Volume I issue I

Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service

the collective voice university of california, san diego

speaking freely since 2008

volume I, issue I, may/june 2008 thecollectivevoice@ucsd.edu

What’s Inside...

Editorial...............2 Opinion................3 Feature.................4-5,8 SPACES...............6-7 Campus................9-11 Community Calendar...............12

UCSD students and faculty rally against Southeast Asian deportation in the U.S. The challenges of progressive student coalition building PAGE 4 PAGE 5

Discover SPACES: UCSD students take access and retention initiatives into their own hands PAGE 6 - 7

m r o f t Plat

n i o P 10

eople p l m l o a d r e nt fre ality fo a u w q e e d W 1. ity an n u l a i nt soc a w and s e s e n 2. W campus e l awar a i on c o s mote nce o r p o t ra ents nt o d a n u t w g i s l e d a i 3. W bat soc sts an n struggles i v i t c m a o t c uden nd commo t s e t i n s and nt to usive values a e i a r w o t s e r 4. W progres out ou b a h s t r i e w te oth ay society a c u d er nt to ein present-d w a o p w m e e 5. W true role nd to a y t r i u u o al eq nities n o i t a c nt edurced commu by a d w e t e a W g u . a o 6 res prop c i r o t undere the rh ampus t h g fi o o be t nt t orces on c s a c w i h e t 7. W ressive f and e , s e c p i t p o s, pracht f e i l e b ur lig pus t o m t c a n e r c a r n o xist o nac i 8. We w e d o e c t a o r t illust bility ersecution a e h T . eace rejudice or p p uals t d i n v a i d w p n i e f 9. W out fear o equalty, religious s a h d t i e w gniz ur ethnici al o c e r e to b cause of o d/or sexu t n a w e r, an e 10. Wespite and be d n e g de tion, rac , affilia ation orient

Graphic designed by John Im

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The Collective Voice

May/June 2008

Emerging Voices of Progress and Change

the collective voice

The history and birth of The Collective Voice

By Cecilia Lei Editor-in-Chief

W

Editor-in-Chief Cecilia Lei Graphic Design/ Photo/Art Managers John Im Hieu Tran Deano Caisip Copy Editors Shannon Dulaney Sam Huang Staff Writers Saifuddin Amath Adam Crayne Katasha Nzinga Kalonji Denise Manjarrez Jesus Valenzuela Wendi Yamashita Contributing Writers Rose Davis Preston Lam Noah Lystrup Kevin Mann Takashi Matsumoto Nicole McElroy Farhad Noorzay

elcome to The Collective Voice. What you hold in your hand is the premier issue of UCSD’s collective progressive student community newspaper that was born over two years ago as a mere idea . With the collaborative and breakthrough success of the Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service (SPACES), which was secured through the passing of last year’s PULSE Referendum, the UCSD campus is entering an exciting time for progressive students and student activists. More than ever, students are now able to proactively work to increase diversity at UCSD by self-initiating access and retention programs for underrepresented and under-resourced students. There is no denying the fact that despite the positive changes and progress made at UCSD, this campus still has quite a bit of work to do. The Collective Voice is just one of the many ways that SPACES seeks to build positive community, foster dialogue and raise awareness about different issues affecting the UCSD student population.

The Collective Voice, in many ways, has been a personal journey for me. As a second year, I along with others recognized that there was a strong need for an outlet on campus that brought together the voices of progressive student organizations and student activists.

Being able to project our voices to the UCSD community is difficult at times – the need to protest, shout, chant, and tell our truths is often silenced by the institutional bureaucracies of a college university with an especially sterile environment. Student activists and marginalized students at UCSD need an outlet to make their voices even louder, long lasting and strong through the medium of words and writing. Through collaboration with other concerned students, the idea of The Collective Voice was born in 2006. However, the project was practically extinguished by the lack of funding and cohesive community support network. It was not until SPACES was officially off and running in Winter Quarter 2008 that the resources needed to produce The Collective Voice were available and the flame for this project was re-lit.

SPACES is undeniably revolutionary – it places power in the hands of the students to determine solutions for increasing numbers of underrepresented communities, and it deeply values community-building. With the birth of SPACES, the UCSD campus is able to witness the real connections and deep-rooted, shared passions

The Collective Voice Staff

From Left to Right: Katasha Nzinga Kalonji, Saifuddin Amath, John Im, Samantha Huang, Hieu Tran, Deano Caisip, Cecilia Lei, Denise Manjarrez, Adam Crayne, Wendi Yamashita, Jesus Valenzuela Photo Credit: Hieu Tran / Collective Voice

exchanged by students from diverse communities across campus. With the Student Affirmative Action Committee (SAAC) organizations working actively with one another to institutionalize SPACES and sustaining the center for years to come, the UCSD campus truly has a large and collective community to celebrate and boast about to those outside our university.

The Collective Voice still believes in the power of the press, and the ability of words to move people, to provoke critical thought, and bring people together around common causes. It is with this belief that I am so deeply pleased to present to you our very first issue – the beginning of a journalistic and community tradition that will be carried on by future students who carry The Collective Voice’s mission and believe in its potential to spur change. The need to have a newspaper on campus that reflects the voices of underrepresented communities and progressive activists not only speaks to these groups of people but to the larger UCSD community as a whole. Publications on campus that repeatedly humiliate and stereotype different identities and communities at UCSD only empower us to act and rise against such portrayals that place us in inferior positions.

Why did we choose to call our newspaper The Collective Voice? Because this is not just the voice of one person, one group, one community or one identity; it is the voices of many students on campus that share progressive values, social justice views and the desire for equality. So often we may become immersed in our personal struggles with our own communities that we fail to see the parallels and similarities across several other groups of people. The Collective Voice serves not only to inform and educate the greater UCSD community, but also to educate and inform communities within the progressive movement about one another.

What do we hope to achieve through The Collective Voice? I believe the possibilities are endless. We hope to help create an empowering network between progressive students on campus. We hope that The Collective Voice will help remedy the unwelcoming atmosphere on campus that annually turns away underrepresented students whose talents and contributions we need. We hope to aid the birth of a true and genuine progressive movement on campus. We hope that our voices are simply heard.

Mission Statement In line with S.P.A.C.E.S’ mission of valuing “the power of student initiated action,” “providing an environment for student growth and development,” and creating “unity through community engagement,” The Collective Voice is UCSD’s progressive newspaper that promotes social unity, justice and awareness across the many communities that exist on the UCSD campus. The Collective Voice will help create a sense of safe space and community for students who may otherwise feel unwelcome at UCSD’s challenging campus climate thereby contributing to existing retention efforts on campus.

This newspaper deeply values students’ voices by providing an outlet for open dialogue and discussion surrounding issues and developments affecting their communities. Additionally, The Collective Voice allows UCSD’s progressive community to outreach, collaborate and communicate to greater San Diego communities outside of our campus. Most importantly, The Collective Voice provides marginalized students and underresourced students the empowering opportunity to protect the representation of their identities and beliefs, and report alternative news that is not otherwise covered by mainstream media. The Collective Voice, in partnership with S.P.A.C.E.S., allows for the creation of “an empowering dynamic…where UCSD students collaborate to achieve greater educational equity.” It is through this mission that the collective of diverse voices in one newspaper will actively demonstrate an empowering progressive community on the UCSD campus.

May/June 2008

The Collective Voice

OPINION

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Another world is possible: The state of the student movement

By Kevin Mann Contributing Writer With the passage of the Promoting Understanding and Learning through Service and Education (PULSE) Referendum in the spring of 2007, the Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service (SPACES) was launched and became one of the leading organizations in the struggle for educational justice in San Diego. The culmination of decades of student struggle, SPACES advocates for an education that respects and affirms who we are as people and empowers students to become part of the movement for social change. Not just another organization on campus, SPACES is an educational framework that acknowledges the student experience and validates the student as both a learner and a teacher. It affirms the student’s ability to be an agent of both institutional and social change. SPACES is a center that facilitates empowerment, unites theory with practice, and strives to build the institutional memory necessary to sustain the building of the student movement.

