Volume III issue II by The Collective Voice

University of California, San Diego

http://spaces.ucsd.edu

Volume III, Issue 2 March 2010

NICK BYGON

IN THIS ISSUE... EDITORIAL..................................... 2 CURRENT.................................... 3-5 COMMUNITY SPEAKS.............. 6-7 REAL PAIN! REAL ACTION!..... 8-10 EDUCATION IN CRISIS.......... 11-13 EXPRESSIONS........................ 14-15

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EDITORIAL

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

MARCH 2010

The Struggle for Institutional Change After years of facing an oppresive campus climate, communities mobilize in support of revolutionary demands.

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

COEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

he recent event regarding the Compton Cookout and the remark made on behalf of the Koala newspaper have caused real pain and fear among students of color on this campus. It has created divisions and hostilities among the UCSD community yet it has brought different communities together like never before. Solidarity across the numerous students organizations, faculty, staff, graduate students, medical students, workers, and different UC campuses has demonstrated that in the face of racism and hate, love and courage unite us. The combination of years of feeling isolated and unwanted along with the recent events during these past two weeks have forced the Black Student Union to declare a State of Emergency. This is a direct message to administrators and the overall community that students of color will no longer idly maintain a university that values “diversity” only at face value when it is clearly physically, culturally and socially separated from the San Diego community and its people.

As a first generation student, Chicana, and MEChista from the city of Compton, I stand in complete solidarity with my brothers and sisters of BSU and countless others that have spoken against the hateful acts by these misguided individuals. Our message goes beyond these individuals and seeks to create a university that truly serves and values everyone and not just the economically and racially privileged. We seek a university that acknowledges and abolishes the fundamental racist, sexist, homophobic, and classist practices that UCSD was built upon. To accomplish this is to ensure that the administration and the overall campus recognize that there is RACISM IN OUR COMMUNITY. To those who have misunderstood our message, have called us troublemakers, and cannot understand what the big deal is: understand that our actions are a product of years of activism by past students of color. We are the result of those students who skipped class in order to attend countless meetings, organized their own high school conferences, fought for the CrossCultural Center, fought for the LGBTRC, fought for the Women’s Center, fought for SPACES, attended protests, organized events, fought for

The Collective Voice is a student-run, studentinitiated publication of UCSD’s SPACES, the Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service. The mission of the Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service (SPACES) is to act as an empowering dynamic on campus where UCSD students collaborate to achieve greater educational equity. This encompasses equal access to higher education, undergraduate retention and graduation, and matriculation to graduate and professional schools. SPACES values the power of studentinitiated action and organizing by providing an environment for student growth and development and thus is a foundation to create leadership and

Affirmative Action, fought for justice, and created safe spaces… for the marginalized communities on campus. We understand that we are students today because of the unrecognized labor and dedication of these activists and we recognize our position as the tokenized few that made it into this university. We stand together and struggle to see the transformation of this university from one that values profit and reputation into one that is aware, accountable, responsive and at the service of the diverse communities of San Diego and its youth. Given our 10 point platform, the Collective Voice supports the struggle to transform this university into one that truly values and serves its diverse student population. We therefore stand in solidarity with the seven demands presented by the Black Student Union. We hope to provide an outlet for freedom of expression that promotes peace not hate. We hope to manifest the message that is otherwise misrepresented by the Guardian and the Koala. We, as a collective, stand with and for the people. We are accountable to our community. We are a product of activism. We are activism.

See EDITORIAL, page 13

unity through community engagement. In line with SPACES’ mission of valuing “the power of student-initiated action,” “proving 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 of 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 the greater San Diego communities outside of our campus. Most importantly, The Collective Voice, provides marginalized students and under-resourced 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 SPACES, 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.

WHO WE ARE...

CO-EDITORS IN CHIEF Jacqueline Jackson Denise Manjarrez COPY EDITOR Christine Ma STAFF WRITERS Linda Chang Chelsea Kolander Vernesha Potts Jennifer Tzi Jesús Valenzuela CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Diana Cervera J Matt Junker Anthony Yooshin Kim Muslim Student Association Ana Martinez Leslie Quintanilla Lorena Ruiz Ga Young Yoo CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Edgar Flores Adriana Toledo DESIGNERS John Im

10 POINT PLATFORM 1. We want freedom 2. We want social unity and equality for all people on campus 3. We want to promote social awareness and combat social ignorance 4. We want to unite student activists and students with progressive values and common struggles 5. We want to educate others about ourstories and our true role in present-day society 6. We want educational equity and to empower under resourced communities 7. We want to fight the rhetoric propagated by oppressive forces on campus 8. We want our beliefs, practices, and ethics to be illustrated in a correct light 9. We want peace. The ability to coexist on campus without fear of prejudice or persecution 10. We want to be recognized as equal individuals despite and because of our ethnicity, religious affiliation, race, gender, or sexual orientation

MARCH 2010

BSU/MEChA High School Conference VERNESHA POTTS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

DENISE MANJARREZ

CURRENT

round 600 students, mostly Black and Latin@, were present on Saturday, February 13 at the 2nd Annual MEChA and BSU High School Conference. Various high schools and parents from San Diego and even from the Los Angeles and Riverside school districts gathered together to celebrate unity and education. Ironically, the conference took place at in a school where Latin@ and Black students are devastatingly underrepresented, but the event can be a space to discuss what this means for their communities and the university. Many students were eager to tour the UCSD campus and to mingle with undergraduates and students from other high schools. The conference commenced with the introduction of the theme “Roots of Resistance: Art & Activism.” Then students heard speeches by keynote speakers UCSD Literature professors Dennis Childs as the BSU speaker, and Jorge Mariscal as the MEChA speaker. “Jorge inspired me to be an activist and to fight for something,” said Lincoln High School student Gabriella. “I want to make a difference.” Both speakers were incredibly inspiring. They urged the students to recognize the importance of knowing their common history and struggles, a major factor in the effort to bring the Black and Latin@ communities together to fight for a mutual goal: equity and justice. In workshops, students were coached in leadership roles and activism work for the future. They were divided into three parts: Community, Education/ Academic, and Unity. The first workshop focused on Latin@ and Black communities and the unique problems each one faces, featuring workshops by the Chicano Youth Leadership Camp and BSU’s “Do UC Us” activism campaign. The Education/Academic workshops came next and the students were mentored on the crucial steps they needed to take to make it into college. Other workshops included financial and academic tips for incoming freshmen. Also featured were presentations about college facts that affect minorities, like underrepresentation in universities and recruitment into the military. The road to higher education is not easy for minorities and the workshops were centered

on these roadblocks: why they are there and how to get around or eliminate them. “Coming to a conference like this, students are getting a foot in the door by seeing that it’s not just about classes,” said BSU and MEChA representative Diana Gaskin. “College is also about getting involved in the community.” After a day of activities, the attendees gathered

together to hear Sarah Kaplan tell a moving story about the importance of solidarity despite differences. “It’s not about who you are but what you want,” said Kaplan. Policies and laws that deal with the issue of access to quality education affect everyone. High school conferences such as this one allow for the space to discuss the social ramifications of those laws and to find encouraging paths toward higher education.

