Get Angry and Rally.
Next Tuesday, March 9, in front of the UCen, there will be media, speakers, and students conglomerating on our campus as well as every other UC campus in protest of the new fee increase.
Undergrads are facing a 10 percent fee increase next year. Already, many of you are finding it more difficult to get classes, access to your TAs and professors, and enough feedback on your exams and papers. The fee increase means undergrads will be taught less and less by faculty and more and more by graduate students.
Let the governor know that education is important and that these cuts affect the entire academic community. Enough is enough. Be there to show that students feel their education is important.
Students of Color Conference
The Students of Color Conference will be happening this weekend, March 5 through 7 at the UC San Diego campus.
The conference is a safe place for students of color and their allies to organize around issues such as white supremacy, male domination, sexual discrimination and oppression within our communities. For more information, you can send your email to .
Petition against Hate-Filled UCSD Publication
A large reason why the Students of Color Conference is taking place at the UCSD campus is to protest The Koala, a UCSD-backed “humor” publication that relies on racism, sexism and homophobia for its comic material. The magazine goes so far as to slander specific minority students of the UCSD campus.
UCSD’s “Principles of Community” are rules that are supposed to govern all its publications. These principles uphold the First Amendment right to free speech, but they also clearly state the following: “We promote open expression of our individuality and our diversity within the bounds of courtesy, sensitivity, confidentiality and respect.”
The Valentine’s Day issue of The Koala featured sections entitled “Highly Necessary Woman-Bashing” and “A Matter of Homo,” as well as a section explaining why rape is funny. The magazine published its Top 5 Questions About Rape, which included such questions as “What if she’s unconscious?”, “What if I bought her dinner?” and “What if I put $5 on the bed when I’m done?”
The issue preceding the Valentine’s Day issue featured “The Anti-Asian Page” and an article entitled “God Damn Those Africans.” Here is a direct quote from that article, which pretends to be about Africanized bees: “Unlike the civilized Europeans, these Africans are unpredictable and violent. They wear bright colors and travel in gangs killing people with little provocation. They take over any area they can and never do any work. In fact, even when they do work, all they do is make everyone less productive.”
If you find these articles not funny and very disturbing, please join the Petition Against the Koala by going to www.msa-ucsd.com/koala.html, or see The Koala yourself by visiting www.thekoala.org.
UC System’s Proposed Fee Policy Cripples Student Government
The University of California has released a draft of the new UC systemwide policy on student governments and organizations. The current draft restricts the activities of student governments so they cannot work on things that are not directly related to higher education. It also prohibits students from using referendum to fund specific student programs.
If this policy goes into effect, student governments will be hamstrung and student programs will be inadequately funded. This policy is in its final stages and will take place by March 26 unless students voice their opinion about it. To send an e-mail petition against this policy or just to learn more about it, please visit www.ucfreespeech.com.
Joel Galster is the chair of the Associated Students Media Relations Committe.
