<p>Mocking the Celtic tradition of Halloween on Halloween by wearing costumes? Seriously guys.</p>
<p>I’ve taken more than my fair share of Ethnic American Studies classes, so I’m certainly aware of the persistence of racism in American culture - albeit in a much less direct way than before. What’s happening here is seems like a complete overreaction. You turn the event into a learning experience, sure, but the demands that the Black Student Union serve no purpose other than to antagonize fellow students who are facing up with larger class sizes and less selection as is.</p>
<p>On top of that, demanding higher African American enrollment just brings back the endless debate over Affirmative Action. Grutter and Gratz (in citing Bakke) assert that while attaining diversity is a worthwhile interest, you can’t give race so much weight that it becomes determinative. I’m sure most people on this board have seen the point system published by UCSD. It assigns point values to socioeconomic factors, such as income level and parent’s education level, which are intended as indirect methods to include more minority admits. For sure, it isn’t a perfect system as no point system can be, but it would be silly to argue that giving the equivalent of 6-700 SAT points to people who have had “life experiences” doesn’t help those who have achieved despite having a tough childhood. Rewarding race just for the sake of it doesn’t make sense to me, rewarding people who have overcome obstacles in getting into college does. Some see the need for both race-based factors and socio-economic considerations, and it’s their prerogative to do so, I personally don’t agree.</p>
<p>Yes, we need more diversity, but the solution isn’t to lower the bar so much that it rewards a lack of achievement in high school. What we should be talking about is repairing our broken education system so minority students achieve at a level that grants them admission into schools without bonus points and such. And that doesn’t mean pouring money into poorly-performing schools like we’ve been doing, results-driven education systems and charter schools have worked elsewhere. It’s a long-term goal, so in the short-term, suggestions to up recruiting efforts are reasonable enough, especially with the CSU system doing it at Bay Area churches. We’ve just become adverse to planning for the future in California, so all we hear are solutions that attempt to patch up conflicts for another time, rather than to resolve them from the outset.</p>
<p>This whole mess just needs to blow over. Punish the idiots at SRTV and the Koala and carry through with the attempts to kill their funding. And instead of using the money to prop up some concessive African-American paper, please just give the 10 cents back to us students. Let’s reach a pragmatic conclusion to this matter and return UCSD to a campus that makes news because of some engineering innovation.</p>
<p>All in all, I’m glad that there is actually a reasoned discussion here on CC on the matter. There is nothing at all on the Michael Oren incident at UCI and the anti-Semitism that plagues their college.</p>
<p>So is anyone having any protests, sit ins, or whatever in support of the school, and those kids? A page where you offer your support to the poor school? Anything? This is beyond ridiculous. A list of demands? It was an off-site private party already.</p>
<p>I think UCSD should have a holistic approach to their application, not comprehensive. UCLA and UCB admit their students based on the holistic approach, giving everyone a fair chance at admissions, instead of statistics (4.0 GPA, 2200 SAT, 5 AP, 7 IB). I would rather have a student who works to help his family, goes to school, and still manages to commit to something he/she is passionate about, than a student who only studies to get the scores, and volunteers only for points in admissions. </p>
<p>A bit off topic, but still related nonetheless. </p>
<p>And as for the racially themed party, it IS offensive. Mocking Veterans on Veterans Day is really immature as well. </p>
<p>The NOOSE, however, is more serious, and considered a hate crime with a penalty of a year in prison if convicted. [New</a> California law bans displaying nooses after Sarah Palin, Barack Obama effigies](<a href=“http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/08/07/2009-08-07_new_california_law_bans.html]New”>http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/08/07/2009-08-07_new_california_law_bans.html)</p>
<p>^I know this is completely off topic but I’m going to address this. UCLA and Berkeley DO NOT give everyone a fair chance at admissions regardless of statistics. If you get a D in any class, they don’t care how nice you are or how often you go to school.</p>
<p>@Sasmita : ucsd does take into account and awards points to applicants who are major wage earners/work to support their family, students who come from low income households, personal/family issues, single parent households, foster care, life altering events as well as personal growth. Points are also issued to students who are first generation college students, come from disadvantaged educational schools/environments, or students who have been a part of academic outreach programs like eaop, mesa, avid, puente, upward bound, etc, which are outreach programs generally for students of underrepresented ethnic backgrounds, 1st gen students, etc.</p>
<p>so, in other words, the only thing ucsd doesnt have is something that says</p>
<p>black 500pts
native american 500pts
mexican 400pts
latino 400pts
filipino 300pts
asian 200pts
white 0pts</p>
<p>so how is the comprehensive review UN-fair? it takes everything into account and gives everyone a fair chance. it doesnt deny someone admission just because an admissions officer didnt like the way an essay was written, or because their ethnicity is overrepresented. What will special admissions requirements for certain ethnic groups do other than create more unrest and unfair standards in the student body? And whos to say and set the standard of worth for someone’s ethnicity? Someone cant help being born asian just as much as the next person who is born black. So why should one of them be accepted blindly just because, and the other denied if they are both qualified? When someone gets accepted to ucsd you know that everyone was reviewed under the same comprehensive review, and that everyone had the same opportunity to be accepted.</p>