Restructuring the University LESLIE QUINTANILLA LORENA RUIZ CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

he events that have occurred over the past weeks cannot be reduced to individual acts because they are products of a systemic problem within the institution. UCSD as an institution for higher education has shifted its priorities. As a university, it has failed to serve the community it carries in its name: San Diego. As a university built on a hill in La Jolla, it was purposefully placed to be out of contact with the community of San Diego. Because of this detachment, this university continues to build itself on the sustainment of exclusive practices where only the elite are allowed to enter and actively participate in this institution as students, administrators, staff and faculty.

The discrepancy between the university and the actual needs of the community is what led and let people justified the events such as the “Compton Cookout” and Koala TV slurs to occur. The blatant racist, sexist, classist remarks and events against people ofcolor, specifically the Black community, are the trickle down effect of the institution’s failure at education. To say that the “Compton Cookout”, which negatively racialized and demeaned the African-American community, was an isolated event and not part of the university is to dismiss the greater institutional structures that have led for these events to occur. As Ethnic Studies Professor K. Wayne Yang wrote in a letter: University officials have been quick to condemn the party, and even quicker to point out that it happened “off campus.” The party line is one of shock and horror, as if prior to last weekend, this institution was a model of diversity and racial justice. We repeat buzzwords like “mutual respect” and “diversity” and “community” until they are empty of meaning. The party line is to individualize a racist system to a few “racists,” and to isolate the event as a freak occurrence

at UCSD. This party line says: Let’s go after a few fraternity boys, and then go back to business as usual. The communities that are struggling at UCSD want the institution as a whole to improve the environment for underrepresented students on campus. The chancellor has a wide range of resources to change the climate. To address the issue of race and misogyny at an institutional level will lead us to realize that individual acts and the Koala broadcast are a result of a trickle down effect. The university doesn’t need healing, but institutional change by listening to those who have been silenced. The administration has refused to take action for far too long. The demands stated forth by the Black Student Union, in coalition with other historically underrepresented groups on campus, need to be implemented by the institution as soon as possible. This university cannot keep functioning as it has for the last 50 years. It is time that the university reflect upon itself and critically analyze and transform its hegemonic practices to actually become the university it promotes itself to be.

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

CURRENT

MARCH 2010

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

CURRENT

MARCH 2010

Students Demand : No Debate, Repatriate!

Governor Manipulates Students’ Demand

Students march to Chancellor’s Complex and demand the repatriation of Kumeyaay remains.

Schwarzenegger’s proposal for a constitutional amendment to allocate funds into public education, can be misleading. DENISE MANJARREZ COEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

CHELSEA KOLANDER STAFF WRITER

ast Friday, February 5th, more than 50 people protested outside of the Chancellor’s Complex to demand that the remains of their ancestors be rightfully returned to the Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee (KCRC), the most likely descendent, in order to rebury them. Protestors included students, staff, and faculty from UCSD and other campuses in Southern California who demanded that “There’s no debate, repatriate!” This is not the first effort by the Native American community to have the remains returned. The struggle has been brewing over the last 30 years. In 1976, archaeology students from the California State University Northridge excavated the human remains of two adults from underneath UCSD’s Chancellor House on Regents Road, which sits upon ancient Kumeyaay burial grounds. The Kumeyaay tribe, upon whose land the campus is built on, requested in 2006 that the remains be returned, or repatriated, so that they can provide a proper burial for their ancestors. In April 2009, UCSD Chancellor Mary Anne Fox and UC President Mark Yudof sent a request to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) asking to repatriate the remains. This request was met with much resistance from UCSD’s anthropology researchers who claim that there is not enough evidence that the bones are indeed those of the Kumeyaay people. On the surface, it may seem as though the KCRC would be thrilled with the university’s request to repatriate the bones, but in fact, the tribe was deeply offended by the language of

the request since the bones were described as “culturally unidentifiable.” NAGPRA, a federal act passed in 1990, allows universities, museums and other research institutions to return certain Native American artifacts to federally recognized tribes who request them. In several cases, federal officials have given remains to American Indian groups, even if the bones weren’t clearly linked to the tribes. If remains are found on federal land, the law states that they should be returned to the tribe of origin or the tribe with the closest cultural affiliation. In a study done by SDSU anthropologist Arion Mayes, the remains were identified as Native American but not specifically Kumeyaay. A panel led by UCSD anthropologist Margaret Schoeninger concluded that the bones couldn’t be identified as Kumeyaay. Schoeninger also claims that the remains are too old to have any cultural or biological affinity with the Kumeyaay or any living Native American. Ross Frank, a UCSD Ethnic Studies professor, presented the single dissenting view in the panel and was the only member on the panel who considered the remains Kumeyaay. He said the methodology used by the committee was flawed because it looked at each piece of evidence presented by the Kumeyaay in an isolated manner. According to Frank, “evaluating pieces of evidence independently from each other is contradictory to the language and spirit of NAGPRA.” Yet the Kumeyaay have many pieces of evidence to support their belief. Frank also pointed out that the committee that studies the remains had no Native representation. Kumeyaay leaders have insisted that their people have been in the region since the beginning of time, Attorney Michelle Fahley has echoed

this sentiment by stating that the tribes have provided UCSD with evidence from scholars showing that the remains are linked to the modern-day Kumeyaay and “to argue otherwise is disrespectful to the tribes and their ancestors.” After weeks of protests from anthropologists, UCSD officials have withdrawn their request to the federal government to return the remains. In an official statement, university officials

claim that these individuals were indeed culturally affiliated with today’s Kumeyaay/Diegueno people,” according to the statement. There is no doubt that the issue of Repatriation is contributing to difficulties in the relationship between local tribes and UCSD. KCRC spokesman Steve Banegas has criticized the university’s handling of the situation. He says “This institution is supposed to be teaching

“We know that they are culturally identifiable. All we want is to merely rebury them, and respect them, and treat them as the human beings that they once were.” said that they withdrew the request “upon learning that the KCRC does not support the university’s request submitted to the Review Committee” of NAGPRA. The Kumeyaay committee members wrote that they opposed the UCSD request because UCSD Vice Chancellor for Resource Management and Planning Gary Matthews filed a request with NAGPRA to repatriate the remains as “culturally unidentifiable.” Even though the Kumeyaay leaders want the remains they firmly believe that the remains are indeed culturally affiliated with the Kumeyaay and the closely affiliated Diegueno people and that the wording of the request should reflect that. The Kumeyaay committee wrote that they have provided “a mountain of evidence from linguistic, anthropological, archaeological and historical scholars to support their

people about values and learning and understanding, and wanting to stretch their hand out to the Kumeyaay nation, but they refuse to sit and talk with us as equals, and we’re not going to get anywhere until that happens.” Currently, less than 1 percent of the UCSD student body identifies as Native American. Though approval of the request by Chancellor Fox and Yudof would return the bones to KCRC, it would not overturn the committee’s ruling that the remains are culturally unidentifiable. For this reason, leaders of the KCRC do not officially support the request. “We know that they are culturally identifiable,” KCRC spokesman Steve Banegas said. “All we want is to merely rebury them, and respect them, and treat them as the human beings that they once were.”