SPACES affirms the multiplicity of identities.

Everyone is unique, and comes from a set of experiences that has shaped and defined who they are.

The multiplicity of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, religion, spirituality, class, nationality and documentation status – all contribute to who student identity. Identity cannot be sifted out from the educational process, and must be affirmed in order to validate each other’s experiences, and help create a learning environment where all opinions are shared and valued, and SPACES does just that.

By tashaMia Staff Writer

Student-Initiated, Student-Run, Student Empowerment As the official Associated Students commission for student-initiated access and retention projects, SPACES exists to empower the study body though the empowerment of student organizations. Any Center for Student Involvement student organization interested in developing an access project can submit a proposal to Student Initiated Access Programs and Services (SIAPS – pronounced “shapes”), the same with retention projects to the Academic Success Program (ASP). The empowerment of student orgs is a critical component to SPACES, it allows students to test their theories about the educational process in a collaborative environment with the support of other students from their org.

Powered by the Student Movement!

SPACES values the student ability to engage our world by putting theory into practice. Knowledge should never remain in the ivory tower. Your student experience is what you make it. Despite the rumors you may have heard, we are not an apathetic campus.

That is a lie perpetuated by the panoptic status quo to ensure students get in, get out, and not make too much trouble while they are here. SPACES is our chance to join the student movement for greater educational equity in San Diego.

In March last month, student activists joined several hundred people at the San Diego Unified School

District to protest Arnold’s massive educational budget cuts and the firing of over 600 teachers in the county. After Admit Day, students also joined Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana y Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA) and marched three miles with several hundred students from Lincoln High, in Southeast San Diego to Chicano Park. Student activists demanded the elimination of the military gun range at high school campuses, and an end the militaristic tracking of Chicana and Chicano students in San Diego.

If given the opportunity, students from South Bay and Southeast San Diego can succeed just as well as the students from Torrey Pines, Del Mar and La Jolla. SPACES acknowledges the situation that is the State’s educational crisis, and California’s past when pubic education was the priority, not locking people of color behind bars.

Join the Revolution!

There is a need to break the suffocating ivory tower of the La Jolla bubble. For generations, students have acknowledged the lack of social interaction and the high degree of isolation at this university.

Upon entering this campus students are told they are entering UC San Diego at Admit Day. Too often however students realize it feels more like UC La Jolla. The image of the university is one that is an apolitical entity, separated and isolated from the San Diego region and from our world. continued on Page 6...

Breaking the Cycle: A Story of Socialization

The first time that I was called an Oreo was when I went to a public school for the first time. After my mother got laid off from her job at PG&E, we switched around from place to place until we found a small apartment in East Oakland, California. I had previously attended a small private school, where I was one of three Black kids. Unfortunately for me, what was the norm at this private school was not acceptable at my public one. As soon as I opened my mouth, I was teased for the way that I spoke or how I would act; accusations of “tryna to talk all proper” or “tryna act white” were not uncommon for me to hear. Soon, I learned how to discern between what was acceptable for me to say “When you control a at school and what was better off man’s thinking, you do left unsaid. I learned what clothes not have to worry about to wear and what hair styles were acceptable for Black girls. I left my his actions.”

Skechers at home and waited in line Carter G. Woodson for the newest Jordans. Those who once called me “the white girl” were now my best friends. I was accepted.

Although my new friends accepted me, I was still reminded about how I was different. I wanted to keep in touch with my private school friends, but they did not share the same sentiment. Instead of hearing accusations of “tryna act white” I was now accused of “trying to act ghetto fabulous.” From then on, I was constantly in search of new friends; all I wanted to do was fit in. However, every time I was with a new group of friends, they would not accept me because I did not act like most Black girls. I would look at TV and see Black girls who looked like me, and yet they were nothing like me at all. I was confused and angry- why couldn’t I just belong?

I learned that my problem was tied to socialization- the process by which people are all systematically trained to fit into a specific social identity, whether we are Black, White, Chicano/a, Filipino/a, Native American, etc. Socialization begins at birth: families teach different values like, “Work hard and you will get a reward,” “Boys are supposed to be strong,” or “If you learn how to cook and clean, you’ll find a good husband.” As one gets older, our socialization becomes even more complicated. At school, students learn how to act and what is considered good behavior. At church, certain characteristics are acquired that are considered as being those of a good believer. On TV, or in the magazines, trends displayed

for people to follow in order to be ‘fashionable.’ The socialization continues on until we conform to “To be nobody but a certain identity. The problem is, yourself in a world which despite what society says, Black is doing its best, night people are not one homogenous entity, and neither are Whites, Chicano/ and day, to make you as, Asians, Native Americans, etc. everybody else means to Everyone is all different. Everyone fight the hardest battle has different intersecting identities.

Because it is impossible to conform which any human being into one identity, there can never can fight; and never stop be satisfaction with socialization; fighting.” the results are often negative.

In order to be accepted within -E.E.Cummings society, conformity must occur. To be different means to be subject to mocking and harassment. To be different means to be labeled a “troublemaker” or a “radical.” In order to accomplish goals, we must play the game with a smile. If anger and frustration are displayed towards society, we are considered deviant. To keep the status quo, it is required to obey the rules and continue along the cycle of socialization.

Self hatred is passed down onto our children and generations after us. To do so is simple because everyone else is doing the same thing; it is normal.

However, I pose a challenge: what if we all decided not to be “normal” but instead be ourselves? What if we decided not to conform to the negative characteristics that society places upon heads but instead empower ourselves and our communities? What if we decided not to continue the cycle of socialization, but instead break away through education and love?

To break the cycle of socialization does not require a complete life change. It requires small steps. Rather than listening to the Top 40 because everyone else does, why not search around and find what music you actually like? Instead leaving MTV or BET on all day, why not take a look at something else that interests you? Instead of wearing the latest trends because you want to look like everyone else, why not try being unique?

My challenge to everyone who reads this is to be aware. Be different. Be yourself.

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The Collective Voice

FEATURE

Exploring the challenges of progressive coalition building through the possible inclusion of the Muslim Student Association into the Student Affirmative Action Committee

By Nicole McElroy (SAAC Chair), Takashi Matsumoto (SAAC Vice Chair), and Farhad Noorzay (MSA President) Contributing Writers Since 2002, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and the Student Affirmative Action Committee (SAAC) at UCSD have built a strong and positive relationship. In Winter Quarter of 2007, MSA approached the SAAC with an exciting decision. Although SAAC and MSA maintained a working relationship, MSA members wanted to take this relationship to another level by establishing MSA as an official member organization of SAAC. According to the SAAC Charter, the process by which this is done, known as the Affiliate process, would require the affiliate to attend SAAC board meetings for a year. Afterwards, SAAC puts this decision to a vote, with all 7 organizations of SAAC having to vote “YES” in order for the affiliate to become a part of the coalition. It has been over a year since MSA began this very process.

In Winter Quarter of 2008, the SAAC organizations and the Muslim Student Association came together for a Townhall. Members of MSA presented their mission statement, ideals, events and involvement with social justice issues to the SAAC community.

After a brief presentation from MSA, members from SAAC organizations addressed issues concerning MSA’s stance on race, gender, and sexuality. This dialogue helped highlight the fact that MSA is unique from other SAAC organizations because they are not an organization based on race, ethnicity, sexuality or ability. Although Muslims are currently being racialized in mainstream society, UCSD’s MSA considers itself a religious organization. With individuals from many racial and ethnic backgrounds, MSA’s purpose, values and beliefs are guided by their religion, Islam. For MSA to become a member of SAAC would give new meaning to SAAC’s historical use and definition of underrepresented, underprivileged and under-resourced students.

