UCSD students, allies mobilize against racist attacks

Racist students on the San Diego campus of the University of California recently organized and publicized a sickening social event. Emboldened by increasingly common racist rants on the part of corporate media talking-heads, the coded racist outbursts of right-wing politicians, and the historic policies of discrimination and repression directed against communities of color and immigrant workers all across the U.S., they made no effort to disguise the racially offensive character of their “Compton Cookout” party, which took place on Feb. 15.

San Diego students protest racism on campus. Photo: stopracismucsd.wordpress.com

Compounding the offense, and clearly demonstrating that it was in no way “an isolated event,” several days later the student-run television station aired a defense of the racist social event that included a racial slur. Additionally, the student who took public responsibility for the original event defiantly announced a second “cookout.” And then on Feb. 25, a noose was found hanging on the seventh floor of the campus’s main library.

As word of the original event spread locally and nationally, the initial official and unofficial apologetics (it was “off campus,” “protected speech” and even “a harmless spoof”) gave way to promises by the school administration to work for a better climate of “respect for diversity” and the announcement of an administration-sponsored, campus-wide teach-in on Feb. 24. The outraged campus community, however, wasn’t waiting for belated band-aids at a school whose African-American student enrollment constitutes only 1.3 percent of the total school undergraduate enrollment of 23,143.

Students marched and gathered the day following the offensive campus TV program to confront UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and other school administrators. Earlier that morning, while searching for a tape or digital file of the offensive TV program in the station studio, they had found a piece of cardboard with the words “Compton lynching” written on it.

Black students at the meeting with the chancellor stated that they feel neither safe nor welcome at UCSD. Their leaders issued a list of 32 demands.

Titled “State of Emergency: The UCSD Black Student Union Address,” the preface to the demands states, “Students in general feel isolated and unsupported, which contributes to the continuous cycle that prevents underrepresented communities from entering the university. For students of color, queer-identified students, and students from low socio-economic backgrounds, this has been a continuous struggle to validate our own presence at the university academically and socially.”

The preface also expresses support for the struggle of Latino/a students to have a Chicano mural placed on campus and for the struggle of Native American students to repatriate ancestral remains found on campus.

Prominent among the students’ demands is the insistence that serious attention be paid to and funds found for recruitment and retention programs that focus on students of color, the disadvantaged, first generation students and, in general, historically underrepresented populations. There must also be, the students continue, “strong institutional support for academic programs that contribute to an improved campus climate.”

The statement concludes, “We demand that the administration respond to these demands on March 4th. ... We expect all of administration to be out on Library Walk on that Thursday to state their message on these demands while allowing the students to respond back.”

Almost daily protests on campus and statements of support for and solidarity with African Americans have come from many student groups, including the Chicano campus organization MEChA, medical, fine arts and lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer students, and campus staff and professors.

At a student rally Feb. 24 preceding the teach-in organized by the school administration, David Richerson, the Black Student Union chairperson at UCSD, announced a state of emergency “to address the hostile and toxic environment on campus.”

Following that rally, an overflow crowd estimated at more than 2,000, and including students from other area schools and from as far away as Los Angeles, gathered at the site of the administration-organized teach-in. It turned out to be basically a long-winded, academic discussion of institutional racism and how to combat it. Midway through the program, an angry walkout led by Black students and their supporters left only a few hundred in the hall.

Fnann Keflezighi, vice chairwoman of the Black Student Union, spoke at a student rally following the walkout and denounced the teach-in as an attempt by the administration to silence the students. She expressed disbelief that the school administration really intended to do anything significant to rid the campus of racism and pointed out that there has been a long history of racial tension on the campus.

Two days later, following the discovery of the noose hanging in the campus library, there was another student rally and a takeover of the chancellor’s office. Several professors have called for the campus to be shut down until the safety of students of color can be guaranteed. As of March 1, students plan to continue meeting with the school administration to pressure for full implementation of their demands.