WHAT NEXT? Twenty-five years ago, at the culmination of the 1981 Hunger Strike, in the Statement of Understanding Concerning Third World and Native American Studies, an agreement between the students and administration, concluded that the administration would be “…committed to the development of necessary support services for Third World and Native American Studies.” And eleven years ago, the 1994 UCSC Self-Study proclaimed: “Diversity is an issue of special concern at UCSC. The state’s changing demographics make it imperative for the University of California in general and our campus in particular to serve and be enriched by an increasingly diverse population. We aspire to create a campus community where all individuals will feel welcomed, supported, and respected, and where they will be able to contribute to and gain from membership in that community…” And even eight years ago in the 1997 report, the administration also admitted they haven’t done their job in building an Ethnic Studies department. Now what? It is obvious that the University will not take this matter into their own hands as they have proved themselves guilty of in past years. It’s up to the student’s power and voice to break away from racial ignorance; it’s up to the students to break away from apathy; it’s up to us to make this change happen; it’s up to us.
The Affirmative Diversity Coalition
The Affirmative Diversity Coalition was created in 2006 when a coalition of students and workers met to discuss various University actions and policies whose ultimate effects were to disadvantage students, faculty and staff/ workers of color. To the students and workers involved in the coalition, affirmative diversity means providing infrastructural support for the organizations, academic curriculums and people that challenge status quo institutional racism and sexism. Affirmative diversity is not only about increasing the numbers of underrepresented minorities at UCSC. Affirmative diversity means actively creating non-racist and non-sexist environments at UCSC. Affirmative diversity means changing University administrative policies whose effects disadvantage people of color in the UCSC community. Affirmative diversity means producing and maintaining academic curriculums that centralize the histories of underrepresented communities and engage with race, gender, class and sexuality discourses toward social justice projects. The Affirmative Diversity Coalition was established to address three long-term goals: 1. To establish infrastructural support for student-initiated outreach/retention programs, organizations and resource centers at UCSC. These organizations are central to retaining students of color at UCSC and are largely responsible for sustaining affirmative diversity on campus. These include: Rainbow Theater, Engaging Education (E2), MEChA, Filipino Student Association, Third World and • UCSC Earth First! starts
holding meetings at College Eight.
1983
• First office of the soon-to-be
national org. “Witnesses for Peace” opens up at RCNV to contest US counterrevolutionary intervention in Latin America, especially Nicaragua. • On June 20th, over a thousand people are arrested
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Native American Student Press (TWANAS), African Black Student Alliance (ABSA), Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance (APISA), African American Theater Arts Troupe (AATAT), Student Alliance of North American Indians (SANAI), the Ethnic Resource Centers, Ethnic Student Organization Council (ESOC). Despite this, seemingly passive and apolitical University funding allocations and administrative delays have consistently sought to disable vital student organizations and services that create an affirmative diversity environment for students of color and their allies at UCSC. 2. To demand that the University hire and retain faculty of color and faculty from all racial and gender backgrounds that teach and research underrepresented groups, races, ethnicities and genders. The recent exodus of senior faculty of color who were central to teaching race and ethnicity courses as well as providing mentorship to students of color at UCSC was one of the main reasons that the Affirmative Diversity Coalition was formed. The Coalition will work to establish a Race and Ethnicity Program at UCSC. 3. To demand living wages as well as safe and welcoming working environments for custodians (who are primarily people of color). Currently, custodians at UCSC are paid between 13 and 30% less than their counterparts at Cabrillo and CSUMB. In addition, the Affirmative Diversity Coalition seeks to create a working environment where workers of color have opportunities to grow. If you are interested in joining the Affirmative Diversity Coalition, please email us at affirmativediversity@lists.riseup.net
blocking the entrance to the Lawrence Livermore Weapons Lab. Five days later more than six thousand join hands around the lab in opposition to the lab’s work and in support of the blockaders in jail. • Several test launches of the MX missile from the Vandenberg Airforce Base are cancelled due to security breaches from protesters sneaking onto the base.
Over 800 people arrested. • Santa Cruz becomes a “Nuclear Free County” • Demands from ������������������� 1981��������������� hunger strike remain unmet. Oakes College ethnic studies courses dissolved, only science and writing courses offered in Fall.
1984
• TWANAS circulates a petition that
shows overwhelming student support for the Ethnic Studies GE. • Demonstrations against plastic packaging staged at McDonalds on Mission Street.