San Diego, CA – A string of racist incidents at UCSD has sparked students there to take over the UCSD chancellor’s office. Yesterday evening, a noose was found in a library on campus catalyzing students to take direct action. Students outraged held a rally this Friday morning, and now hundreds have taken over the office. The BSU has given the administration a 5pm deadline to make effective changes that address racism on campus.
update
2:00pm: In solidarity with the UCSD folks, students are sitting in at Murphy Hall at UCLA
at UCLA
2:30pm: At least 100 students occupying Murphy Hall, the UCLA administration building. Students are currently meeting with the Chancellor about three demands:
1. Closure of UCSD until there is a full investigation of events surrounding Compton Cook Out and the noose left hanging for 3 days in Library.2. Expulsion of offending students and dismantling of The Koala newspaper.3. Diversity needs be met by March 4th.
UCSD
4:00pm: Police deny that a second noose has been found, though rumors are still circulating that one was found hanging from a statue in Warren College. Right now numbers at UCSD are decreased slightly, though many more are expected to come at 5pm, the deadline given to the Chancellor.
5:10pm: The UCSD sit-in has turned into a civil disobedience action. Chancellor Fox apparently has not attempted to meet the demands of the students. Some students have left the office to support outside, but estimates of 80-100 students inside are willing to be arrested. So far no word of police action or likelihood of arrests.
5:20pm: Drum circle forming outside Chancellor’s office. Police are threatening arrests. Students: “We will stay until BSU demands are met.”
5:23pm: According to one source, as many as 300 people still inside the office. A live audio stream is available here.
5:35pm: Students meeting with Chancellor Fox return to the sit-in to discuss the letter they received from the admin, describing it as, “bullshit.” They plan to return on Monday with their response. The student(s) involved in the noose incident is being suspended, although a time frame hasn’t been established. The protesters are not satisfied with this weak response by the administration, considering this new document from the Chancellor to have no new concrete improvements over previous ones.
occupy california 
26 February 2010 at 3:38 pm |
Bravo to the courage of the students involved in these actions! Solidarity from UCI!
26 February 2010 at 4:10 pm |
http://www.indybay.org/publish.php
http://www.indybay.org/education/
26 February 2010 at 4:13 pm |
You can publish your own Education & Student Activism News to open-publishing http://www.indybay.org/education/
26 February 2010 at 5:18 pm |
Solidarity from LA. The whole state occupied in less than a week!
26 February 2010 at 6:55 pm |
…did they really think their demands were going to be met?
Seriously, don’t ya’ll already know the function of the university
in society?
get hyphy like the berkeley and irvine kids.
26 February 2010 at 8:27 pm |
Solidarity from Vienna, Austria!
26 February 2010 at 8:55 pm |
I proudly attended UCSD over 20 years ago. I now proudly support the students who are demanding that the chancellor take proper and just action against racist acts on campus. Leaders step aside and let the youth lead if you refuse to treat them with respect and dignity. Education for all. See you in the streets March 4th.
26 February 2010 at 9:39 pm |
This week marks 50 years since the first arrests were made during the “sit-in” movement of the 1960s. In that tradition, these brave students are demanding an end to white supremacy and the implementation of structural changes at their university. I’m proud to say that I stand in solidarity with their demands. Solidarity from TN!
27 February 2010 at 3:09 am |
Solidarity from University of Washington in Seattle. We’re mobilizing for a student strike on the 4th and just sent this out to folks who are coming:
– There have been a series of racist incidents at UC San Diego including a minstrel-show-style “Compton Cookout” and a noose hung in the library. The Black Student Union there initiated a sit-in demanding an investigation. Anti-budget cuts activists across California instantly mobilized in solidarity, initiating occupations and sit- ins at UC Irvine and UCLA. Increased enrollment of students of color is a key rallying cry of the March 4th movement and we can expect escalation around this issue all week. Here at UW let’s show our solidarity with students of color at UC Sand Diego on the Quad on March 4th. If we don’t stop these cuts, enrollment of Black students at UW will drop even faster than it has in the past decades and UW could end up looking like UC San Diego in a few years. We CANNOT let that happen. How long till we rise up and fight back? Until they close the Ethnic Cultural Center? Until they cut the Ethnic Studies programs? These things will happen unless we start mobilizing now before it’s too late.
27 February 2010 at 2:52 pm |
[…] UCLA sit-in/occupation […]
27 February 2010 at 3:55 pm |
It’s also time to save $3,000,000 for students: $3,000,000 for additional classes! Why does one of the top universities in the world have to spend $3 million of taxpayer money for consultants to do what should be done internally by UCB Chancellor Birgeneau?
