In a blog post recently written by UCLA economics professor Matthew Kahn, titled “How transfer students hurt public universities,” we witnessed the expression of a host of degrading and hurtful stereotypes about transfer students. So what does it mean to be a transfer? Among other insults and jabs, one commonly held belief, enunciated in this article, is that transfers are less intelligent than other students.
Why does this matter? Well, we as transfers are in fact mixtures of different identities, not one. Yes, we transfers all carry with us a common transfer identity. However, this does not reduce us and our individual contributions, personal identities and unique capabilities into a homogeneous group of academically handicapped individuals.
Transfers often are seen as contributing less because they are not included as well into the UCLA community by their fellow students and by UCLA programs.
Many argue that a transfer who does well is an exception, overlooking an essential fact: each one of us transfers, much like all students at UCLA, is an exception. We, like all other UCLA students, are all exceptional cases, exceptional demonstrations of intellect, of passion, of ambition, of athletic ability and of culture. It is why we were accepted to UCLA, and it is why we all bring something to the table.
So how do we move forward? In light of these deplorable remarks being uttered by a professor at our own home, it is easy to be lost in the back-and-forth of hostility. However, it is important to take this incident and put a positive spin on it, to learn from it. We at TSA, UCLA’s own Transfer Student Alliance, will use this incident to push forth our transfer cause. In the face of such adversity, we call out our unrelenting support of the transfer community. This article, and each and every casual insult made toward transfer students, is a reminder of why we need to take pride in our transfer identity. We are a community, one among many at UCLA, that deserves the same respect as anyone else. We represent transfer students, not to promote exclusivity, but to encourage the promotion of bearing the transfer identity as part of a broader identity within the UCLA community. We are transfers, and we do not hurt UCLA. We are part of an incredibly diverse body of students that makes up UCLA.
Zedric M. Dalisay, president of the Transfer Student Alliance
Written in conjunction with TSA board members