Post-Townhall there was much confusion amongst our organization members. Rumors about SAAC discriminating against MSA because it is a religious organization were started and prompted UCSD’s very own student newspaper, The Guardian, to jump at the chance to do a story (much to their dismay they realized the claims were indeed false). There was also the contrived notion that the issue was just an MSA vs. QPOC debate rather than a dialogue between all the organizations. Given the concerns that were being expressed, the SAAC organizations favored to extend the voting process until they felt more confident in making a decision. SAAC felt that it would seem unfair to vote at this point given many members felt ill-informed and rushed. It became

clear that both MSA and the SAAC organizations have much to learn and understand about one another and how their relationship in a coalition will materialize. It took years for organizations such as KP and QPOC to officially become part of SAAC; the process does not happen overnight or within a year.

The past year has been a learning experience for both SAAC and MSA. It has especially been a challenge for SAAC since there has not been an organization to apply to join the coalition for several years and the knowledge of how to go through the affiliate process is new to the members currently involved. For MSA it has been equally challenging to transition into to working with a coalition.

All organizations have learned that it takes time, patience, continuous effort and understanding to truly build a deep-rooted relationship. However, we have committed ourselves to continue working on building a positive relationship because we believe it’s in the best interest of all organizations.

MSA and SAAC understand that the ultimate goal is not MSA officially joining SAAC, rather it is to build a stronger mutual relationship that will allow all the organizations the ability to contribute to social justice and understanding on the UCSD campus. If we decide that this merger is not in the best interest for all, there will be no ill feelings. Rather, we will continue the constructive relationship we’ve established since 2002.

This quarter, the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of both MSA and SAAC, facilitated by Edwina Welch, Director of the Cross Cultural Center, held an informal meeting to discuss the current and future MSA and SAAC relationship. What was found was that many of our members were still unaware or unclear about decisions made after the Townhall.

This article was a collaborative effort to inform the community of the steps that are being taken to continue the relationship building process. Currently there are many questions that have been left unanswered such as: When do we know SAAC and MSA have a established a strong enough relationship that will allow a vote to take place? How can we build stronger relationships while also focusing on individual organizations internal projects? Is it necessary for all individual organizations to agree on issues in order to be in a coalition together? This type of dialogue and conversation needs to happen.

Although there are no clear and straightforward answers, we hope that the UCSD community knows that we are working on it and need the help and support of our community in making this happen.

May/June 2008

Coalition building: it ain’t easy!

Graphic designed by John Im

Who is SAAC? A Brief Overview of SAAC’s Role at UCSD

By Wendi Yamashita Staff Writer

Diversity may matter at UCSD, but the Student Affirmative Action Committee (SAAC) knows first hand the continuous challenges and issues confronting underrepresented students at the university. SAAC is a coalition comprised of seven organizations of underrepresented groups on campus: the Black Student Union (BSU), Asian and Pacific Islander Student Alliance (APSA), Disabled Students Union (DSU), Kaibigang Pilipino (KP), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), Native American Student Alliance (NASA), and Queer People of Color (QPOC). SAAC serves as an autonomous student advisory body that holds bi-quarterly meetings with the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, the Chancellor and other campus offices to discuss issues of diversity, recruitment, retention, and academic achievement of underrepresented students.

In 1975 the UC President authorized the recommendations of the Student Affirmative Action and Chicano Task Force Reports that resulted in the creation of SAAC by the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs to help implement affirmative action at UCSD. Unlike today, the campus institutionally supported SAAC in terms of space and funding where at one point two full time staff positions, intern positions, and a $10,000 budget existed. In 1991, SAAC added the Human Relations component that inclusively incorporated non-Affirmative Action groups such as the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Association. Unfortunately with the passage of Proposition 209 in 1996, the state was allowed to prohibit public institutions from giving preferential treatment to any individual or group based on race, sex, or ethnicity. Within this context and with each change in administration, SAAC became less and less connected with the campus. Finally, in 1999, SAAC became an autonomous body but their ability to get funding and support was now limited. continued on Page 11...

May/June 2008

The Collective Voice

FEATURE

5

The Other Side of Immigration

UCSD students and faculty take a proactive stance against Southeast Asian deportation

UCSD undergraduate and graduate students and faculty gathered together to raise awareness on Southeast Asian deportation issues. Photo Credit: Hieu Tran / The Collective Voice

By Takashi Matsumoto Contributing Writer

O

n Wednesday, April 23, 2008, a new organization on campus called the Southeast Asian Collective (SEAC) held a state-wide rally on anti-deportation and immigrant rights. Southeast Asian organizations from other campuses joined in spirit and solidarity including UCLA, UC Davis, University of the Pacific, UC Berkeley, and Stanford. Speakers from UCSD included Trangdai Trannguyen, a Graduate student under the Ethnic Studies department, Wayne Yang, an Ethnic Studies professor who has taught high school students in Oakland, and several other students who were passionate about the issue. Students wore white shirts and red armbands to symbolize unity and the struggles that their communities face.

The planning of this campaign to raise awareness about deportation affecting Southeast Asian communities occurred when three students from UC Davis came down to speak to SEAC. They presented research information and discussed the historical background on deportation that affects every community.

Following the discussion, SEAC planned to have a state-wide rally on April 23.

On January 22, Vietnam signed a repatriation agreement (memorandum of understanding) that allows any Vietnamese nationals arriving in the United States on or after July 12, 1995 without a U.S. citizenship to be deported if they commit any crime listed under the “aggravated felony.” The definition of “aggravated felony” can include shoplifting, murder, kidnapping, fist fighting, drug possession, and even urinating in public. 1,500 Vietnamese Americans are already affected by this agreement. A similar agreement was made between Cambodia and the United States in 2002. Ever since then, thousands of Cambodian Americans were deported or are waiting to be deported. Since the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) as well as post-9/11 legislation, immigration laws have become harsh and make deportation more likely for immigrants and refugees. Any person without U.S. citizenship who commits a crime under “aggravated felony” is easily deported. This means that even if they have legal residency, they can still be deported for small crimes such as shoplifting or urination in public – crimes that arguably cannot be equated with murder. Obviously, murder should not be equated to shoplifting and urination in public. One of the demands that the Southeast Asian community is fighting for is to differentiate the crimes, rather than lumping them all into “aggravated felony”.

The 1996 laws also prevent anyone who is about to be deported to make an argument to the judge. This means that the deportee does not have a right to

say anything during court – even if it tears the families apart. With the Cambodian deportees, we have seen fathers who have been the main provider of the family separated without question and detained without any warning. With the American government emphasizing the importance of “family values”, it is not difficulty to note the irony in witnessing people become deported, destroying families and causing misery. Another demand that the Southeast Asian communities are fighting for is to allow the deportees to make an argument before they get deported.

After the U.S. War on Southeast Asia (also known as the Vietnam UCSD Ethnic Studies Professor, K. Wayne Yang spoke at War), many Vietnamese, the rally. Photo Credit: Hieu Tran/The Collective Voice Cambodians, Laotians, and Hmong became refugees that resettled in the United States. Many parents and relatives in these communities escaped political oppression, economic crisis, and the violence of the war and yet nearly 30 years later, the U.S. is trying to send them back to the countries that they once escaped from.

Often times, the immigration debate and deportation get racialized as solely a Latin@ issue. It is important to remember that immigration and deportation affects all communities regardless of skin color, language, and culture. There have been numbers of Latin Americans, East Africans, and Southeast Asians that have been deported from the United States over the past few years. Working together in solidarity, as seen with the Southeast Asian Collective and other organizations state wide, is just one step to changing the unjust immigration and deportation laws.

