Several student groups protested Wednesday afternoon during Hillary Clinton’s visit to UCLA to express dissatisfaction with the treatment of minority groups on campus and across the nation.
Clinton spoke as part of the Luskin Lecture for Thought Leadership series – high-profile lectures sponsored by Meyer and Renee Luskin that are held to fundraise for the university.
In front of Kerckhoff Hall along Bruin Walk, undocumented students represented by Improving Dreams, Equality, Access, and Success, or IDEAS, called for an end to deportation of undocumented individuals.
Students for Justice in Palestine joined with IDEAS and other communities to speak against unequal treatment of minority groups, said Dana Saifan, president of the Students for Justice in Palestine and a fourth-year psychology student.
“We demand an end to the silencing of underrepresented groups and the continuous hate crimes on campus,” Saifan said.
Palestinian students protested in response to last week’s Undergraduate Student Associations Council’s vote down on a resolution calling for the University of California to withdraw its investments from companies that profit from human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza.
Closer to home, Denise Panaligan, internal representative of IDEAS and a third-year economics and Asian American studies student, said undocumented individuals, including family members of UCLA students, continue to face deportation under the Obama administration.
“We want to hold the Obama administration accountable for the promises that they have made to our undocumented community for a pathway to citizenship,” said Seth Ronquillo, co-chair of IDEAS, a fourth-year film and linguistics student and a former Daily Bruin columnist.
Eleven students lay across Bruin Walk, holding up signs against deportation, with their arms linked by a paper chain. They represented 11 million undocumented individuals in the country, said Panaligan.
The rally is part of a weeklong National Coming Out of the Shadows campaign organized by IDEAS to celebrate resilience within the undocumented community and to share struggles that undocumented students and families face under the current immigration system.
Although Clinton may not have had direct involvement in the issues students are protesting, she remains a representative of the Democratic party and the Obama administration, Panaligan said.
Panaligan said IDEAS hopes to pressure Clinton to push for immigration reform, in the event that she runs for president in the future.
During Clinton’s speech, Student Collective Against Labor Exploitation, or SCALE, joined workers from the UC’s largest union in front of Royce Hall to protest against alleged unfair labor practices by the UC.
About twenty patient care workers from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local 3299 picketed in front of Royce Hall, calling for the UC to provide safe staffing levels.
The University and AFSCME are currently negotiating a contract for its about 13,000 patient care workers. AFSCME announced Tuesday it will hold another strike authorization vote next week to protest what it alleges as the UC’s proposal to conduct any number of layoffs for emergency measures. The University has said it will not comment on collective bargaining details because doing so might detract from the bargaining process.
Sarah Dahnke, a second-year global studies student and a member of SCALE, said workers have formed a symbolic line in solidarity against unfair labor practices, and urge Clinton, who they believe is a progressive politician, to support their stand.
Last week, the UC and AFSCME reached a tentative agreement for its about 8,300 service workers after more than a year of negotiations. A five-day strike scheduled to happen this week was called off Thursday as a result.
“People are disappointed that Clinton has gone astray from us. But this is primarily about the university,” said Liz Perlman, executive director for the union.
Some students waiting in line to attend Clinton’s lecture said they thought the protests were an unnecessary distraction.
Thomas Murray, a fourth-year political science student who witnessed the protest while waiting in line to enter the lecture, said the protest gave him a different perspective and said it was good that workers were exercising their right to voice their opinions.
Organizers of the lecture declined to comment.
Hillary Clinton’s record should fully prove that she is a war criminal worthy of imprisonment, not valorization.
As a New York Senator, she voted to invade Afghanistan and to authorize W. Bush’s war on Iraq. She voted for the Patriot Act and then to renew the Patriot Act a few years later. She introduced legislation to increase US troops in Iraq by 80,000 in 2005. She repeatedly lobbied against our withdrawal from Iraq. And so much more.
As Secretary of State, she sent 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan; she spread the US War of Terror into Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and the Philippines (mostly via illegal drone strikes); she gave immense military aid to the brutal dictators of Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE so that they could violently crack down on all their protesters during the “Arab Spring”; she orchestrated the illegal war on Libya, which was so ill-conceived that it resulted in a genocide against Libya’s Tuareg people, which in turn caused the Malian war. And so much more.
It is utterly shameful that UCLA would host her here.
She is another corporate-backed crony capitalist. She is disgusting. Her politics are brutal and she has very nefarious connections across the world along with her husband who has a documented history of violence against women. Democracy will take a hit in America if this woman is elected president. Women should not be happy if she wins. There are plenty of women who are much better human beings and more qualified to run (some of you ladies at UCLA are probably better than Hillary). Elizabeth Warren, Susana Martinez, etc are better.
