I was never a minority before. In my high school, nearly half the student population was Filipino. But upon entering UCSD, I noticed that I was the only Filipino in our suite. I basically accepted it as "that's just the way it worked out" and never paid attention to it.
Through education I was told that whenever you feel unsure or are curious about something around you, take the time to question it and really think about what's really happening. I learned to challenge myself to look beyond the facade and look deeper into how the world works. I'd like to know how a school 30 miles from San Diego (the CA city with the 2nd most Filipinos) has a very low Filipino student population. Same thing with the Chicano student population.
Student organizations (in particular the Student Affirmative Action Committee orgs) provide spaces for underrepresented students. It creates an environment for people with your same thoughts opinions and experiences, and you can be comfortable around everyone. A misconception about these "clubs" is that it's exclusive to ethnics. That's quite the opposite: SAAC orgs are open to everyone, as they welcome and invite everyone to learn and educate themselves about new and different cultures, underrepresented or not.
However, as a SAAC org, you are limited in size and resources and there's no way to outreach to everyone in a university so large. However, every student organization on campus is tied to or partly guided by Associated Students, the student government organization on campus.
To get into AS, you have to endure a rigorous election process, and then UCSD students vote online or at polling booths. The challenge lies in the fact that most UCSD students don't come out to vote; nobody really cares and knows about student government and don't concern themselves with it. They're content with settling and listening to whoever is in government. That's exactly what makes Associated Students so powerful, they're rarely opposed by anyone because nobody feels like opposing them.
SAAC orgs looked at this opportunity to give rise to a voice that's gone unheard of for a long time. Forming a political slate called Students First!, the party ran on the basis of educating the rest of the university about issues and events that pertain to all of us but get lost in the general apathy of the UCSD students. Things that get hidden behind curtains of ignorance and compliance would be brought forth, whether it be related to academics or not. It's a voice for the underrepresented student who doesn't get a chance to have his or her opinion heard or shared. Again don't misconceive this with being separatist, it's an attempt not to seclude but rather to incorporate everyone together in an educated umbrella, where everyone understands both sides of the story.
Students First! won the election last Friday at UCSD, but then were stripped of their victories by the AS Elections Committee.
Why? Why would you remove a slate that the students had voted for?
It's rumored that one of the other political parties had complained about where Students First! campaigned posters around campus, and by violating by-laws they were disqualified.
Nevertheless, the AS Elections Committee decided to eliminate all Students First! candidates from the election, even after they had already won it. The 2nd place winners will replace them.
The logistics of the decision is an issue that will be decided later. If Students First! had lost honestly or had lost due to a conspiracy in AS, that won't be known for a while.
All we know for now is that the voices that Students First! represented, including those of all the voters, have been silenced.
But silence is meant to be broken... this editorial is far from over.
- Aldrin
P.S. 90% of people don't know and particularly don't care about this issue of student government. And it's a perfectly fine reaction, it's true that some of this won't even directly effect you. All this is for is to educate those who are wondering what happened and why it appears to be a problem. Don't worry if you don't understand any of it, it's fine.
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