Friday, May 15, 1998
Regent meeting at Covel Commons site of protest
POLITICS: Student rally starts Days of Defiance campaign for
diversity
By Mason Stockstill
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The Affirmative Action Coalition kicked off the Days of Defiance
protests with a rally that began in Meyerhoff Park and ended
outside the UC Regents meeting at Covel Commons.
The protest targeted the regents meeting because it was the
regents’ bills SP-1 and SP-2 that originally barred the use of race
or gender as criteria in UC admissions.
"I just came back from the regents’ meeting," said Stacy Lee,
USAC president-elect, "and you would be amazed at their reactions
to the admissions numbers."
Lee was referring to the admissions statistics for UCLA,
specifically the drop in admissions for underrepresented
minorities. The number of African Americans admitted to UCLA
declined by 42.6 percent this year, and the number of
Chicanos/Latinos dropped by 33 percent.
"Is this acceptable?" asked Henry Perez, a member of Movimiento
Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan (MEChA) at the rally. "No!" came
back the reply from the crowd.
"None of the regents would even admit that there was a problem,"
Lee went on.
"They had these bar graphs that misrepresented the numbers and
made it seem like there wasn’t any change," she continued.
The regents had included the freshman admissions numbers in
their discussion items on Thursday’s agenda.
The only UC campus to witness an increase in the number of
African American students admitted was UC Riverside, while the
total number of underrepresented minorities admitted systemwide
dropped. However, Regent Ralph Ochoa pointed to these numbers as an
optimistic look at what outreach can accomplish.
Protesters expressed concern that many students don’t see the
end of affirmative action as affecting all students.
"You may not think this affects Asian Pacific Islanders, but it
does," said P.J. Gagajena, USAC internal vice president-elect.
"The regents are using the model minority myth," Gagajena said,
by pointing out that the number of Asian Americans admitted to UC
schools has gone up. The model minority myth refers to the racial
stereotype of Asian Americans as submissive, hard-working and
apolitical.
"They’re reinforcing racial stereotypes – what does that say
about our regents?" he continued.
After gathering in Meyerhoff Park for about a half hour, the
protesters marched up to Covel Commons to rally outside the
meeting.
Carrying their signs that read "This isn’t 1955" and "got
diversity? UCLA doesn’t," the protesters chanted all the way up to
the meeting, picking up other students along the way.
During the meeting, roughly 50 protesters entered the area
reserved for the public to watch the discussions taking place.
At first, the protesters stood with arms crossed, listening to
the regents’ discussions. After a while, though, they began
chanting, "Ward Connerly’s got to go!" The meeting was recessed for
lunch. The protesters were then led out by police.
Thursday’s rally marks the beginning of a stretch of rallies and
protests in response to the drop in minority admits, a campaign
which has been in the works since the protest that took over Murphy
Hall on April 16.
"We definitely have to let people know that this is just the
beginning," said African Student Union Chair Chad Williams at the
first protest.
"It is the first step in a long campaign to eventually overturn
this law," he continued.
Final enrollment numbers for next year’s freshmen will be
released May 20.
JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS/Daily Bruin
Liz Geyer yells during the protest against the UC Regents.