Multiculturalism Comes to Campus **sarcasm**
Behold! A Multicultural Center has arrived on campus. Around the corner is the return of affirmative action in admissions, the resegregation of campus, and all the students will hold hands around a celebration centered on rainbows and ponies, declaring in one voice how great it is to be part of such a diverse and accepting community. It makes you wonder why it didn’t happen sooner.
The ASUC Senate voted 20-0 to allow the University to officially use Heller Lounge as a temporary home for the Multicultural Center. Friday afternoon saw the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Chancellor Birgeneau and ASUC President Buenrostro, finalizing the agreement.
Now, I know some of CalStuff’s readers are skeptical of the MCC being put in Heller Lounge. But, consider these points:
* The space has been underused for quite some time now, and the expansion of multicultural programming brings a major development to the Sproul area.
* The students behind the MCC were the only group motivated enough to propose a long-term development for the space - it’s not like the ASUC was choosing between options.
* UC Berkeley is one of the only UC schools in the state not to have some sort of multicultural space on campus.
In any event, my biggest problem is that this has become a very politicized process. Student Action’s execs get to claim a huge victory on bringing people together to create progress, though the MOU is basically the same as the one debated last December, but with less pressure on the administration to follow through with a permanent Phase III Multicultural Center. And, any time the Chancellor needs to back-up his claims that he is working for progress, he can hide behind this picture, given almost any circumstances. In the short term, all parties get what they want, but long term, the future of the MCC is much more ambiguous.
“UC Berkeley is one of the only UC schools in the state not to have some sort of multicultural space on campus.”
How many UC schools are there *outside* the state anyway?
Comment by BCR Boy — September 17, 2005 @ 11:35 pm
The University of Cincinnati
Comment by RepBast1984 — September 17, 2005 @ 11:45 pm
Also the University of Connecticut, University of Colorodo
Comment by RepBast1984 — September 18, 2005 @ 2:08 am
third world liberation front? wtf? who da fuk are dose clowns?
only in berkeley would clowns like daT be treated wiT any kind of respect and featured in an official press release.
but out of cuwiosity waT does da third world need to be liberated from? mebbe from temselves and dey own stupid policies and warz lol. ya daTs waT!
but mebbe da third world liberation front is pro-colonialism? cuz i imagine dey want to liberate da third world from stupidity?
lolT i expext da censor police to be all over dis posT
“third world liberation clowns smashT”
Comment by smashT — September 18, 2005 @ 2:46 am
I find it comical that the TWLF has tried so hard to get a Multicultural Center, but at the end of the day all that remains is a study lounge with multicultural (read: not caucasian/asian) posters.
Comment by a — September 18, 2005 @ 3:04 am
The twLF could give a damn about Asians. Most of those multicultural groups preach inclusion and acceptance but they dislike Asians, specifically Chinese, Japanese and Koreans because they think we’re “model minorities” and are holding down other minorities through our successes. “Progressives” dislike us more than they dislike white people. A large portion of the twLF is white progressives who hate Asians as well.
This type of fervent racism against Asian-Americans is persavsive and disgusting. Some guy last year ran under a “No More Asians” platform to show that these “diversity” groups want to use affirmative action to get rid of the “yellow hoardes”. Southeast Asians as well as Pacific Islanders would not benefit from affirmative action because admissions treats us liek a monolithic block and every Asian group will suffer, ESPECIALLY Southest Asians and Pacific Islanders. Every Asian group is overrepresented. I’m just appalled that Asians are not standing up for themselves; many feel guilty because Berkeley has a lot and, since they’re already here, they don’t feel a need to protest unfair policies against their own people.
I’ve heard the most disgusting arguments from CalSERVE senators and Student Action “progressives” about Asians. One senator from last year was asserting that Asians have “white privilege”. Student Action senators never stand up strongly for Asian-Americans even though most Asians vote Student Action; maybe this will change with strong Asian leaders in the senate like Ki-Hong Li, Billy Wang, David Kim, Anthony Lin and Jesse Yang.
Because we’re model minorities, we should be willing to give up spots at Universities for the “greater good of diversity.” I’m very surprised that not one large group of Asian students have called out progressives on this horrendous tactic. This is no better than the racist whites who were calling for affirmative action in the mid-90’s to get rid of Asians who were in “their spots.” Just because the group discriminating against Asians is another minority group doesn’t mean we shoudl be silent.
Comment by Proud and Asian — September 18, 2005 @ 9:47 am
as long as i can still study in there it’s no different than heller lounge
Comment by pidgeon — September 18, 2005 @ 11:25 am
its not like the senate was actually looking to do anything with the space
Comment by Anonymous — September 18, 2005 @ 11:26 am
No. Sorry, P&A, but that comment is just plain false. As a white progressive in twLF (I don’t know if I make up a “large portion” of the organization, but okay), here are my two cents:
Some of the most active members of the twLF identify as Asian or Pacific Islander (including East Asians). twLF’s mission is to defend and support the Ethnic Studies departments and related departments, including Asian American Studies. twLF efforts were instrumental in the creation of the Multicultural Student Development (MSD) offices (including the APA Student Development office); the APA Student Development Coordinator is also the director of MSD. Note that in the newly signed MOU, students appointed by the MSD offices are the majority of the programming board.