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The Collective Voice

SPACES

May/June 2008

Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Services

Activism at UCSD – as a 4 unit Class

By Noah Lystrup Contributing Writer This Spring Quarter SPACES launched a 4 unit course which exposes students to the activist movement at UCSD – past and present.

The course, titled “ETHN 198: Student-Initiated Movements in Education” – is a directed group studies course, which means the class is created and led entirely by students. Under the directed group studies program, a group of students may compile their own syllabus and course materials and, with the approval of a faculty member and department, the class may be taken as a 4 unit P/NP course.

The ETHN 198 course has been approved by the Ethnic Studies department, and focuses specifically on the student movement.

Through dialogue, group activities, and discussions in pairs, the group explores the timeline of activism at UCSD – from the LumumbaZapata/Third College movement of the 1960’s to the educational equity work happening on campus today. Thus, the learning that takes place is not passive but active, and each individual is both a teacher and student. The course connects readings to real life experiences, and students learn from shared stories and reactions to the topic.

Yet this class does not stop at history - throughout the quarter participants learn essential skills to get involved in high school outreach programs, and on campus peer-counseling programs,

By Rose Davis Contributing Writer

in order to put theory into action. There are several student-led programs on campus that outreach to local high schools, provide tutoring, mentoring, academic preparation, and information about applying to college – and these programs need volunteers! While it is not required to be involved in an outreach program while in the class, this demonstrates the applicability of this class to real life.

Let’s get real – of all the courses taught on this campus, the University is never going to teach us about the activism that has demanded change and seen success at UCSD. An entire college (Third College/Marshall), academic departments (Urban Studies, Ethnic Studies, Communication, Campus Community Centers), and other campus entities (SPACES, Student Organizations, SAAC) owe their existence to the student movement. If this history is to be preserved, it falls upon students to teach.

So if a class about student activism at UCSD is something that interests you, then there is good news! The Student-Initiated Movements in Education class will be offered once again in the Fall Quarter 2008.

If you are interested in getting more information/applying to take the course please visit SPACES.UCSD.EDU by Friday of finals.

Community College Outreach

Why outreach? Many students, faculty, and administrators think that getting into college is a similarly shared experience for everyone and become uncomfortable when the subject of educational equity is mentioned. UCSD is not a very diverse university and part of the problem comes from the challenges underrepresented students face while trying to get into college. Educational equity means providing support and resources for the success of underrepresented students.

Underrepresented students are students of color, people that come from low income backgrounds, and first generation college students (where you are the first in your family to attend). The challenges that underrepresented students face can include having no choice but to work full-time, having a family to take care of, or not having the confidence that one can attend a select university because of where one comes from.

Outreach is important because it aids in bridging the gaps between underrepresented students and the resources needed for admissions into a university. Outreach also helps underrepresented students face challenges they may encounter and instills self-assurance in these students so that they believe they belong at select universities such as UCSD. Currently, most of my work as the

community college outreach coordinator has been done outside of UCSD. Southwestern Community College in Chula Vista is the first community college that SPACES has been working with to implement a mentor/ mentee program that is designed to give community college students a personalized view into UCSD by connecting a hopeful applicant with a UCSD transfer student who has already been through the transfer process.

This school year, we have had one mentor/ mentee event and it was a success. Our event consisted of a student panel discussion and lunch. The student panel was a mix of transfers and students that have come to UCSD as freshman. They were asked about their general experiences here. For instance one question asked was, “What was their biggest challenge to adjusting to UCSD and how were you able to overcome it?” The panel discussion allowed community college students to stir up questions that could be asked in a one-on-one setting during lunch with paired transfer students. The goal of the program is to give community college students a chance to ask questions and transfer students to share their knowledge in order to empower each other on a student level.

UCSD can be a difficult place to adjust to and with the SPACES mentor/mentee program

the community college student will be able to know at least one person at UCSD before transferring. Knowing at least one person can make UCSD seem more welcoming and gives community college students a chance to prepare for the type of institution they aspire to attend. Future events will include other fun programs with the similar goal of having community college students and transfers connect on a personal level.

The SPACES Community College Outreach program has started with Southwestern and hopefully, with more UCSD transfer student volunteers we can start programs at City College in downtown, Imperial Valley College, and Cuyamaca College in El Cajon. Out of the ten community colleges in San Diego these three community colleges have the least amount of students transferring to UCSD. The goal for the future is for SPACES to perform outreach services for these schools as well.

I would like to extend my gratitude to all the transfers that volunteered to be mentors, the students that helped with the panel discussion, and the community college students that took a chance on a new program.

If you are a transfer, interested in educational equity, and would like to find out more information please email r5davis@ucsd.edu.

All photos courtesy of: Frida Pineda

...continued from page 3: “Another World is Possible” In 1969, UCSD student activists were leading the student movement for social justice.

With a coalition led by Angela Davis, the Black Student Union and the MexicanAmerican Youth Association (now MEChA), student activists took over Third College (now Marshall), occupied the Chancellor’s Complex, and demanded that the third college of the university be named after Patrice Lumumba and Emiliano Zapata, the anti-colonial revolutionary leaders of the Third World movements of the era.

Student activists also took over Revelle Plaza in the 1980s, renamed the library for Winnie Mandell in protest of the UC’s continued financial support of the racist South African apartheid regime. Hundreds of students marched to shut down Interstate 5, in the 1970s against the Vietnam War, and again in 1992 to protest the beating of Rodney King.

To counter the racist scare tactics used to justify the elimination of affirmative action in 1996, students took to the streets, blocking off La Jolla Village Drive.

Throughout the 1990s however the student movement at UCSD entered a new stage of development. Aware that the gains of the civil rights movement had not yet reached fruition and in an effort to combat the hostile campus climate for people of color, women and queer people, vital resources became institutionalized. Together with a coalition of dedicated staff and faculty, it was student-led movements that established the CrossCultural Center in 1995, the Women’s Center in 1996 and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center in 1999. As the 4th student-initiated center at the University

of California San Diego, SPACES aims at nothing less than achieving educational equity by advocating for justice throughout the stages of the educational pipeline.

SPACES empowers you to be a part of the student movement. Only together and united can we solve the educational crisis facing our state. The founding organizations of SPACES invites you to join us in our partnerships with multiple high schools throughout the region, to serve as college mentors in parts of the most underserved neighborhoods in San Diego.

Whether the university accepts it or not, the student movement is alive and well on our campus. The present does not exist in a vacuum. UCSD has a revolutionary past, and we are living in revolutionary times. We are an extension of those that came before us.

UC San Diego students are revolutionary, we always have been. We must continue to remember our past, so we have blueprint of where the future can go. Empowerment is more than just a word - it’s a state of being that recognizes the world is messed up, but it doesn’t stop there. Being empowered means you do something about it. It means standing up for change and entering that point where you recognize your own power, believe in your own voice and trust in your ability to change the world!

Another world is possible – and it will take each and every one of us to get there. hasta la victoria…

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With its initiation into the UCSD campus in the 2007-2008 school year, SPACES is up and running! Through alternative campus tours, a practicum class that empowers students to learn about activism history and initiation, and other exciting programs, SPACES puts the power into the hands of the student. Read and discover how students are taking initiative with retention and access programs.

Empowerment through outreach: The foundations of KP CORE

By Charing Santos Staff Writer The 2007-2008 academic year at UCSD witnessed the birth of outreach programs for the principal organizations of the Students for Affirmative Action Committee. For Kaibigang Pilipin@, the principal Filipin@ organization on the UCSD campus, outreach and access to the Filipin@ community serves a purpose greater than the simple reasons of increasing UCSD diversity. Rather, through Kaibigang Pilipin@’s KP CORE (Kaibigang Pilipin@’s Community Outreach to Realize Empowerment) program, student leaders are working to empower the Filipin@ youth outside UCSD and foster the academic skills necessary for underrepresented youth to succeed in higher education.

