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Rally shows regents students’ strong will

By Daily Bruin Staff

March 4, 1996 9:00 p.m.

Rally shows regents students’ strong will

Critics need to re-examine stance

By Dan Ryu

On Thursday, I read a viewpoint regarding the Feb. 21
affirmative action rally and takeover of Bunche Hall ("Bunche
protest all washed up in alternate Bruin universe," Feb. 29).
Written by someone who obviously does not support the issue, I
could only think one thing as I read it: She must be the next
coming of Deion Sanders.

According to her, she was in Bunche Hall, outside of Bunche
Hall, back in Bunche Hall, talking to teaching assistants, talking
to Chuck Young, carrying faculty up the stairs, warding off
students with an umbrella, all the while waxing beautiful poetry.
Does Nike know about her, because she sure can do it all.

And what was Catty (at least, that’s how she sounded), or Katie
Litvak, doing while passionate and dedicated students put their
education on hold for a day to make a statement? She sat, with a
frown on her face, her buttcheeks clenched tightly, and watched.
She watched for five whole hours. She watched and took notes on her
grievance pad, scribbling furiously every time the students did
something she didn’t like. I can hear her now, laughing gleefully
and shouting, "Wait ’til those little juveniles see the wicked
vengeance I impart on them through the use of one of my scalding
viewpoints! When they read my harsh words and see how cruelly I
ridicule them, their dedication and resolve will crumble.
Crumble!"

At this point, we’ll leave Catty to her thoughts and talk about
why last week’s affirmative action rally took place. The story
begins a year ago, when as most of you know, UC Regent Ward
Connerly expressed his intent to "examine" affirmative action. What
did he do? Well, he did call meetings and have forums and talk to
knowledgeable people, but in the end, we all saw it for the smoke
screen it really was.

Connerly originally stated he only wanted to examine the issues
and find out if affirmative action was still necessary. For a
response, he received an overwhelmingly unified plea from all the
UC chancellors, faculty, students, alumni and the University Office
of the President (the administrative arm of the entire UC system),
that affirmative action programs were still necessary.

And what was Connerly’s response? He championed an initiative to
abolish affirmative action, anyway. It obviously didn’t matter what
the facts were or who supported the issue. It obviously didn’t
matter that race and gender were only part of the supplementary
criteria used in admissions, and that everyone admitted into the
University of California is academically eligible. None of "the
facts" mattered because the whole process was a sham.

Presidential hopeful Pete Wilson attended his first regents
meeting in three years with his campaign cameras rolling (yep, he
actually brought them). Wilson then proceeded to work the strings
coming from his favorite puppet, Ward Connerly’s, back and made him
sing and dance affirmative action away.

It’s now been seven months since they voted to eliminate
affirmative action at the July meeting. The rally and building
takeover we witnessed two weeks ago, like the one of Oct. 12, was
an expression of anger, frustration and disgust that have been
building for a while. We obviously don’t have any power playing by
the rules of the regents: They just listen politely, then screw you
over when it’s time to vote, based on political favors.

So what do you do? When the system itself is unfair, what do you
do?

You try to get your message heard through other means. The rally
and building takeover symbolically demonstrate students’ attempt to
take back their university from the political game the regents have
been playing. Chancellor Young was not the "real" target during the
rally. We know his stance. The rally was more our statement that we
will not sit idly in the back of the bus while Regent Connerly
whores the University of California for the benefit of his
political cronies.

But, why Bunche? Well, it symbolically represents the
"educational" component at our university, as it houses the most
departments and is one of the oldest and most prestigious buildings
at UCLA. If students wanted to "Take Back Our University" as their
100-by-6-foot sign said, it makes sense that Bunche would be a good
place to start.

Where does that leave us? We’ve registered students to vote;
we’ve lobbied the regents individually; we’ve gathered the support
of the university. The facts all support continuation of
affirmative action programs. What’s left to do?

Turn up the heat. And Catty, as a member of the constituency
(Caucasian women) that has benefited THE MOST from affirmative
action programs (check your history books), I suggest you drop the
cynicism and pick up a picket sign.

Ryu is a fifth-year communication studies student.Comments to
[email protected]

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