Students demand return of affirmative action

Even if it passes, repeal would not substantively change UC's policies because of Proposition 209, the ballot initiative passed by voters in 1996 that outlaws affirmative action in public education.

However, it would be a significant turnaround for UC, which has been in the cross-hairs of the affirmative action debate ever since the 14-10 vote to stop considering race in admissions.

Regents who support the idea of repeal say they're waiting until they're sure of a commanding vote.

But students had another idea: Act now.

"We are sick of waiting," Tania Kappner, a former UC Berkeley student now working as an Oakland teacher, told the board. "You have no future as anything but villains in California if you do not take the vote."

"You must take down the unwelcome signs," said Hoku Jeffrey, a Berkeley student.

Jeffrey and Kappner were among about a dozen students who spoke directly to the regents meeting at UCLA. Another 1,000 people gathered outside, marching around campus and rallying for hours.

"We need affirmative action so my students can get into these UC schools," said one of the speakers, Noah Lippe-Klein, a history teacher at Dorsey High School in South Central Los Angeles.

Later, several hundred protesters marched to Royce Hall on campus, where a debate between candidates for mayor of Los Angeles was scheduled Wednesday night. As about 200 protesters continued the demonstration from inside the hall and another 200 outside, sponsors canceled the debate.

Two candidates who had arrived for the event spoke to the protesters instead, praising them for their efforts.

"You didn't cancel a debate, you started one," U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, told them.

Former state Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, a UCLA graduate, told the students he had attended the university through an affirmative action program.

"Some may say I got in the back door, but I came out the front door," he said.

Earlier, students had demanded that Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who is a regent and supports repeal, come out to speak to the crowd. Bustamante did, but promptly was shouted down as he tried to explain why repeal isn't up for a vote this week.

"If I had the votes today, we'd do it today," Bustamante said.

"Show us, don't tell us," the crowd yelled.

UC's ban was shepherded by then-Gov. Pete Wilson, who made repealing affirmative action programs a cornerstone of his short-lived campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Regent Ward Connerly, appointed by Wilson, wrote the 1995 resolution and went on to become a national leader in the anti-affirmative action movement.

After the ban took effect for undergraduates in fall 1998, admissions of blacks and Hispanics tumbled at the top campuses of Berkeley and UCLA. The numbers have recovered some, but remain significantly below affirmative action levels.<