Brent Cadavona, the chair of Kaibigang Pilipin@, explains that, beyond the black-and-white task of getting underrepresented youth into higher education, KP CORE “strives to empower students personally, socially, and academically.” To realize these endeavors, KP CORE has adopted a three-fold model made up of a programming component, a peer advisor component, and a tutoring component. The programming component is spearheaded

by Kaibigang Pilipin@’s Outreach Coordinator and

Youth Empowerment Coordinator, both of which acquire these roles through a demanding electoral process. This programming component organizes the major events within which KP CORE seeks to outreach to underprivileged youth. Peer advisors and tutors are directed under respective separate coordinators. As their titles suggest, these figures aid students in both their academic and personal obligations.

KP CORE takes an unorthodox approach to outreach and access in that it adapts a “help people to help themselves” model of activity. Rather than adapt the strategies of prior outreach programs and focus completely on grades and test scores, the students of KP CORE aid high school students through personal empowerment. Such inspiration comes from making visible the importance of diversity in higher education, and the role higher education plays in the future careers of these students.

In a city with a historically large Filipin@ population, KP CORE plays an integral role in outreach and access for Filipin@ youth. However, in the efforts to increase diversity among higher education, KP CORE does not limit

Oral Histories: Alternative Campus Tours at UCSD

By Preston Lam Contributing Writer Since the SPACES interns were hired 5th week of winter quarter, the Campus Diversity Engagement (CDE) program has started off strong. The overarching goal of the CDE program is centered around accessibility to higher education, with an emphasis on personalizing visiting students’ interaction with UCSD. Primarily, the inaugural year of the CDE program has focused on developing an Alternative Campus Tour (ACT) experience for visiting public schools and community college groups. So far, ACT at UCSD – a supplemental component to the traditional campus tour - has served nine schools and over 500 students from across the state.

ACT is unique in that it emphasizes the multidimensionality of student life here at UCSD rather than a singular student experience. The strength of each tour stems from the individual student experience that volunteers share with visiting students, not a word-for-word regurgitation of a prepared script. As such, the tours develop organically and are constantly evolving based on student-interests. Although ACT emphasizes individual student experiences to serve as the foundation of the tours, tour guides are provided with fact sheets outlining several destinations to serve as a foundation for the tour during a short training session. The overall aim of the ACT program is to expose visiting students to various opportunities to engage with student communities and organizations.

The ACT typically begins at the granite monument commemorating Camp Mathews in front of the new Student Services Center – a former military training center during World War II – to highlight the transition of land use from a military training center to an institution of higher learning in 1964. The military is an influential component of understanding the genesis of UCSD and offers insight to UCSD’s strong emphasis in the sciences. In fact, UCSD was

ranked 7 in 2006-2007 among national research universities in federal research and development expenditures, receiving a total of $714 million.

The next destination introduces the visiting students to culturally-based organizations at UCSD within the Students for Affirmative Action Committee (SAAC) community. This stop highlights the collaborative efforts and collective struggle among the culturally-based organizations at UCSD. The third stop, the graffiti hallways in Mandeville Center, has become the most popular destination along the tour. This portion of the tour exposes students to the organic expressions of student art around the visual arts department and highlights UCSD not only as a science-based research institution, but also an institution that fosters creative thinking and development. The last destination along the tour brings visiting students to the Original Student Center where they are introduced to various student communities, including the co-ops and the campus community centers. ACT, as mentioned before, develops out of an organic process and visiting students and advisors are encouraged to influence the process. The ACT program, for example, has coordinated student panels addressing academic culture upon request by advisors and often times, tour guides take detours to visit sites specified by visiting students during the tour.

In the future, the CDE program hopes to extend its efforts and offer a more comprehensive experience of student life at UCSD beyond Alternative Campus Tours. Next spring is the launch of the CDE State-Wide Overnight Program, targeting admitted students from across the state to participate in a weekendlong program and pairing them with students living on campus. If you’re interested in helping develop the CDE program, contact the program coordinators at alternativetours@ucsd.edu. th

its access and outreach to the Filipin@ community and instead reaches out to peoples of all color who represent minorities now neglected as a backlash to Proposition 209, which effectively prohibited affirmative action within the University of California. In tandem with these goals for diversity, KP CORE has taken on the task of outreaching and accessing the students of Sweetwater and Morse High Schools, which both are known for high populations of underrepresented youth beyond the Filipin@ populations at both schools, which are remarkable in themselves.

Because the project has only come to fruition in this school year, a definitive direction and process for running KP CORE has not yet been established. However, Kaibigang Pilipin@ has established a history of outreach projects through their annual High School Conference, a day-long event which brings students of underrepresented backgrounds to UCSD to educate them on their role in higher education. KP CORE endeavors to expand upon the impact of this High School Conference, extending the ideals of the event into year-long outreach and access programs to serve the greater San Diego community.

Real World San Diego: Breathing and self-love

By Sam Huang Staff Writer

As part of the Real World program, a group of UCSD students experienced a day of inward reflection and leisure during a breathing retreat at Deer Park Monastery. Led by SPACES Community Engagement Coordinator Joseph Ramirez, the day of silent contemplation explored notions of self and community identity by encouraging participants to think critically about their positions as activists.

Real World participants employed the principles of Dharma, an Indian religious term referring to one’s righteous duty, as a practical basis for engaging in silent meditation throughout the day.

In further application of Dharmic philosophy, they also took a silent walk and ate a silent lunch. At the end of the event, the participants held a “student session” discussion about the emotions associated with being an activist, as well as of the sensations generated from their Real World experiences.

Activism has always depended on the idea of sacrificing oneself-time, money, commitment, and even the mind-- to the principles of global justice. As activists may often lose themselves in the chaotic struggle of their causes, the Real World philosophy was about attaining a renewed appreciation of the self to redirect and refocus

the human energies fueling social movements. By first attaining a greater understanding of oneself, Real World participants equipped themselves with the tools necessary to combat injustice at the broader levels of the community.

The Real World program also focused on generating selfawareness of the privileges attached to being a social activist, a global citizen, and a student.

Participants achieved a new enlightenment of how fortunate of a position they were in to possess the ideological capacity and intellectual basis essential to helping others. While this in part had a humbling effect on the participants, it also helped them to achieve a better comprehension of the reasons driving their struggles, as well as an enhanced idea of the experiences of marginalization and privation that many people continue to suffer today.

As the chaotic milieu of social struggle often ends up divesting the focus and vitality from progressive activism, Real World participants looked inward to themselves to regain the direction and clarity of the Movement. By focusing their thoughts through self-meditation, they attained a greater selfunderstanding as both people of color and as social activists on the constant struggle for justice.

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During Thurgood Marshall’s 30th Annual Cultural Celbration on April 12, 2008, the women of Kaibigang Pilipino presented Itik-Itik, a dance of drunk women inmitating ducks. Photo Credit: Hieu Tran / The Collective Voice

Brown v. Yellow Activism:

Tracking the separation between Filipinos and the rest of Asian America

By Charing Santos Staff Writer While initially filling out her University of California college application, UCSD sophomore Maria Mina encountered a dilemma: the application demanded her ethnic background. Born in the Philippines and raised in the United States, Maria was torn between the options granted to her by the application. Students are encouraged to check off all ethnic groups which apply to their heritage; regardless, Mina found that having both a choice to be “Asian American” and “Filipino American” was both personally and globally confusing.

“If I only have one choice, and there’s a choice for Filipino American, I usually choose it over Asian American,” Mina explained. “But I hesitate when I have the option to choose both. It’s hard to argue for why I belong to both groups, and it’s just as hard to argue for why they are different.”