Much of the programming that has already taken place in Heller Lounge (for the past year MSD and student groups have been putting on programming in there, in case you didn’t know) is related to the APA community. Last year I attended a vigil put on by Gabriella Network in honor of API victims of sex trafficking. Two weeks ago Yuri Kochiyama, one of the most prominent Asian American activists in history, spoke in Heller Lounge (the event was covered by the Chron)
I fail to see how twLF has excluded Asian Pacific American students from the collective or its efforts. Anthony Lin (whom you listed as a “strong Asian leader”) is one of the most enthusiastic twLF members and emceed the Night of Cultural Resistance last year, one of Heller Lounge’s most popular events.
Also, why did you choose not to list APA senators Sapna Mehta, Rita Encarnacion, Vishal Gupta, Chris Abad and Yvette Felarca as “strong Asian leaders”?
Comment by Taylor A. — September 18, 2005 @ 3:14 pm
I think Proud and Asian gets the clouded impression that the TWLF doesn’t like Asians because they support the ethnic studies department, which supports affirmative action, an idea that negatively affects all groups of Asian-Americans. However, I know many in the ethnic studies department who are against affirmative action, and those are people I can identify with as an Asian-American conservative.
And yes, I did run under “No More Asians.” To clarify I do think that Asians are pushed up against a wall in being forced to support affirmative action because of “diversity”. It’s probably the most threatening legal issue that Asian-Americans have to fight, but we need to present it in a way that both progressives and conservatives of alle thnicities will join our cause to fight it instead of in an ethno-centric fashion.
I think some statistics that might help people understand where I’m coming from are at http://resipsaloquitur.blogspot.com/. Every Asian group actually is over-represented like Proud and Asian asserts, and each group is impacted negatively through affirmative action. Whites, blacks, Latinos and Native Americans benefit from affirmative action but Asian-Americans are all greatly hurt by it.
My campaign was not a joke, poking fun at Asian-Americans for not having problems, as many people have asserted. I’m surprised that I usually got laughs and giggles from people about my campaign (Student Action and CalSERVE alike) while only very few people were upset in the way I intended it to be. Beign a model minority means that you are automatically misunderstood by both whites and minorities, conservatives and liberals and often used as examples for why or why not people should support certain policies. At best, we’re sometimes dehumanized by groups of people and forced on a chopping block with issues liek affirmative action and admissions. I disagree with Proud and Asian’s assertion that the APA community isn’t supported by the TWLF but I also feel that the ethnic studies department, especially Asian-American studies needs to reexamine affirmative action and continue a debate instead of acting like affirmative action is a policy all APA and other minority groups should be supporting.
For the record, Taylor’s comment about the APA leaders is true, we need to be proud of all APA leaders in the senate. I am proud of Yvette Felarca, for example, for keeping the debate on affirmative action going and making enough people on both sides riled up to talk about those issues. I’m also proud of others like Taylor who are willing to comment on CalStuff to fight for issues they care about. We should also remember that we have Ed Lam, Billy Wang, Sapna Mehta, Rits Encarnacion, Jesse Yang, Yvette Felarca, Ki-Hong Li, Chris Abad, Vishal Gupta, David Kim and Anthony Lin in the senate, and Sharon Han and Anil Daryani in executive seats so APA’s are actually overrepresented in the senate and executives, an achievement over “Asian apathy”. Many APA senators are against affirmative action and many are for affirmative action which will at least keep a strong debate in the APA community.
Comment by RepBast1984 — September 18, 2005 @ 4:16 pm
so taylor waT does ur group wanna liberate da third world from?
“hahaT”
Comment by smashT — September 18, 2005 @ 5:31 pm
Nice picture! Justine Lazaro sure does look…excited!
Comment by L.L. Taraval — September 21, 2005 @ 2:50 pm
It’s the new and improved Justine.
Comment by ANONYMOUS — September 21, 2005 @ 3:09 pm
I support the MCC, but I wish someone could come up with some way to make the OCF accessible during MCC events. I’ve been barred entrance trying to make copies for a student group, and that’s especially frusterating considering they could just open up the south entrance door to the OCF when the MCC is in use.
Comment by Donald — September 22, 2005 @ 8:51 am
Some weird stuff going on here.
First: “As a white progressive in twLF”. How pathetic.
Second: “Whites, blacks, Latinos and Latin Americans benefit from affirmative action.” Sorry, dear, but whites DO NOT benefit from affirmative action, which is curious when (and if) you think about it, since they also are a minority of the state population and an under-represented minority in university admissions. To which I would add that no difference is generally made between “latinos” and “latin americans”. To which I would add that it’s not generally called “affirmative action” anymore but rather “diversity in admissions” or “racial preferences”.
Comment by g — September 25, 2005 @ 5:03 pm
“Whites, blacks, Latinos and Native Americans benefit from affirmative action but Asian-Americans are all greatly hurt by it.”
That was the quote. Currently whites don’t benefit from affirmative action, but they have in the past when comapred to post 209 era when white enrollment went down. At the very least you have to admit that in California, whites were not hurt by affirmative action pre-209.
Asian-Americans of all ethnicities are hurt by affirmative action. Even the least represented Asian group, Filipinos are still 112% represented. If we have affirmatiev action, all Asian groups will drop.
Comment by RepBast1984 — September 25, 2005 @ 5:44 pm
Damn, Justine bigger boobs than I thought.
Comment by FP — September 26, 2005 @ 12:38 pm
If she sported those during the campaign that would have pushed me over the edge… sorry Manny lol
Comment by Anonymous — September 26, 2005 @ 1:55 pm