Erik Jepsen/Guardian
Amid multiple Day of Action demonstrations on March 4, leaders of the Black Student Union announced that the UCSD administration has agreed to their list of demands, and will work with the BSU to improve campus climate and increase diversity.
According to BSU Vice Chair Fnann Keflezighi, students have met periodically with administrators over the last two weeks — most recently, on March 1 — to share drafts of different plans and discuss how the demands could be implemented.
History professor Daniel Widener announced that the joint agreement had been signed during the March 4 rally, and thanked those who demonstrated over the past three weeks in support of the BSU.
“I want to say ‘Thank you’ to all the allies who have come out over the course of the past few weeks,” Widener said. “The mass action, the rallies, the protests, the demonstrations, the rejection of the racist bullshit that people here have been suggesting, has focused the eyes of the United States on UC San Diego.”
Keflezighi also spoke about the importance of diversity in the undergraduate population and the difficulties faced by historically underrepresented students.
“When we get here, we need to feel comfortable,” she said. “I come here to be a student, but the reality is I’m not a student first, I’m an activist first, and I think the university needs to understand that.”
Keflezighi said all the BSU demands were met.
“We fought hard for all our demands, but the one we’re especially proud of is matching funds for S.P.A.C.E.S.,” she said.
S.P.A.C.E.S., or the Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service, is a collaborative area in the Cross-Cultural Center designed to empower minorities.
In implementing the demands, the administration has created two task forces: one to recruit minority faculty and another to find ways to improve the student-body climate to be friendlier for minorities.
Chancellor Marye Anne Fox agreed to fund BSU-initiated yield programs — which will work to ensure that more black students enroll and graduate — for at least the next three years, and fill the program-coordinator position for the African-American studies minor and the Chicano/a and Latino/a arts and humanities minor.
Administrators also promised to establish a resource center for black, Chicano and Native-American communities, and do all they can toward returning ancient Native-American remains found on campus grounds to the Kumeyaay nation.
Chancellor Fox and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Penny Rue could not be reached for comment.
UC President Mark Yudof and Fox announced on March 5 that Dean of UC Berkeley School of Law Christopher Edley has been appointed to advise UCSD on improving its campus climate.
Edley said he will meet with the administration and BSU members on March 9.
“Through these and subsequent meetings, [we] will develop a plan for how I might be useful,” he said. “It depends on what people believe they need in light of what’s already been agreed, and we’ll take it from there. I definitely will not be providing legal counsel in the formal sense.”
Former UC Regent Ward Connerly will also review UCSD’s plan of action to determine if it violates the California Constitution. Connerly, who founded the American Civil Rights Institute, helped pass Proposition 209 in 1996, which prohibits the consideration of sex and race in UC admissions.
“We have attorneys as part of our entourage to review the plan and determine if it complies with Prop. 209,” Connerly said. “We’re primarily interested in if preferential treatment is being accorded for black students.”
Connerly stressed that it is not wrong for the university to make steps toward increasing campus diversity.
“There’s no problem with the university reaching out to make sure everyone, regardless of ethnicity, is encouraged to apply and receive equal treatment,” he said. “But the university cannot take action designed to give someone preference — for example, in hiring faculty or in admissions — based on race.”
Connerly said he has no timeline for the review, but in his preliminary opinion, the university’s plans are questionable, but not illegal.
“Personally, I think it’s distasteful for the university, under duress, to sit down with a group of students representing racial interest and agree to their demands,” he said. “What about white students, what if they want more diversity? But that’s not a legal issue, that’s just inappropriate public-policy making. They can make promises all they want, but they don’t violate anything until they take action.”
Keflezighi said that, despite recent progress, the BSU still has work to do.
“This isn’t a victory,” said Keflezighi. “This is a step toward victory, but there’s a whole lot of work, language and charters that need to be written. We’re nowhere near victory.”
The full list of demands and their implementation can be found online at www.battlehate.ucsd.edu/whatarewedoing.php.
Readers can contact Angela Chen at shchen@ucsd.edu.
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Your URL listed in the story should be corrected… it’s actually:
http://battlehate.ucsd.edu/whatwearedoing.php
Bullshit. I hope the lawyers find this illegal and this crap gets reversed.
“the rejection of the racist bullshit that people here have been suggesting”
You mean like the BSU’s demand that students not be admitted to UCSD based on individual accomplishment and competency, but rather the color of their skin? What other racist bullshit has been suggested?
“I come here to be a student, but the reality is I’m not a student first, I’m an activist first, and I think the university needs to understand that.”
then get the fuck out of my school. you wanna be an activist and not a student, that’s fine, but don’t interrupt people who are students first.
that’s gotta be the most inane, idiotic sentence i’ve heard in a while. and this nonsense is pretty idiotic.
“What about white students, what if they want more diversity?” – Ward Connerly
Connerly is obviously disregarding the racist incident. I wonder what he has to say about it. The actions by the campus is what needs to happen and does not give preferential treatment to individuals with different skin tones as some ignorant commentators have put forth. Whether white or black, the incident creates a unwelcoming and hostile environment for everyone. The agreed demands will enhance the school’s education and save it from the ignorance and close mindedness that is plaguing the campus. Be open to growth and stop living in fear of what you don’t understand.