Mina’s situation is not an uncommon one for Filipino American students. Although coalitions at UCSD such as the Students for Affirmative Action Committee have endeavored to sponsor fruitful inter-ethnic relations among populations like that of the Filipino American, a more global dilemma remains unsolved: where do Filipino Americans fit in within the Asian American spectrum?

The task of properly harmonizing the Filipino American activist with other progressive Asian American movements proves to be a daunting one.

Brent Cadavona, a fifth-year UCSD student and the current chair of Kaibigang Pilipin@ confessed, “It’s difficult to feel aligned with the Asian American community,” confessed Brent Cadavona. The arguable line that divides Filipino from Asian,

Cadavona argues, “[stems from] how difficult it is for other Asian American communities to relate to the struggles of the Filipino American, and vice versa.”

Cadavona maintains a common belief that the sources of this divide separating Filipinos from the remainder of Asian America is intricate. This separation stems from various historical phenomena that placed Filipino Americans in a category apart from Asian America before they even set foot on American soil. The role of the Filipino American, and the formation of this role, differs greatly from the trends which crafted Asian American identities in the early twentieth century.

History shapes the Philippines as an archipelago separate from the development of Asia. The islands are presented as a commodity under the respective imperialisms of Spain, the United States, and Japan.

When compared to the histories of empire attributed to East Asia, it becomes clear why the archipelago and its inhabitants are classified as a people apart from their neighbors to the west. Cadavona adds that the Filipino American community will always differ from the rest of Asian America because of this “history of [the Philippines] as a state of constant colonization.”

Though this comparative analysis may seem irrelevant to some, it is the basis upon which these Asian communities came to fruition in America. The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 set immigration quotas on various nations and prohibited immigration altogether from nations in the Barred Asiatic Zone. However, while events such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Supreme court rulings in the case of Takao Ozawa prevented immigration of Chinese and Japanese peoples respectively, the role of the Filipino

as a national body under American rule allowed for Filipinos to travel from the Philippines to the United States without restriction as cheap laborers. Though this condition in no way granted the Filipino people an exclusive sovereignty, it undeniably set up a separation between Filipinos and Asian America early on in their respective community histories.

It is a foolish assumption to make, however, that both Asian communities themselves have not come into conflict within each other. Incidents like the Nanjing Massacre and the Japanese Occupation of Korea and the Philippines in World War II have created divisions between all of these respective ethnic groups. In addition, some argue that the division between Filipino Americans and Asian America is more a culturally preconceived notion rather than something that can truly be justified in a modern and free society. It is the year 2008, after all, and decades have passed since civil rights were cemented into American society, restrictive immigration quotas were lifted, and the Filipino people were granted their independence, thus freeing them from the imperialistic rule which separated Filipinos from other Asian by law.

Yet still, one cannot deny that the history of Kaibigang Pilipin@, whose roots lay in an exodus from the Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance. This departure serves as a testament to how this FilipinoAsian separation remains in our society. Whether or not this divide is an issue of epic proportions remains questionable, but such does not detract from the idea that the Filipino American’s formation, both in history and in modern times, serves to complicate the vision of an Asian America united in solidarity.

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The Black Student Union Takes Outreach into Their Own Hands By tashaMia Staff Writer As a response to the small diminutive Black student population at UCSD, the Black Student Union hosted an all-day conference with the intent to encourage Black students to consider UCSD as an option.

A few schools attended, such as Mira Mesa high school, The Preuss School UCSD, and others.

Relative to many other UC campuses, UCSD accepts a significantly low percentage of Black students; in return, many of those accepted decide not to come. In 2006, the amount of Black students accepted to UCSD was 350; however, the amount of students who decided to enroll was only 44.

The Black Student Union believes that this high school conference will help increase the amount of African American students that decide to come to UC San Diego.

“I am excited,” says Samuel Bostick, a sophomore from Warren College. “[The high school conference] really intrigues people to BSU’s Chair, Jamilia Aswad, asks a high school students about their reflection on the high school conference. Photo Credit: Hieu Tran / The Collective Voice come here.”

Not only does the high school conference function as a way to get but this conference gives you a personal experience that the students are more more Black students to consider attending UC San Diego, but also to consider able to understand. We tell [the students] not to let obstacles be an excuse,” says higher education in general.

Kaneesha Williams, a graduating senior from Roosevelt college.

“For a lot of these students, it is [their first time] to even see a university,” says For several members of the Black Student Union, one main obstacle at UCSD Moorisha Taylor, a graduating senior. Taylor says that this high school conference is certainly a lack of diversity within the student population; however, the Black “serves as a way to [intervene] in K-12 inequity.”

Student Union is a ‘support center’ for many.

According to the San Diego Unified School District, Gompers Senior High has Williams describes how the Black Student Union has shaped her college the second highest percentage of African Americans. However, the percentage experience. “If it wasn’t for BSU, I would have transferred a long time ago. It of graduating seniors who had completed all the courses required in order to be really gives me a sense of identity and a sense of who I am. It helps me get to eligible for UC/CSU admissions in 2006 was only 14 percent. Within the same know myself as a person.” district, schools with the most students of color often have the lowest academic Many of the Union’s members share the same sentiment. Kofi Yiadom, a transfer scores while the schools with the least amount of students of color have the student from Richmond says that the Black Student Union has “provided family highest. and helped me develop relationships.”

The conference conducted workshops in order to help students gain knowledge Great things are expected from this year’s high school conference; hopefully, as about basic college information such as “A-G” requirements, financial aid, and a result of this conference, along with many other outreach opportunities, UCSD the college experience in general. will reflect a more diverse community in the future.

“I am excited because [most college information] programs are so generic,

Renewed commitment to progressive education

By Denise Manjarrez STAFF WRITER To insure that UCSD fulfills its promise to “value cultural diversity”, there was and continues to be a demand by progressive students, staff and faculty in creating programs that educate students on the historically marginalized groups in the United States. From these grassroots movements arose UCSD’s African American Studies minor (AAS) in 2005 and the Chicana/o Latina/o Arts and Humanities Minor (CLAH) in 2000. Yet even with the successful establishment of these programs, numerous factors continue to prevent these minors from reaching their full potential. Understanding the dynamics that shape the growth of both minors is vital in order to foster a comprehensive educational system within UCSD. The push for CLAH and AAS reflects years of neglect on behalf of the administration in creating such programs that represent both the communities of UCSD and throughout the United States. The AAS minor was created in reaction to the demand of a greater and broader understanding of the social, historical, cultural, and political contributions of African Americans throughout United States history.

The once-created Contemporary Black Arts Program was therefore expanded into the presently existing African American Studies Minor. Similarly, the creation of the CLAH program was created in response to the legacy of an abolished 1973-1989 Chicano Studies program at UCSD and the lack of a coordinated program that recognized and studied the role of Chicanas/os in the United States.

CLAH and AAS have both struggled to overcome one of their biggest obstacles: convincing the administration that both minors are vital and important. Given UCSD’s structure that mainly supports and invest on majors that prove to be the most “profitable,” the minors have battled to gain funding for permanent staff, faculty, and courses. By institutionalizing the importance of these minors and the permanent resources available to the programs, incoming and current students will see that their own community and other underrepresented communities are being recognized and valued within the campus’ educational system. With the proposed funding cuts by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger it will be even more challenging as the budget cuts affect and privilege certain programs over others.

Although both movements proved successful in establishing both minors, there is still a need to create an Asian American Studies minor on campus. Initiated by a few number of students, the movement gained its greatest support from

student organizations such as the Asian Pacific Islander Progressive Movement and Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance. One of the initial student advocates for an Asian American Studies minor, Takashi Matsumoto related that there were many factors as to why the push for the minor has faced a stand still: “We [students] are all too busy…there wasn’t much faculty support…and not enough courses are offered.” As the movement for an Asian American Studies minor demonstrates, the work to create a program was taken up by students who do not have the necessary resources and enough time to do it by themselves.