n January 6, 2010, Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow the state to reallocate money from prisons into institutions of higher education. The amendment would make it so that 10% or more of the general fund would be put into higher education and no more than 7% would be given to prisons according to a Press Release from the Office of the Governor. This announcement came right after the November student demonstrations at UCLA where students protested the recent budget cuts and the 32 % fee increase in student fees. For UCSD students, staff and faculty who have advocated prioritizing public education in state spending, the announcement came as a pleasant surprise. However, many realized that the Schwarzenegger administration was attempting to further their campaign of privatizing the prison system. “Appealing to the wonderful grassroots energy that have rightly linked education and incarceration [the administration] coopted the message of the protest,” argues Professor of Literature Dennis Childs. For many years social justice student and community organizations have criticized the role of the prison industrial complex as a growing, profit-making corporation that incarcerates and contains large number

of people of color and working class citizens. Data from the Washington Post states that the U.S. leads the number of people in prison with an estimate of 2.3 million people incarcerated. This figure however does not include the number of individuals that are incarcerated in Immigration prisons. The governor continues to fund the project for mass incarceration through the passage of AB 900. As written in the legislation’s

Blacks who make up 30% even though they only make up about 6.5% of the population. The alarming rates of imprisonments among people of color and working class people are greatly relevant in this so-called post-racial era. In a recent visit to UCSD, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, highlights the irony that it is to “have one black man in the White House and one million black men in the big house… We make a big mistake if

“[We] have one black man in the White House and one million black men in the big house… We make a big mistake if we don’t try to figure out the relationship between those two facts.” description, AB 900 is a law that passed in 2007 and allocated 1.5 billion dollars to the construction and maintenance of new and existing prison facilities. The recent data also shows that during 1852-1980 nine prisons were built in California. However, during 1980-2010 the number of prisons built in California was an astounding twentyfour. The prison industrial complex has largely served as a project to incarcerate the Black community given that 1 in 20 African American Adults are in prison according to the Prison Policy Initiative. The majority of prisoners in California are Latinos who make up 40% and

we don’t try to figure out the relationship between those two facts.” According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the policies and laws that have maintained the school-to-prison pipeline are specifically targeting youth of color. UCSD’s low enrollment of students of colorspecifically of Black, Latino, Pilipino and Native American backgroundsdemonstrate the consequences of channeling youth of color away from institutions of higher education and into prisons. A recent report by the NAACP states that “a lack of experienced

or certified teachers and guidance counselors, advanced instruction, early intervention programs, extracurricular activities, and safe, well equipped facilities” are main contributors to the school-to-prison pipeline. It is vital to recognize state terrorism as it affects the communities that we come from. Black and brown men and womyn of color, youth, poor people, and activists are being targeted and incarcerated. The act of terrorizing working class communities through daily surveillance and patrolling leads way to an even more dangerous society. Moreover, society’s solution- its most profitable solution- has become to lock people inside of prison cages instead of addressing and fixing the social problems at the root of crime. The recent actions by Schwarzenegger are a strategic move to control the mounting actions that have formed on behalf of public education. The idea is to further the capitalistic project and to privatize and maximize profit from the prison industrial complex. Demonstrations on behalf of public education and demands for universities that serve the public good must be sustained on the basis of a free society where individuals are not placed within cages. Therefore, not only is it necessary to stop the school-to-prison pipeline but to question what it means to live in a society that deals with people through the use of locking them up in cages. To imagine a better society we must have the idea of free and public education accompanied by the elimination of prisons that control and terrorize our communities.

Legalization of Marijuana Up For Debate VERNESHA POTTS STAFF WRITER

n January, the California State Assembly Public Safety Committee approved Assembly Bill 390 (AB 390) to tax and regulate marijuana, similar to laws for alcohol. Also known as the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act, the bill would define marijuana as a restricted substance, making it legal to possess, sell, and grow by those 21 years and older. According to a state tax board review of the bill, taxing marijuana would raise over $1 billion annually. Due to work done by people like independent contractor Tony Wilson, whom we frequently see on Library Walk getting signatures for new legislative bills, the vote will probably be in the hands of citizens come November. “There’s enough signatures, so it’s going to be on the ballot,” said Wilson. “I look at it just like alcohol. It’s all about how you handle it. Especially the revenue. Think about the

CAMPAIGN - Tony Wilson in front of Geisel Library petitioning for marijuana signatures jobs [it would create].” Still, many people are skeptical that legalization will have such a positive impact. Sophomore Kira James believes that the legalization of

marijuana will encourage more people to smoke it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but legalizing marijuana may be a smaller issue in comparison

to the violence happening in Mexico, fueled in part by American demands for illegal drugs. According to CNN, over 7,000 lives were lost in the struggle with Mexican drug cartels in 2009. The “war against drugs” costs an estimated $75 billion a year in American taxes and is responsible for over 50 percent of incarcerations. In a Field Poll last April, 56 percent of California voters supported legalizing marijuana as a way to help with the state deficit. Marijuana was first banned in 1919 because of leading agricultural corporations’ fears that it would become the number one cash crop. This fear stemmed from prejudice against Mexican immigrants and other minorities who were stigmatized as “reefer” smokers. Many were also convinced that marijuana caused health problems. With misleading racist, negative stereotypes attached to the substance, marijuana has been opposed for decades. But with looser legalities and the possibility of increased revenue that would be generated by taxing marijuana, it could help with social and economic issues affecting the state.

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

COMMUNITY SPEAKS

MARCH 2010

COMMUNTY SPEAKS

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

MARCH 2010

When Begging Becomes the Point of Privilege

Understanding White Privilege in the University

Daniel Choi, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and the War on Terror

MATT JUNKER

ANTHONY YOOSHIN KIM CONTRIBUTING WRITER

n March 2009, Daniel Choi, a Korean American First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and a veteran of “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” publically came out on The Rachel Maddow Show. This disclosure of his homosexuality was in direct violation of the long-standing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that prohibits LGBT members of the armed forces from serving openly. Immediately, Choi was recommended for dismissal both by the U.S. Army and the New York National Guard. In the year that has followed, Choi has maintained a high profile, becoming an outspoken critic of a policy that has been in effect since the Clinton Administration in 1993. While Choi’s discharge is still the subject of heated public debate, what is most striking is the way he has

been portrayed by both mainstream and alternative news outlets. Repeatedly emphasized are his points of exception— namely, his West Point academic training and his fluency in the Arabic language. The logic, then, is that because he is such a valuable asset to national defense, and because he will aid in fighting an imperial War on Terror in the Middle East, his homosexuality should not matter. Put this way, his inclusion seems to be one that is peculiar and in a state of imminent crisis. After all, is his sexual identity actually being included or managed, accepted or contained? As such, the mounting campaign against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” also echoes the prevailing discourses surrounding the political contest for legalized gay marriage. In this rights-based framework (that is, one that privileges the law as the unbiased arbiter of Liberty and Justice For All), it is a given that the LGBT community should have access to the same “choice” to participate in

military and marital institutions without the threat of sexual discrimination. However, a politics based on inclusion as its endgame raises another question.

“The United States is not at war. The United States is war.”

