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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 21, 1996
issue of Workers World newspaper
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California students fight to defend affirmative action

By Brenda Sandburg, Amy Ng and Forrest Schmidt in San Francisco

Though passing Proposition 209 on the Nov. 5 ballot in California was a setback for affirmative action, it aroused immediate action by those who want to continue to fight for equality.

The measure would end all California state government-related affirmative-action programs-including university and college admissions and government contracts-that help African Americans, Latinos, Native people and women get jobs and education.

The programs were won by mass struggle involving hundreds of thousands of people in the 1960s and 1970s. And the passage of Proposition 209, by a vote of 54 percent to 46 percent, has already aroused militant student protests across the state.

Students at University of California campuses in Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Northridge, Hayward, Los Angeles, River side and at California State campuses such as San Francisco State quickly mobilized marches, rallies and building takeovers.

In part, Proposition 209 passed because of its confusing wording. It was misnamed the "California Civil Rights Initiative."

The measure's wording says it will prohibit state and local governments from "discriminating against or giving preferential treatment to any individual or group" in public employment, education or contracting.

Its proponents falsely portrayed it as a measure to extend civil rights. The California Republican Party even ran a commercial with a voice-over of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, until Black community protest forced them to drop it.

The Democratic Party officially opposed Proposition 209. But the Democrats tried to distance themselves from the struggle against it.

Until the last three days before the election-after a public struggle led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson pushed the Democrats to contribute $250,000 from their hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funds-they contributed almost nothing. On the other side, there were millions of dollars worth of pro-209 ads.

In a campaign rally in Oakland Oct. 31, President Clinton gave only tepid and indirect support to the anti-209 campaign.

Of similar legislation introduced in 26 states and Congress last year, Proposition 209 was the only one to pass.

Even so, the measure was defeated in counties where there was strong organized opposition. A push by San Francisco activists reversed early polls and brought in a 71-percent "no" vote. It was also defeated in six other Bay Area counties and in Los Angeles County-population 10 million.

Some victories at UC Santa Cruz

At UC Santa Cruz, the school's affirmative-action coalition representatives met 11-and-a-half hours with administration and faculty Nov. 6. Outside, 650 students blocked all eight entrances to the Student Services Building.

They chanted "Student power, color power, women power, worker power, queer power." They hung a painting over an entrance reading: "What is the solution? Student revolution!"

The local community showed solidarity with the students, with restaurants offering food.

UC Santa Cruz's sympathetic chancellor notified the faculty on election night that she intended to redirect $1 million to outreach programs and scholarships for students of color.

UC Santa Cruz students also won expansion of the Ethnic Studies Department; a gender-studies course requirement for graduation; an Asian/Pacific Islander student office; additional funds to recruit Native students; a committee to handle student retention; and hiring students to recruit from the five rural counties surrounding the school.

National People's Campaign organizer Tahnee Stair, a UC Santa Cruz student, said the affirmative-action coalition benefited from tremendous unity among student groups representing Latinos, Native people, Asian Pacific Islanders, African Americans, gays and lesbians, and women.

"Young adults are portrayed in the media as being apathetic," Stair said. "But this protest showed how organized and determined we are to fight for equal access to higher education."

At UC Berkeley, students held a noon rally Nov. 6. Then they marched through the campus and city for three hours- culminating in a takeover of the Campanile Tower, a symbol of the university and the ivory tower of elitism.

Five women from the Latino/Latina student group MECHA chained themselves to the balcony inside the building. Outside, 200 students held a sit-in and rally. Dozens camped outside through the night. At 6 a.m. the next morning, police attacked the sleeping protesters.

When students formed a barricade around the campanile, police beat, dragged and choked several of them. They poked one woman's eye until it bled. Police arrested 23 students.

In addition, protests of several hundred students took place at San Francisco State for days after the election. None of them seemed interested in relying on a court decision to decide the fate of their education.

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