Students revamp effort to repeal policies

Friday, February 19, 1999

Students revamp effort to repeal policies

ACTIVISM: UC’s ban on affirmative action target of coalition’s
members

By Andy Shah

Daily Bruin Staff

The Affirmative Action Coalition is gearing up this quarter with
one overarching goal in mind – to repeal the University of
California policies that ban affirmative action.

About 25 coalition members discussed upcoming strategies at a
meeting on Wednesday. The group is advocating a vote by the UC
Board of Regents to repeal SP-1 and SP-2, measures passed in 1995
that banned the use of race and gender in admissions and hiring
policies.

The idea to repeal those policies was generated by Regent
William Bagley, and coalition members said that with student
pressure and the appointment of four new regents in the coming
months, the repeal is feasible.

"The repeal would symbolize that the regents want to change the
path of student access to the UC," said Stacy Lee, president of the
Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC), one of the
bodies that is participating in the coalition.

Lee said that if SP-1 and SP-2 are repealed, it will allow for a
more open interpretation of Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot
initiative that outlawed the use of race and gender in any
state-sponsored activity, including university admissions and
hiring.

"The language of SP-1 and SP-2 is very specific, whereas the
language of Proposition 209 is more ambiguous," she said.

The coalition is undertaking this effort because it directly
affects students at UCLA, Lee said.

"Even if Proposition 209 were somehow repealed, we’d still have
SP-1 and SP-2 in the UCs," she said.

A California Superior Court ruling in December of 1998 held that
Proposition 209 does not prohibit the use of race and gender
criteria in employment and education, just as long as it is used to
eradicate discriminatory practices.

The coalition will be holding teach-ins and collaborating with
faculty members and other campuses as part of its strategy to get
the policies repealed.

It has also been gaining more faculty support after the faculty
walkouts in support of affirmative action last October.

Coalition members said that getting the regents to vote for a
repeal is a realistic goal.

"Many regents brought up that they wanted to take a vote, and
they don’t want to have the brand on them that says that they kept
people of color and women out of the university," said Portia
Pedro, a member of the African Student Union and the coalition.

The coalition is also sending Gov. Gray Davis and state assembly
speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles, postcards that contain
messages that attempt to pressure the politicians to support
affirmative action.

"They think the issue is just political baggage, so we have to
keep an eye on them," Lee said.

Coalition members said that even though Davis is a Democrat,
they are still monitoring his activities.

"He got a lot of his votes from moderate Republicans, so we have
to make sure he doesn’t go over to the other side," Lee said.

The coalition will hold a teach-in during eighth week to attract
more students to the coalition and orient them with the group’s
goals.

"If we have workshops and talk to people one-on-one, it’ll
create a buzz on campus," Pedro said.

Last year, the coalition had an unprecedented amount of members,
but had a brief lull during fall quarter because of changes in the
political environment.

"There were the transitions with the state elections, so we just
let things settle down for a while," Lee said.

Coalition members said it is difficult to attract new members
because of UCLA’s abundant resources.

"We’re so sheltered at UCLA and surrounded by a nice environment
that we sometimes don’t realize that UCLA is not representative of
Los Angeles," said Kei Nagao, USAC general representative and a
member of Concerned Asian Pacific Students for Action, which is
part of the coalition.

"Some high schools a few miles down the street from us don’t
have enough books," Nagao said.

Lee said that the environment at UCLA has been getting
increasingly "elitist," which makes it hard to gain members.

"A lot of people think that they came in without affirmative
action, so they think they’re different from students from
low-income families and urban centers," she said.

But Lee added that the coalition’s effort will continue because
it is part of a bigger picture.

"Right now, there may not be as much hype surrounding us as
there was in the past," she said. "But historically, we’ve seen
that movements of resistance take a long time."BEN SCHWARTZ

Mike de la Rocha explains a letter-writing campaign during a
meeting of the Affirmative Action Coalition.

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