Friday, November 20, 1998
Administrators discuss outreach while students push for
diversity
REGENTS: Protesters turn focus to promise by Yang to support
ethnic studies, affirmative action
By Edina Lekovic and Andy Shah
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
UCPD was in full force at Thursday’s meeting of the Board of
Regents – but in the end, they were left with little to do.
After conducting security checks with hand-held metal detectors,
a dozen police officers stood watch while roughly 40 students from
UC Santa Barbara and UCLA filed into the meeting.
The students came in reaction to the regents’ discussion of
current outreach efforts at UCSB, which focused mostly on early
intervention and professional development in the county’s public
K-12 schools.
The regents, who recently toured a campus in the Oxnard school
district, expressed their continued support for the UC’s outreach
efforts.
UC president Richard Atkinson said that the task force on
outreach is four years ahead of schedule. While the group
originally began with a $60 million annual budget, they will begin
next year with $137 million – more than the 10-year goal of $120
million.
But State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa emphasized that
the efforts must go beyond creating new programs.
"I am a poster child for another era," said Villaraigosa. "It’s
important that we engage in this assessment procedure. That’s how
we get beyond the rhetoric to the reality."
Before academic enrichment programs were initiated by Santa
Barbara officials, only 18 percent of high school
graduates in the Santa Barbara area were UC-eligible. While that
number has risen to 33 percent, Regent Meredith Khachigian
questioned why it is still nowhere near the all-time county high of
57 percent.
"This is the most important thing we will do for the state,"
said Regent Ward Connerly, who spearheaded the board’s vote to end
affirmative action in admissions. "It’s been an immense challenge,
but we’re well on our way (to) doing it."
At the same time, Student Regent Max Espinoza commended UCSB
Chancellor Henry Yang’s personal commitment to maintaining
diversity, pointing to the fact that he and his wife made a
personal contribution to student-run programs on that campus.
About two dozen UCSB students in the Student Action Coalition
travelled to UCLA to show their support for Yang.
As a result of the October 21 and 22 faculty walkouts in defense
of affirmative action, Yang and UCSB students agreed on eight
demands Yang would fulfill to signify his support of ethnic studies
and affirmative action.
"We’re here to support our chancellor, who negotiated with us
for 14 hours to expand ethnic and queer studies," said Harley
Augustino, a third-year sociology and Japanese student at UCSB.
Ralph Armbruster, professor of Chicano/a Studies at UCSB, said
many students and faculty are supportive of Chancellor Yang, but
are still watching him to see if he completes the other seven
demands.
"One of his eight agreements was to give a speech to the regents
about the expansion and enhancement of ethnic studies," Armbruster
said
"Many of us are cautiously optimistic to see if all our
agreements will be implemented," he said.
About 10 UCLA students and 30 UC Santa Barbara students
disturbed the regents meeting by chanting "tick-tock, tick-tock"
during a presentation.
The students then left the meeting.
The chant was to signify that "students are ready to explode and
aren’t going to take it anymore," said UCSB student Jeanette
Montano, referring to past statements by regents questioning the
role of ethnic, gender and LGBT studies in the UC system.
After the meeting, students "dialogued" with each other about
issues of diversity and outreach in front of Royce Quad, said Mike
de la Rocha, Undergraduate Students Association Council general
representative.
"This is a silent reminder of student power," said Noluthando
Williams, chair of the African Student Union. "It’s important
because we have Santa Barbara students working with us.
"It’s not like we did a loud action, because the regents don’t
deserve most of our efforts and energy," she said.NICOLE MILLER
UC president Richard Atkinson and regent Ward Connerly discuss
UCSB’s progress in outreach at the regents meeting Thursday.
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