The Walk-Out
Friday, Oct. 23, 1998
Fourteen hours of debate and discussion that led into the early morning hours Friday culminated in a historic even for UCSB.
Close to noon on Thursday, over 1,500 students marched to Cheadle Hall with a nine-item list of demands. Chanting such slogans as “Students united will never be divided,” and “No justice, no peace” and singing protest songs, 150 to 200 students stormed onto the fifth floor and into the office and reception area of Chancellor Henry Yang.
Upon entry, the protesters hung a list titled “Student Demands” that included nine ultimatums regarding academic, ethnic, gender and homosexual issues at the university.
The demands were as follows:
“1: We demand that the repertoire of the queer theory/studies courses be expanded to at least 10 throughout the year.
2: [We demand] an additional four units for the G.E. requirements be fulfilled with an ethnic and gender/queer studies class.
3: [We demand] that the chancellor make a public statement at the November Regents’ meeting speaking against Ward Connerly’s proposed actions to dismantle ethnic studies.
4:We demand that Yang does not implement budget cuts on the ethnic and gender studies programs at UCSB.
5: [We demand an] on-campus resource center and student space for historically underrepresented students at UCSB, including Asian/Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, African American, Chicano, Latino, Native American, queer and non-traditional students.
6: [We demand] the expansion of the ethnic and gender studies departments by increasing faculty and creating masters and Ph.D. programs.
7: Create a Native American Studies Dept. at UCSB.
8: Create a Middle Eastern Studies Dept. at UCSB.
9: The return of Affirmative Action in admissions, hiring and contracting.
Yang modified the language of the demands and signed the first eight.
Giant Oil Deposit Found Offshore
Thursday, Oct. 28, 1982
Exploration of a Chevron-Phillips tract off Pt. Conception has revealed a “giant oil field” containing at least 100 million barrels, according to Chevron spokesperson Al Swanson.
“To put it in perspective, the find on the north slope of Alaska was 10 billion barrels. So, this discovery is 1 percent of the size of that find, but it is still the largest discovery of oil on the California coast,” Swanson said.
Swanson projected that production of oil would begin in five to seven years, which is industry average.
Former Gauchos Suspected in Bombing
Friday, Oct. 23, 1970
Former UCSB students have been arrested by the FBI in connection with bombings in Rochester, New York on Oct. 12.
Greg Riley Wilkinson, Douglas Arthur Bullock and Skakir Ahmed Abidali, all students during 1969-70, were arrested Wednesday and Thursday in three different states.
Bullock was arrested in Williamson, NY, after officers stopped his van for a traffic violation and discovered 144 sticks of dynamite, which he is charged with stealing.
Wilkinson was arrested in Redding, MS, and was carrying a .32 caliber automatic pistol. Abidali is linked with the bombing through a letter of communication he sent to Wilkinson’s Rochester address.
All three are charged with dynamiting a federal administrative building, a bank building and the home of a Rochester labor leader. There were no injuries in the bombings.
-Compiled by Ted Andersen
