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 [email protected].