What happens once a person is included into a national institution, yet the underlying structures that govern those institutions carrying out racist and heterosexist policies, both domestically and abroad, remain? In his open letter to President Obama and the House of Congress, Choi writes, “As an infantry officer, I am not accustomed to begging. But I beg you

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

today: Do not fire me.” His “begging,” then, is based upon his unwavering belief that he wants to “continue to serve our country because of everything it stands for.” However, one wonders about the persons who are not as exceptional and privileged as Choi. Consider, for example, that lowincome, people of color communities have higher rates of military recruitment than their upper middle-class, white counterparts. Consider, also, both statesanctioned and extralegal practices like police brutality and surveillance, terror and incarceration that render LGBT/ people of color communities far more vulnerable to violence and death on a daily basis. In this way, inclusion, in and of itself, seems hardly transformative. Legal scholar Sora Han asserts, “The United States is not at war. The United States is war.” In this moment, it is increasingly important to question the grounds on which we are included, and the political projects to which we include ourselves.

My Chinese/Vietnamese American Experience LINDA CHANG STAFF WRITER

his year’s Lunar New Years, known popularly as Chinese New Years, fell on February 14. I have always looked forward to Lunar New Years because it was always a time when my relatives and I gathered. This Lunar New Years I realized that there was so much more to the holiday than I presumed. This Lunar New Years I realized that I do not have a clue of the meaning and significance behind Lunar New Years. I only grew up knowing that Lunar New Years meant receiving red envelopes from relatives, visiting temples, wearing red clothing, and eating food such as nian gao and zhong but I am completely clueless about the whole history of Lunar New Years. As a female Chinese/Vietnamese American, I feel educational institutions

never taught or embraced anything about Chinese culture. Throughout my whole educational career up to college, I have never been informed about Lunar New Years. From the limited explanations I received from my family and school, I had gained no explanations of Lunar New Years, a celebration that is viewed as an important event from my culture. In elementary school, I had a teacher that required my classmates and I to memorize a poem every week. Thinking back now, these poems had no cultural meaning to me. I remember reciting a poem about nature, but never about cultural and political awareness. Race was never brought up, but I remember it was common for a student to make their eyes slant and make a “ching chong” noise to mock the majority of Chinese students. Thinking back to the days of my elementary memories, the administration staffs were aware of these offensive actions because it occurred in class and recess but they did not take any

actions. To this day, I still have a vivid memory of when in my 4th grade class; the teacher asked my classmates how we felt about Ellis Island. One of my classmates expressed how they wished Ellis Island still existed. My teacher, rather than explaining the negative effect of having this establishment, agreed with the student and added that it should be an island to house all immigrants. With this type of attitude and behavior in an educated environment, I was confused whether I had to respect the opinion of an authority figure and take her opinion as fact. After I participated in Summer Bridge 2009, a program geared toward introducing students from lowsocioeconomic backgrounds to the university, I had the opportunity to take a class about sociopolitical issues called Contemporary Issues with a focus on the issues of minority underachievement. This was the first class I had ever taken

that discussed racial issues surrounding the educational system as well as the history of racism. In all the history classes I had taken in high school, I was never educated about events such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. from 1882 to 1943. This was just one example of many historical events that targeted discrimination against people of color that my schools never educated me about. After Bridge, I was able to reflect on the knowledge I gained and why after all those years, I still had that 4th grade discussion vivid in my mind. If I had not participated in Summer Bridge, I would not have gained an awareness of American inequalities rooted from educational institutions that I do now. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to be educated on different sociopolitical issues, but for those of my fellow peers that did not receive such an opportunity, I can only hope that they do not spread ignorance and hate.

or many, the phrase white supremacy invokes horrific images of individualized violence perpetrated by a few extremist actors. Racial oppression is treated as an unfortunate stain on our nation’s history, a slight darkening of an otherwise exemplary expression of enlightened values and institutions. The time of neo-Nazis and white hoods has long passed, the narrative goes, and the United States is now beyond the horrors of racism. Yet, rarely do these prophetic voices celebrating the advent of the “post-racial” society acknowledge that central to white privilege is the very privilege to ignore it. It is in ignoring the reality of a white-supremacist society to begin with, to ignore it when it makes us uncomfortable, to rationalize why it is not really so bad, and to deny one’s own role in it. In reality, racism continues to shape most of the institutions we come into contact with in our daily lives. As students, we need only to look at public education for examples of institutionalized white supremacy. To be clear, public education is not racist because a bunch of overtly racist white people come to work every day and intentionally try to maintain a prejudiced school system. Rather,

it is the product of many decisions spanning many years, some of them no doubt made by conscience people who considered themselves as anti-racist, but who maintain an institutional structure that perpetuates white supremacy. Public schools are generally funded by property taxes, meaning schools in poorer areas get less funding, and wealthier, predominantly white districts get more funding. On average, students of color go to schools with less experienced teachers, fewer technological resources, inadequate textbooks, fewer and less well funded enrichment programs, and school facilities poorly maintained. Setting aside the cultural and linguistic chauvinism often integrated into schools’ curriculum, the economic foundations of public schools are structured to automatically privilege wealthy, mostly white populations at the outset. With disproportionate access to AP classes, SAT prep courses, and other resources ensuring collegiate success, white students are privileged with a greater chance of succeeding in college even before entering the university. Upon entering the university, students are again subjugated to structural asymmetries conferring numerous privileges to white students at the expense of others. How does white privilege manifest in everyday life at UCSD?

As a white person, I can, if I wish, arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time. Unlike other racial groups who, while comprising a significant percentage of the population of California, see themselves reflected very little in University demographics, I can be assured that I will find a comfortable and familiar environment, not one that is hostile or racially alienating. As a white person, I can do well in college without being called a credit to my race. As someone systematically granted access to privileged resources aiding me in my pursuit of higher education, my success as a white person is not exceptional but typical and expected. Because of the social expectations attached to my skin color, I can walk through campus without being questioned of whether I am really a student or not, or be praised for my exceptionality. As a white person, I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider. As a frequent voice of dissent in my classes, my views may often be disregarded as naïve or idealistic, but never illegitimate or unwarranted. Largely the benefactors of systemic racism, the challenging question must be posed: what role do white people have in the dismantling

of white supremacy? All honest, white anti-racists must begin to answer this question by acknowledging the uncomfortable truth: we are the problem. Whether personally culpable in overtly perpetuating systemic racism or not, we are the inheritors of a violent legacy of racial oppression which, deeply ingrained into most social, economic, and political institutions, continues to confer undue privileges to us often at the expense of other’s pain. But, conscious white activists must not fall prey to paralyzing guilt. To wallow in guilt is counterproductive and is a passive behavior that only permits the continuation of the forms of oppression that trouble us. Instead, white anti-racists must commit themselves to dismantling the ideology and institutional reality of white supremacy, which can be painful if undertaken seriously. In a recent speech at the High School Conference hosted jointly by the Black Student Union and M.E.Ch.A, Professor Sara Kaplan called on white activists to be more than “allies” in the struggle against white supremacy. One must not merely stand behind those engaged in struggle, but stand up to take a blow in the chest if needed. As “whiteness” was once socially constructed, it too can also be deconstructed and its privileging purged from our institutions. The universal liberation of humanity depends on it.

