Mike Rotkin

Mike Rotkin is a lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, long-term city council member, and the 5 time mayor of Santa Cruz, California.

A former motorcycle mechanic with a Ph.D. in the History of Consciousness, Mike first ran for city council on a protest campaign as a "socialist-feminist" in 1979, taking first place among voters at a time when Santa Cruz was more Republican than Democrat. He taught Marxist theory at UC Santa Cruz for over 40 years, while serving six terms as a city councilman, including five terms as the mayor, longer than anyone in the city's history (the mayoral post of Santa Cruz passes yearly to a councilmember selected by a majority of other councilmembers). During his 20 years in city government, city spending on social services and programs increased from $80,000 ($200,000; 2000US) a year in 1979 to $2 million by 2000. However, in the 2006 election, he was criticized for supporting pragmatic pro-economic development positions.

He served as president of the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) teachers' union.

Anti-war and anti-racism activism
Rotkin protested the Vietnam war, apartheid, and racism, and was arrested for civil disobedience "about a dozen times".