Students protest removal of affirmative action amendment
Students in support of SCA5 protested on Bruin Walk on Wednesday. (Christopher Hoo/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Eu Ran Kwak
April 3, 2014 1:07 a.m.
About 50 students protested on Bruin Walk Wednesday to advocate for a measure that would have allowed race to be considered in admissions decisions at state universities.
The measure, Senate Constitutional Amendment 5, was removed by state legislators from the November 2014 ballot two weeks ago in response to concerns from the Asian and Pacific Islander community that affirmative action would negatively affect their students. But some UCLA students said Wednesday that affirmative action is necessary and that they think the measure was taken off because many people misunderstand it.
Students in support of SCA 5 dressed uniformly in black to show their solidarity and disappointment regarding the measure’s removal.
Many participants represented ethnic student organizations on campus, including the Afrikan Student Union, Samahang Pilipino and MEChA de UCLA.
Third-year political science student Alexander Mercier said at the event that he thinks affirmative action is crucial because it would allow underrepresented groups to have a more noticeable presence on campus. Mercier, a black student, referred to the low representation of black students on campus, who constitute less than 4 percent of the UCLA undergraduate student body.
“I need to see people who look like me to feel safe and to feel welcome,” Mercier said.
Janay Williams, a third-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student and member of the Afrikan Student Union, said she was disappointed with SCA 5’s removal, which she felt was largely due to a misinformed public.
“People weren’t sure about the whole story,” Williams said. “There was miscommunication about what SCA 5 was and who (was) affected.”
Williams said she doesn’t think the measure would decrease the number of Asian or Pacific Islander students admitted to college, as some fear. SCA 5 has no mention of quotas in its text.
Even though SCA 5 will definitely not be on the ballot this year, organizers and participants said the action was valuable in informing the campus of their concerns about the issue of affirmative action.
“Once you get it in the people’s minds, we can get in on the ballot,” said second-year political science student Denea Joseph, who works in the Undergraduate Students Association Council external vice president’s office.
In addition to Wednesday’s protest, students plan to use other efforts to contend the measure’s removal.
USAC External Vice President Maryssa Hall’s office will send a delegation of 45 students to the University of California Student Lobby Conference in Sacramento this weekend to appeal to lawmakers about SCA 5 among other issues. The conference is an annual event held by the University of California Student Association that brings students from all of the UC campuses to engage with elected officials on higher education issues.
“We want to continue fighting,” Hall said. “Just because the bill was pulled doesn’t mean we’re going to stop working on this issue.”