J. IM

Muslim Women Through the Eyes of Islam MUSLIM STUDENT ASSOCIATION CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

s a young woman passes by Macy’s, a young woman her age stops to ask her, “Why do you let yourself be held down and clothed by such oppressive practices typical of men? You’re in America now, show who you truly are; you’re in the land of the free and the home of the brave.” The young veiled woman smiles sadly and wonders why such words can be uttered so carelessly and inconsiderately, especially in such land as America. She wonders at what she has said or done to be characterized as such. Patronized. Weak. Oppressed. Beaten. Voiceless. Hidden. Broken. Controlled. Inferior . Overpowered. Forced. These words and many more are used to describe Muslim women through the eyes and viewpoints of the West. Muslim women are portrayed as subordinate second class citizens and thought of, in the minds of Western citizens, as poor, helpless creatures who are subject to the demands and control of men. The West claims to help and be the voice of what they

perceive as the poor and suppressed women of Islam. How can such claims surface and take hold, when the Muslim women themselves are not consulted? How can such explanations and stereotypes give birth to such illusions when one remains ignorant about the position of women in Islam? Many of the stereotypes that arise about Muslim women are based on culture and ignorance, and not necessarily Islam itself. For instance, many of the customs we see, whether it is honor killings in the Arab world, forced marriages in Pakistan, or genital mutilations in Somalia, and so on, are based on culture and not Islam. Since these cultures that practice such acts are Muslim cultures, these actions are labeled as Islamic, leading people to wrongly assume that Islam mistreats women. Islam, as a religion, provides that all women are guaranteed equal rights with men. The question that is ALWAYS on the back of people’s mind remains if Islam gave women all these rights then why do they wear the veil? Why do they cover themselves up? The Hijab, or veil, is a sign of modesty. It gives them the freedom to express themselves in ways that are not limited to self-beautification. It forces men

and the rest of the society to deal with them based on their intellect, and not on the shape of their body. It protects her from the uncomfortable and lewd glances, words or advances of men. She has the power to show her body to whomever she wills. She has the power to show her body and beauty to those who love her for who she is, not what she is. She has the power to be treated with respect, regardless of her being a size two or being obese. She has the power to love her body and not deal with unwanted stares and attention. She is beautiful, not because of what men say, but because of how God created her. She is beautiful, sexy, gorgeous, amazing because she is. She is a woman, and she is beautiful! We cannot judge Islam by the actions of individuals, but by the texts and ideology of the religion itself. For instance, while terrorism has been linked with the religion itself, Islam clearly says it is forbidden and that every life must be valued. In order to understand the status of women in Islam, we must differentiate between the culture that oppresses women and what the religion truly says about their status. Once one can see the difference, the views about the women in Islam will clearly change in the West.

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

REAL PAIN! REAL ACTION!

MARCH 2010

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

REAL PAIN! REAL ACTION!

MARCH 2010

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

MARCH 2010

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

EDUCATION IN CRISIS

MARCH 2010

Black Student Union “State of Emergency”

We demand permanent funding for student-initiated access programs.

We demand that the admissions policy continues as comprehensive review with additional points given to first generation college students and students who attend a fourth or fifth quintile high school in California.

We demand that the university begin to do its work in recruiting historically underrepresented students by implementing yield programs initiated by the students and fully funded by the university.

4 5

We demand the necessary institutional resources for programs that contribute to our intellectual and sociocultural development, retention, and achievement.

We demand strong institutional support for academic programs that contribute to an improved campus climate.

We demand that the UCSD administration take responsibility for implementing institutional action to develop and maintain a critical mass of underrepresented students.

We demand a campus climate that promotes and addresses the needs of historically underrepresented communities.

Addressing Our Racial Hauntings at UCSD VERNESHA POTTS STAFF WRITER

he noose silently hung from a bookcase on the 7th floor of Geisel Library. The noose symbolizes the haunting of a ghost still seeking justice from an American past, a past that is still with us today, waiting. It does not take a police investigation to realize that the presence of this ghost at UCSD is a representation of institutional discrimination against minorities. This discrimination is embedded in America’s past and is still present in society today. It goes by the name of capitalism. The capitalistic ideologies that once enforced de jure inequality in the past mask themselves in today’s society through de facto inequality. With no concrete presence in the law and no official redress, these injustices have become ghosts who continue to haunt the institutions of America relentlessly. Some of us have felt the presence of this haunting our whole lives; seeing family and friends break their backs working to barely get by, fathers sent to prison, brothers killing each other and ailing grandmothers without healthcare. Few beat the odds to become a UCSD

student, while so many others with scarce opportunities never make it past high school. It is hard being a UCSD student from an underprivileged background to be surrounded by people who know nothing about where you come from and who could never understand this haunting. They can’t understand the pain of the “Compton Cookout” party or why it hurts so much to hear that hundreds of UCSD students had disrespected Black culture and women. It appeared that the “Compton Cookout” was in response to the Black community having the “nerve” to be poor and claim February. February is the month when we are actually appreciated in a society. This society considers us “uncivilized,” puts us in a vulnerable position that despises and ignores our cries for help. So many were numb to our pain as we screamed “Real Action!” on Library Walk after the Koala went live on UCSD’s Student Run Television. There, the Koala called Black people “ungrateful niggers.” We were outraged about the “Compton Cookout,” and the sign found in the Koala office that read “Compton lynching.” We cannot accept this so-called “free” speech, which

is really speech of hate, because it is a threat to our public safety and a violation of our human right to be respected. On February 24, hundreds of haunted souls and sympathizers walked out of the “Teach In” in Price Center, and held a “Teach Out” at the Triton steps to make sure that the pain was seen and heard by everyone. There, BSU demanded a safe and welcoming climate for underrepresented communities by March 4th. Only a couple of days later came one of the most horrifying symbols of this haunting - a noose- the symbol of how the “justice” system handled Black nonconformists. According to the National Urban League’s Annual State of Black America as reported by CNN, Blacks remain twice as likely to be unemployed, three times more likely to live in poverty and more than six times as likely to be imprisoned compared with whites.” In the online article which outlines racial inequality in America, CNN reported that “economics ‘remains the area with the greatest degree of inequality,” with social justice, health and education following. Although these systematic

inequities are not written into the system, they are ingrained into the system through prevailing traces of inequality. For anti-capitalistic intellectuals, the racist incidents surrounding UCSD are emblematic confirmations that the ideologies propelling the inequity of capitalism are still festering in our society. These ideologies perpetuate a denial of redress and a continuation of the status quo. It is 2010 and we are fed up; it is time for an exorcism to evict the ghosts of injustice from our public institutions. The system of government was faulty then and it is still the same today- the rich are getting richer while the poor are socially, economically and physically dying. Students should be the number one priority for the school, and people as a whole should be a priority to the state. But that is just not the reality. It is time to reclaim our space and seek justice. The Black Student Union and supporters from all over California have already began to do that with the first occupation of the Chancellor’s Office on February 26. Actions will continue until the students’ demands are met. Don’t miss the revolution. March 4th. GET ACTIVE!