Who teaches auditors how to audit? Do UC professors not have the knowledge to perform what they teach?
Having firsthand knowledge of consulting, I know one cardinal rule, “Don’t bite the hand that pays you.”
In a nutshell, we have a high-paid, skilled UCB Chancellor who is unable or unwilling to do the job he is paid to do. Why do we wonder that UC and California are in a financial crisis!
I’m sure taxpayers would not object to the $3 million payout if the money is reimbursed by taking money from the UCB Chancellor’s salary over the next 10 years.
Stop the spending of $3,000,000 on consultants by President Yudof and the UCB Chancellor and do the job impartially and internally.
These days ever dollar in higher education counts
27 February 2010 at 6:45 pm |
[…] noose incident spurred multiple protests in the state. According to the blog Occupy CA, 300 UCSD students gathered outside Chancellor Marye Anne Fox’s office and to protest what […]
27 February 2010 at 11:51 pm |
I am a student of color at UCSD and wish to tell all of you supporting us from your individual universities and communities that it means the world to us to see and hear of your support for us. Your kind words and actions give us strength and help to heal our wounds.
THANK YOU!!!!
28 February 2010 at 11:50 am |
I’ve read that UCSD’s student body is 55% Asian. True? What groups are in opposition to what other groups? Is this racial dispute Black vs White or is it between other groups? Asian vs Black carries a different dynamic than Black vs White or White vs Hispanic.
28 February 2010 at 9:45 pm |
Here are my thoughts on Friday’s actions, as a participant. Also see the comments for more responses from other participants:
http://transreal.org/2010/02/27/thoughts-on-the-short-lived-occupation-of-the-ucsds-chancellors-office/
1 March 2010 at 11:08 am |
Instead of an apology there has been steady escalation and now the noose. So, what exactly will the excuses be for this cowardly act that brings up memories of the confederate KKK of the South in their attempts to keep slavery and the non-whites in fear? Is it that are uneducated, is it that their parents planted these seeds of hate, is it that they are live in fear because our President in the white house is not 100% white. This is what the republican party of “birthers, baggers and blowhards” have brought you. These kids follow what their dullard leaders say, they listen to Beck, Hedgecock, Hannity, O’Reilly, Rush and Savage and the rest of the Blowhards, they are young and dumb. Are you surprise at what they do when you know what they think?
2 March 2010 at 3:57 am |
In solidarity from Beausoliel First Nation, Canada. Heard your drums in the north – you are correct in your actions to call attention to this matter and to demand that these issues be dealt with openly and appropriately. You have my full support.
2 March 2010 at 9:27 am |
Racism begins with our families, parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandparents, people we admire, respect and love.
However, as we grow and mature we come to the realization that what we were told by our family when we were children were slanted lies base on their prejudices. We realize that most people are like ourselves and not so different and want the same things, like a home, steady work, a Medicare plan and schools for our children (if you travel you will see this). We realize that most people are of good hearts and goodwill.
This reminds me of a parable from the good book where a Levite and Priest come upon a man who fell among thieves and they both individually passed by and didn’t stop to help him. Finally a man of another race came by, he got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy and got down with the injured man, administered first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the “I” into the “thou,” and to be concerned about his fellow man.
You see, the Levite and the Priest were afraid, they asked themselves, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?”
But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”
That’s the question before us. The question is not, “If I stop to help our fellow man in need, what will happen to me?” The question is, “If I do not stop to help our fellow man, what will happen to him or her?” That’s the question.
God bless all my brothers and sister that stood side by side with our brothers and sisters in need, when you saw a wrong you tried to correct it, you may argue the methods but not the reasons. I know God will not discriminate by country of origin, our sex, our orientation, color of our skin, or our religion as men do.
8 March 2012 at 11:04 pm |
[…] for the administration to meet their demands, with about 100 students willing to risk arrest. The administration finally issued a bogus response letter which set no firm commitments to change the campus climate; however, student leaders convinced the […]
9 March 2012 at 6:12 am |
[…] for the administration to meet their demands, with about 100 students willing to risk arrest. The administration finally issued a bogus response letter which set no firm commitments to change the campus climate; however, student leaders convinced the […]
9 March 2012 at 11:23 am |
[…] for the administration to meet their demands, with about 100 students willing to risk arrest. The administration finally issued a bogus response letter which set no firm commitments to change the campus climate; however, student leaders convinced the […]