BY JEANNE TUOMEY
BERKELEY, California - "We shall not be removed," sang the 5,000 students who gathered at the University of California here October 12 in support of affirmative action. Throughout the day, students across California walked out of classes and held rallies and teach-ins in protest of this past summer's decision by the regents of the University of California (UC) to eliminate affirmative action from the university's admissions and hiring practices.
The statewide actions demonstrated a broad show of support - from Asians, Blacks, Latinos, and whites - for affirmative action. The fight to maintain equal educational opportunities for minority students and women has spread in the past few months. Teach-ins, walkouts, and rallies were held at all nine UC campuses October 12.
Even at the UC San Francisco medical school, where students are not known for their activism, hundreds rallied in the streets for affirmative action. University officials asked the medical school students to demonstrate quietly out of respect for hospital patients, but a stream of drivers honked their car horns in support of the picketers.
Spokespeople from student organizations, ranging from groups representing oppressed nationalities to the Young Republicans, addressed the Berkeley rally. Leaders of labor unions and civil rights groups also spoke.
Graduate students working as teaching assistants and researchers, who have been involved in an ongoing struggle with the university for decent pay and benefits, made a strong showing at the rally wearing T-shirts that said, "I work for the university and I support affirmative action."
"This university is not color-blind," Richard Zach, a Berkeley graduate student researcher, said. "This country is not color-blind. To fight for affirmative action is to fight for social justice."
Hundreds of high school students in the Berkeley area walked out of classes to join the rally. Larry Lee, principal of Berkeley High School, estimated that one-third of the school's 2,400 students walked out.
Louis Rubio, a freshman at Berkeley High, walked out after being handed a flier on the demonstration at school. "I came because I wanted to know about affirmative action," he said. "Now I know a little more and it sounds like we should keep fighting for affirmative action to help fight discrimination."
Jesse Jackson was the featured speaker at the Berkeley rally. He urged the student protesters to turn their anger into the voting booth. While praising the students' action, Jackson said that students shared the blame for the attacks on affirmative action. "You students who aren't registered, you elected Pete Wilson and Newt Gingrich," he said.
"The students are showing by voting with their feet that they strongly disagree with the regents' decision," UC Berkeley professor Ronald Takaki told the press. "I'm euphoric. I'm really excited."
The demonstration here ended with 500 marchers weaving through the streets of downtown Berkeley. Horns honked, people waved, and on-lookers joined the march. Police in riot gear intervened as the marchers attempted to walk onto a freeway. While a shoving match erupted between the two sides and police batons were drawn, no arrests or injuries occurred. The marchers eventually dispersed.
2,200 at UCLA
Some 2,200 UCLA students marched down the main boulevard
in Los Angeles October 12 in support of affirmative action.
Many passing drivers honked in support.
The march, organized by the UCLA Affirmative Action Coalition, was also a protest against the California Civil Rights Initiative, a misnamed anti-affirmative action ballot measure.
The demonstration started at UCLA and grew in size as it wound around the campus. Many students walked out of their classes to join the march. "Out of the classroom and into the march," protesters chanted.
"We hope to send a clear signal to the regents: We will not allow them to take something away that we've fought so hard to preserve," Max Espinoza, a Chicano studies major at UCLA, told the press. "This is the beginning of a strong and unified movement to fight back."
Unionists attend protest
Members of the hotel and restaurant workers union HERE
Local 11, the Service Employees International Union Local
660, and the Justice for Janitors campaign participated and
carried placards indicating their support for the
affirmative action fight.
More than 120 cops, from four different police agencies, were on hand as the march reached Westwood and Wilshire boulevards. The cops donned helmets and shields, and some had tear gas shells at the ready.
Thirty-three students sat in the middle of the street and carried out peaceful civil disobedience. The police arrested them one by one without incident. The rest of the demonstrators were pushed back by mounted police.
All nine University of California chancellors have come out against the regents' decision to prohibit the use of race and gender as criteria in admission, hiring, and contracting in the school system. Some 1,200 UC faculty members have signed a petition calling on the board to reconsider its decision.
Out of the success of the statewide actions, ongoing protests at regents' meetings and teach-ins on campuses are planned for the coming weeks.
John Evenhuis from Los Angeles contributed to this article.