The University’s Secret Path to the 32% The University of California is not transparent or accountable with its spending JESÚS VALENZUELA STAFF WRITER

he recent budget cuts and fee hikes have placed the UC under a lot of scrutiny these past few years. What anyone who is seeking an explanation for the budget cuts will find is the result of UC mixing in with the corporate sector over the last 30 years. What has been seen thus far is the story of an institution that was forced to find ways to fend for itself once the government began to cut its funding. It found ways to do that by connecting to the corporate sector. It worked. And the UC has been hooked ever since. The initial push towards privatization was the UC’s reaction to a hole in the budget, and as the hole got bigger the UC found new ways of diversifying its investments to depend less on the state.

UC Budget

The UC budget is one of the biggest, most complex, and secret budgets belonging to a nonprofit in the nation. Therefore it is very difficult to see where and how the UC moves its money, and how it is used. Calls for transparency have been ignored. The UC doesn’t legally have to provide an accurate account of its budget to anyone other than the IRS, allowing the UC to print out false information that can either signify that it has more money than it does or, in some cases, less. Moves to challenge the UC’s secrecy have recently been answered, however. The state has recently approved an audit on the UC and at UCSD recently, the Academic Senate will establish a Senate Task Force on Budget Transparency that will determine ways that can be shared with the community on a quarterly basis. According to Bob Samuels, president of the University Council, and one of the leading researchers on the UC’s budget, the UC only spends state funds on students. He said that every time they cut the funding they’ll raise student fees. According to Samuels, in 2008

42% of the budget came from revenuegenerated from the medical centers, extensions and summer programs, and by auxiliaries such as selling parking and housing to students. Nevertheless it has become impossible to trace that money. “The UC got last year $3.2 billion,” said Samuels. “That was a record year of revenue [for the UC].” That same year the university was saying that it had a deficit, imposed furloughs, cut classes, and raised student fees by 32% when it “had the biggest budget year in its history in every major category.” Looking at the numbers Samuels presented we see that in this year coming up, the state cut the university by $800 million. However the state returned $200 million, then there is the $200 million from this year’s stimulus, plus the $300 million from the fee increases and the $200 million it saved with furloughs, meaning that the UC is $100 million better off than it was before the state cuts. According to Samuels, the UC is in a better position than any university in the country. They are pretending to be in the same position as CSU. So when CSU raised tuition and cut enrollment the UC did too. However CSU gets 95% of its funding from the state while the UC gets 20%. The UC’s weak financial condition comes into question when one looks at recent events. The summer after the $800 million cuts from the state. UC President Mark Yudof lent $200 million to the state. When asked how he could lend money to the state while raising student fees, Yudof responded when it spends the money on students and faculty the money is lost. Calling an arbitrage situation, Yudof said that the State would pay the loan with a 3.5% interest, thus turning a profit. Regardless of the position one wishes to take on the issue, the fact remains that cuts are not equal across departments. Departments like the medical department did not receive furloughs or cuts like the Social Sciences and Humanities, what Yudof and the Regents consider no profit generating departments. The sciences, they argued, have their own profit generating systems

and so they’ll find out how to save money. There are also speculations that it is not in the best interest of the Regents to make cuts from a department that generates $400-500 million in profit each year. Nevertheless funds are not being allocated from the medical department to the humanities as they were in 1993 when the medical center loaned to other units of the university in response to a similar budget deficit. According to the Regents most of the money is restricted and cannot be allocated to another source. Samuels argued that only about 30% of the UC’s budget is restricted. “There is an official, legally, audited definition of restricted,” said Samuels. “And the UC has its own definition of restricted; basically if they say that money can only be used for one thing, then it’s ‘legally’ restricted. But most of the money is not legally restricted.”

Your Money Student fees don’t go directly to their respective campuses; rather fees from all campuses go to the Office of the President who redistributes them according to some secret formula. So while undergraduates across campuses pay the same fees, the return is not the same. Two years ago from a mix of student fees and state funds, UCSC received around $15,421 per student; UCLA $28,000; UCSD $19,000. While a large part of student fees go back to the students themselves and into teaching, a larger part is mixed together. The chancellor’s salary comes from a mixture of student fees, state funds, endowment money and research overhead. And most of the upper level administration is funded by four or five different sources, making money very easy to move and very difficult to trace. Also, the pay given to certain officials has come into scrutiny lately. According to www.ucpay.globl.org, much of the fees go to other highly paid officials. The highest paid UC employees are Jeff Tedford and Benjamin Clark Howland of UC Berkley and UCLA respectively. Tedford, head football coach, made

a gross pay (combination of base pay and extra pay) of $2,342,314.52 and Howland, head basketball coach, made a gross pay of $2,058,475.18. The number of unneeded administrators also plays a heavy burden. Since 1996 middle management has become the fastest growing job within the UC. According to Samuels administrative jobs went up 100% in a 10-year period with faculty jobs rising only 29%. Signifying that both state and student funding is mostly going to middle management. “We’ve calculated that every year the UC spends $800 million on unneeded positions,” Samuels said. Why did middle management grow so much? His answer: “It’s the only way that an administrator [can] extend their control is to hire more people under them.” What has resulted is that many things that the faculty once controlled has been taken over by administrators who have no real interest in education but, rather, in maximizing profit. As administrative control overpowered the faculty voice the UC shifted more and more toward the profit-driven model. According to Samuels, one of the reasons why the medical faculty makes so much is because medical schools generate so much profit. Being a non-profit institution they have to spend all of their profit every year. “They do it two ways,” said Samuels. “They put the money into buildings or into special compensation [for their employees].” When the Regents were voting on raising the fees, they also voted on compensation program for medical compensation. In UCSD, they just approved via phone conference an additional $3 million of extra compensation packages this year When asked if he thought the 32% increase was necessary, Samuels responded, “No, I don’t think that at all. They’re going to use a third of it to funnel into financial aid and they’re using all of it as collateral for construction bonds. They did it because CSU did it and they knew they could get away with it. They pretended to be in the same position as CSU and I think it was totally unnecessary and totally unfair. And they will probably do it again.”

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

EDUCATION IN CRISIS

MARCH 2010

Taking Back the University: Then & Now JENNIFER TZI STAFF WRITER

pril 24 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Lumumba-Zapata Coalition, where students mobilized to create the LumumbaZapata College now called Thurgood Marshall. This movement was a way to challenge the educational inequalities affecting students of color. The college would honor the names of democratically elected and CIA-assassinated president of the Republic of the Congo Patrice Lumumba and national hero of the Mexican Revolution Emiliano Zapata. The demand was an attempt by students to fight for what is respectively ours, this university. This activism has created a long, lasting precedent. UCSD has a rich history of activism where many have fought to have the university be our space and meet our needs. Activism has always been an avenue where students can voice their ideas and representation within the university. In the 1960s, the world was on fire with injustices and the struggles that fought against them. UCSD students took an active stand at this moment through political pressure. To protest the draft and the U.S. War in Vietnam, undergraduate student George Winnie Jr. set himself on fire in Revelle Plaza in protest against the war. After the Rodney King verdict, many UCSD students marched to the 5 freeway where they blockaded the freeway for several hours to express their message against police brutality. The University of California is a public institution of higher education, yet the recent decline in the economy and the budget cuts are furthering the university into becoming a fully privatized institution. It is our duty as