Hillary needs to come clean about Benghazi! And her statements about undergoing sniper fire in Bosnia are utterly disgraceful.
Preach on, sister!
— Guy who does not vote Democrat and hopes that Hillary doesn’t get nominated so that she won’t become President
Thank you.
If she is such a criminal, where are the charges?
That is the PRICE of corruption, elitist criminals walk. She is completely unethical. She engaged in character assassination against a 12 year old girl, who was raped, beaten and left in a coma to die. HRC attacked the girl and her family “…she liked older men” — what kind of person takes a case like that for a 42 year old baby rapist? A feminist? lmao. She has ALWAYS been a self-serving, power mongering, low life, who will step on anyone, even an abused child to further her own ambitions, and feather her own nest. I will NEVER vote for HRC. Anyone who would needs to open their eyes to who this really is that they support.
I just want to let everybody know that Emily approached me today to see if I was part of this group. When I said no, but I would like to discuss the possibility of an article on Disability at UCLA she turned around and walked away. Not only just walked away, but left as though I did not matter. As a member of the UCLA community who has a disability and represents individuals with disabilities I am saddened. Disability rights at UCLA is consistently swept under the rug, and individuals are stigmatized by peers and naive faculty. I truly appreciate your welcoming demeanor as a reporter that is supposed to fairly and accurately depict what is going on at UCLA.
She turned around because she was working on another story. Not sure why you are taking this so personally, but thanks for letting us all know that you were offended.
Yea no, thats still unacceptable to me. It says I favor certain groups on campus over others. The correct thing to do would be take down my email, or give me hers for a future story. But walking away without doing that or acknowledging significance of disability rights issues on campus was just rude. It’s also a matter of body language when you communicate with somebody. Those nonverbal cues communicate a whole lot more then you think. Responding to me with the name “No, you are the privileged one”, I am privileged for having a head injury which has caused me a lifetime of hardship and learning difficulty. Nice one…. Maybe you should consider not cowering behind the internet with a fictitious name? Cause then I don’t take you seriously…..
“Maybe you should consider not cowering behind the internet with a fictitious name?”
Maybe you should consider not posting things under your real name that make you look like a whiner.
Also, my SN was created long before your post. Not everything is about you, chief.
I post things under my real name, because I maintain accountability for my actions. Disability stigmatization on this campus is something that does exist. Most people know somebody with a disability, or have somebody directly in their family with a disability. This just makes the issue that much more significant. Its not me publicly whining, but trying breakthrough barriers and get disability in the spotlight. You must feel to shamed to use your real name and picture online, because then you would have to be accountable for what you have said. I will be taking all of this to a committee meeting next week as I see this as a campus climate issue. I wish you the best of luck, and hopefully your outlook will change. I refuse to engage with you any further.
Damn you sound insufferable.
(Hint: I wasn’t arguing with you because I think people with disabilities should be “stigmatiz[ed]”.)
You got my comments deleted? Way to go, champ.
Thanks for letting everyone know that you were offended.
I am no admirer of Hillary Clinton, but I find it amazing how many students at UCLA think of themselves as victims.
Grow up.
Those students who think of themselves as victims are portraying themselves like that because they want to enter politics. Nothing else.
Does anybody at UCLA care about her role in Benghazi? I don’t see one word about it here.
I do. She messed up. She cannot be President.
I hate to say this, but why do the undocumented feel so entitled?
My foster son, fled Honduras when he was 14 years old. HRC has had her little finger into that part of the world. Just as HRC worked AGAINST Haitian textile workers self-advocating for 62 pennies an hour, HRC friend of LEVIS thought that was TOO MUCH! Back to my foster son, why should he remain in a place where his life was at risk, where he had no chance to ever go to school? He came here on his own, spoke no English, has lived in three foster homes, prior to coming to be with me two years ago. By the time I met him at 16, he spoke fluent English, was in the ROTC, did community service and was in the National Honor Society. He participated in a dual enrollment program at the area community college and completed high school at 17. He has another year to finish his Associate’s Degree. He has as much right to live here as anyone else here. Unless you are a Native American, your ancestors intruded here in the first place. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=black+elk+meme&view=detailv2&&id=65CFCBCB40C87F9018C2ABC893A65977D2358F6E&selectedIndex=0&ccid=LtBqdoTq&simid=608000746858875083&thid=OIP.M2ed06a7684eae7efdb601195d9f3cfcbH1&ajaxhist=0
I voted McKinney in ’08, Stein in ’12, and would consider Warren in ’16, but you can seriously miss me with Clinton. Not in a million years. I support feminism, not imperialism.
UW just hosted the distinguished Dr. Cornel West, but all we got here at UCLA were back to back imperialist murderers: Albright and Clinton.
The issue of undocumented residents is pretty controversial. No one should be blamed.