<p>@BlueSkyPinkCloud
minor inaccuracy:
asian -200 points</p>
<p>^ unfortunately for us (asians), that’s basically the case for all universities lmao</p>
<p>i wasnt trying to offend anyone i was just making a point…whos to make the standard, are there “too many” asians at ucsd because they make up the majority of the population? When in the state of california the majority is white? No. who cares, if someones worked hard enough and is smart enough then they deserve a fair shot just the same as anyone else. if the campus was 80% asian then well those students are the most qualified. Those points would resemble a system that would try to ‘level out’ the ethnic groups into similar sizes.</p>
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<p>I think this gives a good perspective on the other side of the issue.</p>
<p>So the answer is to force undeserving African Americans into UCSD and force out highly qualified Asians and white students?</p>
<p>^^ <em>Applause</em></p>
<p>The voters of this state already decided affirmative action is unfair. Everyone has the same chance to get in, as it should be. Why is it that some want to be treated equally, yet at the same time expect to be given advantages others do not get? People would be better asking why they are so under-represented, and doing something to address that, not expecting standards to be changed. It seems some of the tension is based on the over-playing of the race card, and the insistance of some that even if you don’t meet the standards everyone else has to meet they should change them just for you. The whole thing over there in SD has just become a nightmare. I don’t believe the party was any more racially motivated than a “redneck” party, or “country bumpkin” party, or any other I’ve heard about. I’m originally from the country. Should I get all offended and run down to make demands next time they have one of those? It’s ridiculous that people are making “demands” from a university that didn’t even have anything to do with the party in the first place.
I’m the first to say I’ve never been in their position. Maybe there already was some tension before all this started. From the outside though, it sure looks like most of it started with the over-sensitivity, and list of demands.</p>
<p>It’s understandable that African Americans are sensitive. White people like to tell them to “stop being so sensitive” and “quit playing the race card”. Why should they? America oppresses African Americans for hundreds of years and because it has tried to be nice for about forty we expect them to just get over it? Not gonna happen. Some of these students may have parents and grandparents who tell them the horrible stories of hate and racism of their day. I’m not saying all of the BSU’s demands should be met, I’m just saying that I understand why African Americans are sensitive when race comes up.</p>
<p>How about asians? Can I have the same rights others are demanding?</p>
<p>I’m saying that, as a black kid, if I knew a bunch of white kids were throwing an “ACT BLACK!” party, I would feel excluded, offended and hurt. You don’t know how old it gets, being asked why I act white instead of black. It’s called being educated :/</p>
<p>But then again, from what I’m seeing none of this was directed at black people really was it? Wasn’t it just directed at “ghetto” people? In which case, go ahead and make fun. Ghetto=/= black. I wish people could understand this.</p>
<p>I fully understand that every black person on this campus has the right to be angry. If they threw a “Sacramento dumb hick farmer cookout” I’d be mad too and that’s still not as bad because it’s not an act against race.</p>
<p>Before I go further, I want to add the whole racial war at UCSD didn’t end the racial themed party. Check out this article about the entire incident (including a hanging of a noose in the library) [San</a> Diego Campus Awakens to Uneasy Race Relations - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/education/27sandiego.html]San”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/education/27sandiego.html) .</p>
<p>Personally, after looking over everything, I’m definitely turned off by UCSD. It was in my top choices, but now I’m not so sure. I’m not so much offended by the racial themed party, but rather how the students reacted to the outraged minorities on campus. I understand the minorities might of blown things out of proportion slighty, but really as a form retaliation a student hangs a noose? I think that is beyond outright wrong.</p>
<p>Regardless of how this is resolved, I think tension between the minorities and non-minorities will remain at UCSD. I don’t believe there is a clear cut solution to this mess. In the end, if I am given the choice, I will probably choose a more diversified campus than UCSD. I didn’t think race was such a large problem in such high rank college environments, but apparently it is. </p>
<p>As a multiracial female, I don’t want to be judged or categorized by my skin color in college. I think that might be going on at UCSD. I apologize if I have offended anyone/ made generalization, but just conveying my opinion.</p>
<p>You do understand the noose was hung by a minority student who confessed and claimed it was all a misunderstanding, right? See the apology posted on the UCSD Guardian’s website. Also, that NY Times article is nowhere near as comprehensive as the articles the San Diego Union Tribune’s been posting- look 'em up for the full story. </p>
<p>There’s tension between races all over the world. Unfortunately, certain organizations exploited these recent incidents in a racially polarizing way that’s killed UCSD’s reputation.</p>
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<p>Let me fix that for you:</p>
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