students to reclaim this space of higher education. Although the economy has yet to stabilize, students have the right to claim a restoration of the state funding for public education and to repeal the 32% increase in school fees. The university is working as a corporation that is profiting from our money, but not working for our needs. Programs such the Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services (SPACES) are highly affected by the budget cuts. OASIS provides free tutoring for underrepresented students. These students enter the university from low-income schools that have poor and few resources. A movement to take back our university entails restoring state funding back into education and decolonizing our education. The university can and should become a more welcoming space for people of color. By decolonizing the university we become independent of mass corporations trying to privatize and control the university. Accomplish this would require that as, fourth-year student, Michelle Kim says, “Recruiting and reconstructing the university so it fits the students’ needs and desires.” Taking back the university should also require the students to list demands to those who possess institutional power. Challenging the university’s role as a corporation would be through the naming of Sixth College in order to represent students of color within the university. Movements on behalf of students, staff and faculty have proposed that Sixth College be named the Frida Kahlo College or the Faustina Solis College. There should also be consideration for the names of Howard Zinn or Luis Valdez. The naming of sixth college is a demand that can be met and if it does not sends out the clear message of how those in power are stripping students of their rights. There are many struggles to

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

n times like these, where budget cuts loom, it is revealed how embedded the business model is within the structure of universities. This model influences universities to place their attention around profit making. This in turn affects where the primary focus of a given university is. In UCSD’s “Undergraduate Research Portal” webpage, UCSD states that it’s in the “entrepreneurial business of creating new knowledge.” Here at UCSD the primary focus has centered on the Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. They take center stage because such fields are what have produced in the past the largest amounts of grants and contracts. For instance, the “Financial Report for the Fiscal Year of 2007 to 2008 received a little over $500 million in grants and

contracts that year. What is even more important to note is how these funds are excluded from the furlough plans and salary cuts. That is, because these funds are categorized as contracts, grants, cooperative agreements and special state appropriations for specific research they are considered as separate from the general fund. The UC Office of the President has noted that those exempted from the furlough and salary cuts are programs that are overwhelmingly science based. Those included are such things like tobacco research and clinical drug trials. This then allows departments with furlough-exempted funds to use the private grants or contract funds to cover its areas affected by non-exempted furlough and salary cuts. For example, Ethnic Studies Professor Yen Espiritu stated how those funds could be used to offset office costs, employee salaries and graduate programs. Something that other departments may not have the

EDITORIAL, from page 2 The theme for this issue was set out to inform everyone about March 4th. March 4, 2010 is the National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. The events of the day will be featured on (http:// ucsdcoalitionforeducationaljustice. wordpress.com) on that same day. As The Collective Voice, we have the responsibility to ask that you join us and participate in the demonstrations of the day. In this issue, we wanted to provide you with different articles that highlight the issues that make mobilizations and demonstrations necessary. The articles detail the mobilization on behalf of students against the status quo of the university, the privatization of university and a definition of taking back the university. If there is any time in the history of UCSD that change is possible, it is now.

MARCH 2010

Crucial Changes in the Budget: Affecting Incoming Students

To those who walked out with us, who understand our struggle, who marched with us, who cried with us and who with raised fists channeled love and energy… you give us: PEACE. LOVE. JOY. Always. See you at the revolution. Whose University??? Holla Back!!!

Get Involved! Monday, March 1, 2010 9:00am: Rally in front of SPEAK - 1972 Rodney King Student Protest. Ruck the Feegents fight for a better UCSD such as third year Marshall student Isai Rosa said that, “The University of California system was established as [a] public education

service for all, to improve society” If we are all students why stand and take such injustices. This is our university and together we can reclaim it.

The University Business Model Impact ANA MARTINEZ

EDUCATION IN CRISIS

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

privilege to do. This illustrates how the budget cuts will have a differential impact on departments, impacting more than others. While the Humanities and Social Sciences struggle to cover its areas affected (i.e. departmental faculty hiring/ retention, TAships, class offerings), the science and math based departments will be able to avoid the major consequences of budget cuts. Because the budgets cuts will have differential impacts, it also impacts whether or not faculty members across departments stand in solidarity to fight the budgets cuts. According to Professor Espiritu, the Faculty Coalition for Education is composed of eighty-two members, faculty and grad students, of which the Humanities and Social Science departments dominate. Professor Espiritu attributes this to how some “have less of an incentive to fight because faculty members are not being affected the same way.”

The fact that there is no major support from the sciences on campus brings into question the philosophy of being an educator, states Professor Espiritu. “All of us are invested in education, [as educators] we should be aware of what are the costs for a university that becomes privatized [and analyze] why we educate.” For the university to rely on grants and contracts means that the university is according to Espiritu “beholden to private interests.” It is no longer running on an agenda of its own. “The academic integrity, intellectual integrity, intellectual freedom is then compromised” by these outside interests. Students and faculty members from across disciplines should acknowledge that what is at stake is a comprehensive education. The further privatization of this university means a diminishing education. For us to fight the system, we need to stand in solidarity.

Chancellor’s Complex to follow up on their response to the BSU’s demands.

2:00-4:00pm: Ethnic Studies

Dept. Town Hall on Campus Racial Emergency. The Dept. invites you to a town hall meeting to continue the discussion on the degrading racial climate on campus. GREAT HALL, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT COLLEGE.

6:00-8:00pm: Graduate student/ TA meeting to discuss what they can do in solidarity with the student organizers in the front lines. CrossCultural Center, 2nd Floor, Price Center East.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 7:00-9:00pm: Asian & Pacific

Islander Student Alliance (APSA) Forum on the current racial emergency. Cross-Cultural Center, 2nd Floor, Price Center East.

Thursday, MARCH 4, 2010 National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. Check www. ucsdcoalitionforeducationaljustice. wordpress.com for agenda. For up-to-date info, visit: stopracismucsd.wordpress.com

OUTREACH - Students hear closing speaker at Kaibigang Pilipino’s High School Conference. J.IM

JACQUELINE JACKSON COEDITOR IN CHIEF

ver the past year tensions in the academic community have been rising. The budget cuts and fee increases in the educational system have received backlash from faculty, staff, students and workers. From letters to the governor to grassroots work, members of the educational community have been trying to show their discontent with the way that California legislators and academic administrators are handling the current educational issues by cutting higher education. Since the 32% fee increase last November, undergraduate students are struggling to accommodate almost $1,000 in additional fees. This increase for students of low socio-economic background reinforces the financial barrier that is between them and higher education. Many students found themselves in need of part- or full-time work, or even taking a quarter off in order to deal with the increase. In response to the fee increase UC administration formulated the “Blue and Gold Plan.” This plan is meant to supplement the fee increase by expanding the guidelines on family income from $60,000 to $70,000 to determine financial aid. In a statement in 2009, UC President Yudof stated, “The Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan sends a simple but powerful message to these families that the University of California is committed to helping them cover the cost of a college education.” Although, the message according to Yudof is clear, it isn’t powerful enough when current and future UC students

