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Education

UCSD Students Demand Swift Actions

UCSD students gathered outside of the Price Center on campus on February 24, 2010 to protest recent racially-charged events on campus.
Jessica Plautz
UCSD students gathered outside of the Price Center on campus on February 24, 2010 to protest recent racially-charged events on campus.
UCSD Students Demand Swift Actions
A campus teach-in at UC San Diego turned into a walkout yesterday. Several hundreds of minority students defiantly marched away from the campus event which was designed to quell racial tensions.

A campus teach-in at UC San Diego turned into a walkout yesterday. Several hundreds of minority students defiantly marched away from the campus event which was designed to quell racial tensions.

UCSD officials were hoping the teach-in would begin to heal the pain caused by a series of racially charged incidents on campus.

Instead, student leaders used the event to further criticize the university. They say officials have ignored longtime calls to fix racial inequities on campus.

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Black Student Union leader Jasmine Philips says a teach-in won't solve the problem.

“The university and this administration has refused to take action for too long,” Phillips said. “The UCSD administration is at fault for the fear, discomfort, alienation, and anger being experienced by students on this campus. And the chancellor and vice chancellors must hold themselves accountable.”

Seconds later Phillips left the podium and led the several hundred students out of the auditorium. Black student groups want officials to adopt a list of 32 demands immediately. The demands include more funding for recruitment and retention.

Student leaders say they won't be satisfied until they see a detailed report on their implementation.

Penny Rue is UCSD's vice chancellor of student affairs. She says the university is analyzing the costs connected to some of the demands. But she says UCSD is taking action.

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“While no one relishes this type of scrutiny, we do appreciate the chance to be really clear about what our institutional priorities are and to move forward from here with members from the community.”

Meanwhile, black student leaders are working with members of other minority student groups to put added pressure on the university.

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