivation a fight that occurred between two patrons at a show in which one was injured (though there has been much discrepancy as to what actually took place). Following the lock-in, the university tried to force the C