The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.40           November 9, 1998 
 
 
California Students Hold Teach-Ins, Rallies To Demand Affirmative Action  

BY NEFTALI PEREDA
This column is written and edited by the Young Socialists (YS), an international organization of young workers, students, and other youth fighting for socialism.

For more information about the YS write to: Young Socialists, P.O. Box 20568, Los Angeles, CA 90006. Tel: (213) 387-3033. Compuserve: 105162,605@compuserve.com

SANTA CRUZ, California - Students at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) held a two-day demonstration that consisted of a rally, march, and teach-ins October 21-22, to protest the end of affirmative action in admissions in the University of California system. Actions at other UC campuses took place the same days.

The Santa Cruz march, which drew close to 250 people, began with a rally at McHenry Library in the center of campus and proceeded through most of the colleges in the university.

It ended at Kresge Town Hall, where about 100 other people were waiting to hear students, faculty, and staff speak out on the need for affirmative action.

The demonstrators shouted slogans, including, "30, 30, 30 years ago, we fought for civil rights, now we'll never let it go!" and, "UC democracy, we see hypocrisy."

Faculty and students at UC Los Angeles took the initiative and began organizing actions in support of affirmative action. Other UC campuses soon joined and it became a statewide protest.

Along with UC Los Angeles and UC Santa Cruz, students at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis also held demonstrations. At UC Los Angeles, more than 300 people gathered in front of the student government offices for teach-ins.

This school year was the first under which the ban on affirmative action was applied to new students, dramatically decreasing in the number of incoming minority students.

The drop in the number of Black students admitted to UC undergraduate programs fell as much as 57 percent. The number of Native Americans admitted plummeted 43 percent and the number of Latino and Chicano students by 40 percent.

"We're tired of being repeatedly attacked," said one UCSC student. "Propositions 187, 209, and 227 are ways to take away our choices and freedom," he continued, referring to California ballot measures adopted over the last several years curtailing immigrant rights, affirmative action, and bilingual education, respectively.

The Young Socialists at UCSC sold 11 Pathfinder books and pamphlets to participants in the protests, including Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs, America's Road to Socialism by Socialist Workers Party founder James P. Cannon, and Che Guevara Speaks.

One student subscribed to the Militant, which counts towards the goal of 10 subscriptions that supporters of the socialist newsweekly here adopted as part of the international campaign to win new readers to the Militant, Perspectiva Mundial and the Marxist magazine New International.

Neftali Pereda is a member of the Young Socialists at UC Santa Cruz.  
 
 
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