CLAH’s program coordinator Melissa Naranjo states that programs like CLAH or African American Studies are important for people to learn who they are, how one’s culture impacts the way they live and their relation to other cultures. Naranjo also states that as populations such as Chicanas/os and Latinos/as are fastest-growing, it becomes increasingly important for students to, “understand people’s struggles so as to not make assumptions about them and to be able to understand where they come from.” The value of these programs that present the historical, cultural, social and political aspects of underrepresented communities need to be understood and accepted within a large context. An honest recognition of its importance will facilitate the creation of a permanent institutional support system for the minors.

There is great need to be educated on communities that are not accurately portrayed within the traditional dominant U.S. history courses. Speaking about the portrayal of African Americans in the educational system, Jessica Heredia, the former program director of AAS, says that minors like AAS, “show what else they [the African American community] have contributed to society beyond slavery and civil rights.” Therefore, this is not an attempt to minimize the contributions of such movements but to, “illustrate how people of African descent have been part of every single component of American history.”

Further development of the Chicana/o Latina/o Arts and Humanities minor and AfricanAmerican Studies minor and the establishment of anAsianAmerican Studies minor depend on a renewal sense of dedication and support toward each minor’s goal.

The underlying missions of each program are linked by the hope that the minors will enhance awareness and students’perceptions about underrepresented communities.

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Breaking barriers and walls with spoken word

LEFT: Def Jam Poet, Liza Garza captivated audiences with her spoken word pieces on the night of April 4, 2008.

BELOW: Sophomore Chris McCoy performs.

Photo Credit: Leslie Quintanilla

By Saifuddin Amath STAFF WRITER The afternoon of April 4, 2008 came and I found myself behind dark curtains in UCSD’s Price Center Theatre while the introductory movie played. I could not believe I was going on stage in a few minutes. I was the first performer of the joint Muslim Student Association and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan “Writings on the Wall”—an event geared toward breaking down mental and physical walls that promote ignorance and injustice with an emphasis on the walls in Mexico and Palestine.

The intro movie’s ending song by the band P.O.D. signaled my entrance onto the front stage. “There’s got to be more to life than this, there’s got to be more to everything I thought exists. We are we are the youth of the nation.” Muna Beg, a UCSD senior, sent chills down people’s backs and tears that were ready to flow out in rivers with her beautifully crafted intro movie.

Taking a deep breath I carried my props onstage. After setting the chair in the middle I sat precariously on the chair. I stared into the crowd.

Full house, much more than five hundred people present. There were even people without seats standing in the back. Coming into UCSD as a freshman in the fall of 2005 I was astounded at the apathetic environment of UCSD. Many UCSD students could care less concerning global issues such as the mass starvations in Mali and the ongoing genocidal efforts toward Palestinians. Even domestic issues such as the armed Minute Men at the US-Mexico border, and university issues such as the UCSD proposition aimed at limiting free speech presented right after Marshall College’s “Dimensions of Culture” writing class controversy, could not make most students think about how much of a mess the world is in. Two years forward and my observations are changing. Clearly we are witnessing the contagious spirit of activism invading the campus. The “Writing’s on the Wall” event conveys the extent of UCSD’s progressive growth within the last few years. And the growth shows no signs of slowing down. In addition to the “epiphany” experience emotions ran high within the audience.

“Revolutionary. The event opened the minds of UCSD students to the reality of the circumstances in Palestine and Mexico and portrayed what the mainstream media fails to convey,” describes Eyad Elnasleh, a UCSD freshman attendee.

Adding to Eyad’s comment Leslie Quintanilla, one of the main organizers of the event, adds, “A lot of people cried. A lot of my friends cried. Everyone who was jumping up from their seats was crying from so much validation of their sufferings. So many oppressed groups were covered by the artists and keynote: Pinays, Latinos, Muslims, African Americans. It was incredible.”

My light-hearted chocolate box poem was followed by three emotional and powerful pieces performed by students. Once the student performances ended I returned back to my seat. The next few hours culminated into a night

to remember. An ever— inspiring DJ Kuttin Kandi came upon stage, followed by three more amazing performances by our nation’s premier hip-hop poets. How did two relatively small student groups at UCSD bring DJ Kuttin Kandi, Amir Sulaiman, Liza Garza, and Mark Gonzales all on the same stage in the same night? Like Liza Garza and Mark Gonzales mentioned, this night was something truly special. I’m certain everyone felt a certain aura in the room that UCSD has never felt in the last fifteen years. We felt empowered.

We felt inspired. We felt at ease.

We felt love. Most attendants of “Writing’s on the Wall” will wake up the next morning and the morning after and the morning after that with the love that Liza Garza discovered in this event—a love that pierces, a love that is strong, a love that is fierce—a love that destroys any wall in its path. This new love is making history at UCSD. When I was waiting to meet Mark Gonzales after the event I overheard a person thanking him for his powerful words. The words that came after the thank you proved to be the highlight of the event for me.

After thanking Mark Gonzales he added that his parents were deported last year. At that moment I realized the power and magnitude of the “Writing’s on the Wall” should not be solely credited to the performers, but to everyone in the room. Every person has his or her own story—each story discovered or enhanced by the words uttered by the onstage performers. And if every attendee writes his or her story on every unjust wall then the “Writing’s on the Wall” is a monumental success.

When the “Writing’s on the Wall” event ended many people would not leave the theatre. One of the artists observed this phenomenon and mentioned that no one wants to go home—everyone felt at peace here. What’s the difference between our dorms or apartments and Price Center Theatre in the evening of April 4, 2008? Our homes are not filled with such auras. Our homes are not filled with such a piercing love. Our homes are not filled with such passion. Our homes are not filled with indestructible shovels to unearth the deep rooted walls of injustice and hate. Such rare passion and love can be found in the group present in Price Center Theatre that Friday night. And what is this indestructible shovel mentioned above? The night of April 4, 2008 is the blade of the shovel. Every attendee makes up a piece of the long handle of the shovel.

Now who will wield such a shovel? Daily and yearly construction work at UCSD? The new Price Center’s completion has been consistently delayed. Will justice and freedom face the same fate at UCSD? One thing I know for certain is UCSD will never be the same place ever again.

Leslie’s comment perfectly describes the crazy night of April 4, 2008. “This event left people speechless and not even I can find the right words to justify what exactly went down Friday night.”

The legacy of MEChA: past and present

By Jesus Valenzuela STAFF WRITER With the spirit of the civil rights movement, memories of ancient heroes, and a thousand battles yet to be fought, students of all backgrounds, majors, and philosophies come together once a week to discuss political issues, share cultural knowledge, and build the family that is El Moviemiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán or The Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán (MEChA).

Dating back to 1969 when a nationwide conference was held at UC Santa Barabara, and following its founding documents (The MEChA Constitution, El Plan De Aztlán, and El Plan De Santa Barbara) MEChA has held a strong political stance from the start.

Yet, in spite of the fact that the turmoil of the 60’s and 70’s have subsided over time, to UCSD Mechistas, their political views are still in every way relevant.

According to Student Affirmative Action Coalition (SAAC) representative to MEChA, Leslie Quintanilla, 20, MEChA “raises awareness about issues concerning minorities, not just those of Latino, Chicano backgrounds.”

“It goes against mainstream views of controversial issues,” she added. MEChA has been known to take a stand against anti-immigrant sentiments across the nation, and, on the UCSD campus, does what it can to protest military and INS presence in the job fairs, fights for better workers rights on campus, and other issues that are often forgotten.

“What MEChA does is dispel myths. Not through opinions, but through documents, professors, research, and proof not often seen.”

“We work on different issues that have to do with social injustices,” says the two-year member and Youth Outreach Coordinator of MEChA Lorena Ruiz, 20. “Outreaching to the community, especially inner city students of color to encourage them to pursue higher education.”