Dear Chancellor Fox:
I am writing to you concerning the continued racial controversies at various University of California campuses. Since the noose left at the UCSD library has been removed, I’m contemplating to send you a new one. Why? Because a good old-fashioned lynching is in order.
Before you rush to conclusions, let me explain.
The current episode of turmoil began with a local party whose theme poked fun at stereotypes supposedly representative of South Central LA. Any reasonable person would readily perceive this approach as satire, a longstanding literary and dramatic device. Was it offensive? As with most satire, it definitely was – and that is good.
You see, when we are offended, we are likely to react. Unless that reaction is simply a knee-jerk response (such as that by your office), a reaction requires activation of one’s brain. You may agree that activating our brains is infinitely preferable over mindlessly swallowing whatever b.s. we happen to be served.
One particularly unpalatable piece of b.s. that is shoved down our collective throat is “diversity.”
In its original form, diversity is highly desirable. In nature, biologically diverse ecosystems are less vulnerable to diseases and more productive than monocultures. On a university campus, opposing (or even merely different) viewpoints spur lively debate, which in turn fosters creativity and innovation. Without question, humanity collectively benefits from the contributions inspired by a large variety of backgrounds and experiences.
Why has the University of California chosen to adopt race/ethnicity as the single decisive factor in furthering diversity? Are you ensuring UCSD receives a balanced mix of Republicans and Democrats? Gays and heterosexuals? Opera lovers and metal heads? Meat eaters and vegans? How about students who prefer the writings of Ayn Rand versus those of Karl Marx? Perhaps a proper mix of students interested in quantum physics and aspiring poets (and those writing poetry about quantum physics)? Folks that can appreciate Dr. Seuss on a subversive level, and those who can’t? I’m virtually certain that more diverse viewpoints will result from any of these arbitrary traits than the color of someone’s skin.
I assumed that college application essays served to differentiate students beyond grades and test scores. It appears that with all the budget cuts, there is no staff to read them. Therefore, instead of treating students as the unique individuals they are, it seems easier to simply lump them into categories with emotionally charged labels.
Sure, race and ethnicity, along with height, weight and gender, are the most obvious traits we notice about people we meet, before they have a chance to open their mouths and let us glean some insight into more substantial aspects of their personas. But isn’t that precisely the sort of simpleminded superficiality higher education is supposed to eradicate?
Throughout history, people with their own agendas have used arbitrary traits to unite, divide and discriminate against people. Each time, they applied a nice, shiny euphemism. “Preserving family values” – sounds like a good thing, right? How about “preserving the pure blood of the Aryan race?” It gives us cold chills today, but it sounded perfectly benign, even laudable, during the Nazi era.
Another shiny euphemism is “diversity.” If we add more “blacks” (however you may define that label), we will create a student body that is more balanced and representative of our society – so goes the reasoning du jour. Are we going to assume that “blacks” … come from challenged socioeconomic backgrounds? Are more conscious about human rights? Have rhythm? Jump higher?
I am not privy to UCSD’s list of stereotypical “black” traits. Make no mistake, that list exists, even if it is only implied – because every time we attempt to force a group of diverse (in its original meaning) individuals under a labeled (or red and white striped) hat, we give birth to such a list. Such a list, while perhaps not offensive at first glance, is far more damaging than the list of attributes used by the Compton Cookout as the recommended attire, behavior and attitude of its attendees. Because any list that is born under the auspices of a prestigious institution such as UCSD will automatically be imbued with a sense of legitimacy.
The characteristics we choose to identify others and ourselves mark the dividing lines between social groups. By focusing on race, we are furthering this broken model of diversity.
If we allow racial definitions to divide us, if we allow the fear of symbols to control us, if we allow the threat of persecution to silence us, our race – the human race – will succumb to the worst form of slavery.
This is my call to hunt down and publicly execute the ignorant and racist notions that have hijacked the concept of diversity. What better place than a library, a place of learning and organized knowledge? Let’s hang these ill-conceived ideas from the rafters and let their rotting corpses remind us that if we want to vanquish racism, we must start by treating all people equally.
For if we allow misguided preconceptions to live, we are bound to witness the death of the accomplishments brought by the Civil Rights Movement, of free speech, and of our human dignity.
Yours sincerely,
The Cat in the Hood
“I come here to be a student, but the reality is I’m not a student first, I’m an activist first”
An activist is just someone who complains a lot and points the finger at everyone else to do for them what they could be doing themselves. Get off your lazy ass and MAKE the changes through your hard WORK (and when I say work I don’t mean protesting and hollering at other people) rather than demanding a handout.
““When we get here, we need to feel comfortable,” she said. “I come here to be a student, but the reality is I’m not a student first, I’m an activist first, and I think the university needs to understand that.”
1) A lot of students don’t feel “comfortable” regardless of race. Sometimes it’s part of being young. They aren’t there to babysit you.
2) The university needs to understand that? No you need to stop thinking it’s all about you. There are tens of thousands of students in the UC system and you aren’t any more important than the others just because you are super pushy. YOU need to understand that the university isn’t there to cater to YOUR high maintence attitude. Get a life