Monday, August 3, 1998
Coalition meets to lay out plan of action
DIVERSITY: Group hopes to educate incoming students about
effects of Prop. 209
By Payam Mahram
Daily Bruin Contributor
Over two months after the Days of Defiance protests, the
Affirmative Action Coalition (AAC) held an organizational meeting
Thursday to discuss current activities and plans for upcoming
months.
Approximately 20 people showed up for the meeting, including
USAC President Stacy Lee and External Vice President Liz Geyer.
"Many think we’re just a bunch of people who take over
buildings," Lee said, referring to the 400-person Days of Defiance
protest in which 88 students were arrested after taking over Royce
Hall.
That day, students held a protest calling for university
noncompliance with Proposition 209. Protesters were initially
charged with trespassing and were then arrested for failing to
disperse.
The AAC continues to oppose Proposition 209, which eliminated
affirmative action in California. Although the UC Regents ended
their affirmative action programs with the measures SP-1 and SP-2
almost two years before Proposition 209 was written, those
decisions are superceded by the proposition.
"Currently we’re trying to educate people on affirmative action
and force them to take a stand," Lee said. "We want people to
become educated on the issues so they can take a strong stance one
way or the other."
In order to educate people about affirmative action,
participants in Thursday’s meeting discussed plans for the
coalition’s involvement with the Academic Advancement Program’s
(AAP) Freshman Summer Program (FSP) and Transfer Summer Program
(TSP). The AAC committee for FSP/TSP is headed by African Student
Union Vice Chair Ramon Richardson.
In conjunction with the university program, AAC members will
meet next year’s freshman or transfer students who are involved
with the AAP program. The coalition wants to educate them on
affirmative action issues and how the lack of and implementation of
such measures can affect them.
According to Richardson, the program will be the focus of AAC’s
outreach program this summer. Incoming freshman or transfer
students from underrepresented minority groups will also learn
about Proposition 209 and its effects inside and outside of the
university.
"We want them to know we are there for them and support them
against the struggles they often face," said Richardson.
In addition to the FSP, ASU Chairwoman Cori Shepherd discussed
ideas for application workshops, where members of the coalition
could travel to schools across the country to teach students how to
fill out college applications and what parts are most important to
minorities.
Shepherd recently met with the Academic Senate to discuss the
workshop program, in addition to the AAC’s ideas for changes in the
admission policies dealing with minorities.
"The Academic Senate thought there were no problems with last
year’s admissions policies. Although they didn’t agree with our
admissions ideas, they commended us for our well-written proposal,"
Shepherd said.
According to Shepherd, although the workshop program was one of
the few AAC programs the Academic Senate was willing to endorse,
they cannot provide the needed $20,000 to begin the program.
Because the AAC lacks funds for programs like application
workshops, Thursday’s meeting also addressed fund-raising ideas
that included T-shirt sales and fund-raising concerts. In their
attempts to seek national involvement, members of the coalition are
also seeking the support of other organizations such as the NAACP,
Southern Leadership and the Community Coalition.
"Right now, not only is outreach to students important to us,
but we are trying to get as many connections we can," Richardson
said.
"Support from other organizations and creating awareness through
media is important in our goal to get our message across," he
continued.
After some brief announcements, Thursday’s AAC meeting ended
with the "unity clap," where all members stood up, faced each
other, and began clapping. The clapping began softly, grew harder,
and then ended again softly. They repeated this several times
before the meeting was adjourned.