With some 400 loosely connected chapters across United States, Mechistas everywhere take on a political and cultural role. Though some may consider MEChA as just a club where continued on Page 11...

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Wage increases demanded for UCSD’s invisible community

By Denise Manjarrez STAFF WRITER Those that clean and maintain our libraries, classrooms, dorms, hospitals, and fields are the greatest marginalized group at UCSD. The workers are the invisible community that is mistreated, underpaid, and undervalued. UCSD maintains its “clean image” at the expense of these hard-working individuals.

However, the current American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) campaign is currently challenging the condition of workers and is demanding that they be granted livable wages and better working conditions. On the other hand, UCSD administration and Chancellor Fox have failed to take a strong stance in support of the workers and their bargaining for a fair contract.

In a letter to UC President Robert Dynes, Chancellor Fox stated that, “all of us- the University administration and AFSCME- are eager for a speedy resolution in the development of new contracts for our union employees.” However, AFSCME union representative Celine Perez has acknowledged that the letter fails to take a strong stance of support on behalf of the workers and their demands. Chancellor Fox demonstrates a current trend among UC administration of not supporting the workers in their struggle to improve their working conditions.

AFSCME is a worker union that currently represents and works for the 20,000 workers throughout the UC campuses and hospitals. Locally, AFSCME is working with the service workers who are the custodians, groundskeepers, and food service personnel but they also represent the patient care workers who assist hospital patients. The union has focused their demands on the ability of workers to work in a safe environment and their ability to sustain themselves on their UC wages. It is estimated that wages for both service and patient care workers are below 23% to 30% behind the market. Workers that were interviewed admitted that their wages are simply not enough. Although the UC system is highly praised as one of the most prestigious and established institutions throughout the state, they often pay their workers less than the California State University and Community College systems pay their respective

workers.

Speaking with several workers, their monthly salaries ranged from $2,1002,000.

However this figure does not include deductions which ultimately leave workers with around $1,600-1,500 spending money.

Workers are unable to sustain themselves and their families with this salary. Many are being forced to pick up two jobs in order to make end meets. During Winter Quarter 2008, students participated in an AFSCME rally Photo Credit: Denise Manjarrez / The Collective Voice Yet, most workers AFSCME to demand a contract that guarantees that are seeking different sources of income such as picking up cans from the parking fees remain the same in order to insure that street in order to sell them and earn a couple of extra workers are able to pay them. Thus UCSD, though dollars. The message that the UC system is sending one of the most prestigious institutions in San Diego, out with these substandard wages is that there is a is also a university that exploits members of the San lack of appreciation for the service that workers Diego community in order to gain profit for itself.

Finally, one of the biggest misconceptions out there provide for students, staff, and faculty.

AFSCME is therefore demanding the implementation is that a raise for worker wages will ultimately result of a step system for workers. The step system in an increase in student fees. This is misleading. The stipulates compensation for workers based on their funding sources for AFSCME patient care and service experience and years working at UCSD. This demand workers are only a small percentage of state resources; is based on the fact that many workers who have less than 7% of worker funding comes from student been at UCSD for many numerous years earn the fees. Most funding comes from the massive revenues same amount as their starting salary. The step system produced by the UC hospitals. Therefore the UCSD will allow workers who have accumulated valuable community needs to stand in solidarity with the years of experience to have an equal opportunity for workers and their struggle. Attending forums, rallies, progress. Another item on the AFSCME agenda is and most importantly learning about the workers and freezing the parking fees that workers are charged their struggle will send out a strong message to the with once they begin working at UCSD. Paying for UC administration. Workers no longer want to be the parking is an enormous concern for workers given that invisible and exploited community of UCSD. As part they already earn substandard wages but are forced of the UCSD community let us demand that justice be into paying hundreds of dollars in order to work. Yet served and inequality be abolished from this campus: the threat of increasing parking fees has motivated let us begin with the workers and their struggle.

...continued from Page 10 “The Legacy Of MEChA: Past and Present” students come together once a week to discuss, debate, and try and find solutions to political issues, to others it is a family. “To me it is a family,” said Ruiz, “it is where students come together to work in solidarity on different issues.”

Quintanilla goes further, stating that the creation of the sense of family is a form of “retention” that Mechistas often argue is one of the best ways to lower the drop out rate. “I have found my closest friends in college through MEChA and I don’t know what my college life would’ve been without it.”

Apart from the political and the familial, MEChA from its roots takes the initiative to promote culture. As Ruiz put it, “We have a lot of cultural events such as posadas and pachanga” And in this manner MEChA hopes to both educate the UCSD community and strengthen the family that they hope will retain the students they already have at UCSD. Meetings are open to everyone and held Mondays at 5 p.m. in the Cross Cultural Center.

...continued from Page 3 “Who is SAAC? A Brief Overview of SAAC’s Role at UCSD” Currently SAAC is focusing on continuing to develop and maintain strong relationships with its different organizations. SAAC holds weekly meetings throughout the year that allows the organizations to come together to talk about diversity, campus climate, and current events that are personally impacting their communities. As a coalition, the organizations attend rallies and conferences together while also supporting each other’s events on and off campus. Externally SAAC is working with Penny E. Rue, the current Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs on the recommendations suggested by last year’s diversity yield report. This report revealed that there are underrepresented students applying and being admitted to UCSD, but they do not choose to come to this campus. For those who do come to UCSD, there is a high rate of drop outs or transfers. SAAC is addressing this report and trying to figure out how to get these students to

want to come to UCSD and how to retain these students. As of now SAAC has chosen three of the recommendations from the diversity yield report to put into action. One consists of a collaboration between SAAC, underrepresented faculty members, and those involved with education equity to bring public artwork on campus that represents the histories and experiences of underrepresented communities. SAAC is also trying to work on convincing the Chancellor to provide funding for underrepresented student organizations to help support their high school conferences and graduations. Lastly SAAC wants to focus on getting funding for the African American studies and the Chicano/Latino Arts and Humanities minors as an academic program that would create permanent staff positions and more courses for each minor.

Within this context, SAAC continues to struggle as and for underrepresented students hoping to create a welcoming atmosphere for all at UCSD.

Community Calendar 20

TUES

21

WED

Week Eight

19

MON

MAYJUNE 2008

26

Week Nine

SPACES: NCORE @ Orlando, FL

9

Finals Week

CCC: Stress-Less Study Jam, 8AM-2AM

LGBT: Homosexuality and World Religions @ LGBT Resource Center 5:30PM

23

FRI

CCC: Cross-Cultural Center’s All-People’s Celebration @ *NEW* CCC. 5PM

24

SAT

SPACES: SPACES Gala @ Price Center Ballrooms A &B

Women’s Ctr: Hints and Tips for Success: Academic Review Workshop & Lunch 11:30am-1pm

27

CCC: Student Activist Breather: Assets Inventory Workshop, 6PM-7:30PM

28

Women’s Ctr: Mantra Repetition @ UCSD Geisel Library Seuss Room, 12pm-1pm

29

30

CCC: Last Day of Through the Eyes of Children: An Experiential Display at CCC

25

31

1

LGBT: Non-Sexist Dance, 9pm-1am

3

4

5

6

7

8

10

11

12

13

14

15

LGBT: Race and Racism in LGBT Community @ LGBT Resource Center 5:30PM

CCC: Recognition of Graduating Activists @ *NEW* CCC. 5PM-7PM

SPRING 2008 QUARTER ENDS

LGBT: Rainbow Graduation and Induction into the LGBT chapter of the UCSD Alumni Association @ Great Hall, 4PM

SUN

CCC: Through the Eyes of Children: An Experiential Exhibit of the Lives of Children in Poverty Opening Reception @ CCC, 11am-2:30pm

CCC: Open Mic Night, 6:30PM-8PM

Week Ten

2

THUR 21