from low economic backgrounds may worry that the percentages of those covered in the plan may drop 20% in one academic year. The budget cuts have not only affected the UC system but Cal States and Community Colleges as well. CSU’s are reportedly developing methods in order to push students to graduate sooner. The push to graduate is in response to a need for shorter graduation rates and the need for spots in Cal States. Applications for admissions are increasing but student positions are steadily filled by continuing students who have not yet completed their requirements. Although Cal States are having an issue with graduation rates, California Community Colleges are having a problem retaining students. Community Colleges are overcrowded and are cutting many required courses. This leaves students to crash classes or wait until other sessions open. Lately classes have been getting cancelled such as San Francisco City College’s summer session. The issues within higher education does not only relate to current students but future students as well. At the annual Kaibigang Philipino (KP) Conference in January, students of the Pilipino community were brought together in an effort to educate them on current issues facing education and their community through workshops and speakers. In response to California’s budget crisis and issues in higher education, the students at the conference seemed very pessimistic because they didn’t know how they would pay to attend a UC. “I’m not thinking about the UC, thinking more about community college because UC is unaffordable,” said Kathleen Manimtim. For her, the UCs come at a high cost, a cost that is not

even worth considering when planning her upcoming applications this fall. The cuts and current crisis not only affects whether students consider attending a UC but also for many the question is raised whether to attend college at all. “I have two other sisters who are at a CSU and UC,” said Victoria Kao. “And you don’t know how you’re going to pay for college with the loans they already have” Considering that these students are facing an ongoing financial strain it isn’t surprising that current high school students are focused on other institutions or ways to complete their education such as joining the workforce. In an effort to continue informing students about higher education, centers such as Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service (S.P.A.C.E.S) and The Cross-Cultural Center here at UCSD have become vital in encouraging the possibility of attending college in the minds of prospective students. Through overnight programs, high school conferences, tutoring, and high school visits, students currently attending UCSD are taking it within their power to ensure that students don’t give up and transform their pessimistic perspectives in order to believe in the educational system again. The current mobilizing efforts of these students are increasing across California. In response to the fee increase and statewide budget cuts that occurred last year, student mobilizations throughout this year have all lead up to March 4th. On this day students from across the state at all levels of education will come together to protest the current crisis in education. It is through student mobilization that change can occur in the restructuring of the educational system. There is strength in numbers, get involved on March 4th.

THE COLLECTIVE VOICE

EXPRESSIONS

MARCH 2010

Creating Art Collectively DIANA CERVERA

EXPRESSIONS

ur Mission: To provide a space where various artists can come together to create and grow.

Art Collective strives to build unity and solidarity across various means of expression. The lack of accessibility to art on campus is one of the main factors, which fueled the creation of an art collective. As students, artists and people from diverse communities and backgrounds we strive above all to create socially conscious art that speaks to our gente (people) and the places we come from. Art Collective strives to be not simply an organization on campus but a presence that can be felt. We believe that art has the power to transcend the conscious reality in that it can speak and translate situations, ideas, and emotions into expressions that can create understanding and awareness of the world around us. Art Collective is a socially conscious art group taking back the means of production Tuesdays at 5pm at the Cross-Cultural Center. Whether you are a poet, singer, painter, actor or just interested in art, Art Collective welcomes you! We strive to create a space for artists of any medium and also aim at providing a space for artists to cultivate their own art forms. Each week we attempt to introduce various art forms that perhaps are not always available to students who are not art majors. Some work we have initiated this quarter includes Basement Beat Tuesday, a jam session held in the graffiti stairwell. We have put on various performances for the Students of Color Conference, Let It flow, and the MEChA and BSU High School Conference. The People’s Art Show at the Cross-Cultural Center and a mural for a teen clinic is currently underway.

MARCH 2010

MUSLIM STUDENT ASSOCIATION

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ow could you think of this, in jest just in jest? dig deep into this see the racism that seeps into this the cruel calculations that creep into this

ou do not understand me and dare not try. I confuse you a bit but you don’t know why. I seem so happy...”How can that be?” my image is shown as oppressed on t.v. All you’ve been taught was so real to you; I am proving different...”Now what to do?” Do you keep believing in that image you “knew” or try to understand this from my view? I am sane, I have a mind and please don’t call me weak. I live and love, laugh and cry and am allowed to speak. I think for myself, reason and rhyme and am far from being oppressed But you’re so quick to think that of me simply by how I’m dressed. This is my choice, my own free will that’s why I dress as you see; so before you judge by what you “knew”, come and talk to me.”

do not try to pigeonhole a culture and people we too regal for your perverted purposes. just a party? hardly. wake up out of your sickening slumber as we watch the white protestant matriarchy crumble the white-washed walls tumble. As these administrators bumble their way through this obstacle course clinging onto assumptions of superiority two-faced as they collect their checks amidst escalating student debt

Truth don’ Die EDGAR FLORES ADRIANA TOLEDO CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

this is a wreck. And now STUDENT POWER is in full effect. So turn the mic up, cuz we DEMAND RESPECT.

DIANA CERVERA

On A Day Like This One

am reminded that the tears I cry do not dry up or are not forgotten They are founding waters, running with the tears of my brothers, sisters, and allies Who cry with me as we fight through our pain.

On a day like this one I am reminded that the steps I’ve taken to get here are just as important As the steps I’m taking to get past here, As I move onward with warriors of all backgrounds and cultures. On a day like this one I am Proud. Proud to be not only a student but an activist, one that makes my presence known by the Clapping of my hands, the reach of my voice, the power of my words, and the solidarity of my fist ...rising above my head. On a day like this one I embrace those that embraced me I stand united within a coalition of people that are willing to give every ounce of their Being in order to create change. On a day like this one I rise from a place that I’ve been kept in too long A place where I’ve chose to be silent because the institution has constructed An environment in which, I feel, my voice is meaningless. I rise from a place that I’ve been kept in to long

A place where I’ve chosen not to realize that my silence Is compliance and my missing voice, is a missing stand that needs to be taken. On a day like this one I rise from a place in which I’ve been confined for far too long A place where I’ve chosen to sit, silenced As my ears ring to the sound of society justifying White privilege and dominancy I rise from a place that I’ve kept in secret A place that I felt was my own A place that I felt was solitude I’ve now realized in this place I have company From there WE rise, WE stand For we have decided that our silence Will no longer be taken as compliance WE: Shall Speak Shall Scream Shall Move Shall Protest Shall become one in solidarity. On a day like this A long awaited journey begins.

Jacqueline J Jackson 2.24.2010

“Public Policy”

Raise your right fist We will unite And fight this. We will not accept less Than magnified resistance So stand with us (Cuz you don’t want to be against us).

GA YOUNG YOO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

vert discrimination.. such as King’s beating and similiar reminiscences are supplanted by subtle forms of

coercion so that ethnic tensions cross borders and remain.. within one’s territory.

Segregation that is structurally imposed segregation as result of our own choosing this physical seperation.. shows how culture can manipulate...redefine space and geography. Judicial manipulation follows the Brown V. Board of education hearing so that despite the constitutional reassurance some are still denied educational opportunities... government flaunting the role of robinhood redistribution of resources that fail to reach the poor their agenda, a fiscal recipe for crystallizing inequalities ... and this fragility of society this precarious balance this hostile cycle seems to repeat in all its originality and mutated forms it seems to repeat throughout history.

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HIEU TRAN

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MARCH 2010