UC students lobby for return of affirmative action

Hundreds of University of California students asked their state legislators Monday to prioritize an affirmative action measure that was taken off the 2014 ballot earlier this year, among other things.

At the annual Student Lobby Conference held this weekend by the UC Student Association, a UC-wide organization that advocates on behalf of students, delegates from UC campuses lobbied dozens of legislators for their support on issues like affirmative action, or the consideration of race in university admissions.

Much backlash arose after state legislators removed Senate Constitutional Amendment 5 from the 2014 ballot, which would have reinstated affirmative action after the voter-approved Proposition 209 banned it in 1997. Democratic State Sen. Ted Lieu from Torrance, who won the California Democratic Party’s backing to replace Westwood’s congressman Henry Waxman, D-Beverly Hills, lost six endorsements from Democratic legislators when he supported taking SCA 5 off the ballot.

SCA 5’s author, Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, removed his measure from the ballot because of concerns from some in the Asian and Pacific Islander community that the measure would negatively affect its students.

But others, including several UCLA students, said they think there is a misunderstanding about the effects of SCA 5 and that there are others in the Asian and Pacific Islander community who would especially benefit from affirmative action.

On Sunday, Student Lobby Conference delegates held an “action” at a dinner that Assembly Speaker John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, attended to ask him to still prioritize SCA 5 and affirmative action, said Maryssa Hall, Undergraduate Students Association Council external vice president and UCLA delegation leader. Hall added that Pérez told them he still wants to work on affirmative action and that he looks forward to working with students on SCA 5.

On Monday, UCLA students lobbied Sen. Carol Liu, D-La Cañada, Flintridge, who pulled her support for SCA 5 earlier this year. Hall said her office told them that Liu wants to make sure all stakeholders are brought to the table before moving forward with SCA 5. She said they also discussed adding more students to the bicameral committee that will contemplate any changes that should be made to SCA 5.

“We want to show (Liu) that the community is not homogeneous and that there are people within it that are pro-SCA 5,” Hall said. “We’ll be following up with her office.”

Delegates at the Student Lobby Conference also asked for support on UCSA’s campaign platforms, which call for the state to put money toward education instead of prisons, close a property tax loophole and divest from fossil fuel companies.

“(The Student Lobby Conference) is continuing the work that we raise the foundation for in the summer, and putting it into action by lobbying our legislators at the Capitol,” Hall said.

Compiled by Kristen Taketa, Bruin senior staff.