According to an article in the Daily Bruin, officials at UCLA have equated a decline in student “activism” with a declining number of blacks on campus.
According to Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, the vice chancellor for the graduate department, the change in campus demographics has had a permanent impact on campus culture.
“The change does have something to do with the decline in the numbers of some groups
Its as is these students think theyre there for an education rather than protesting! Where would they get such an absurd idea? These punks are just creating more senseless work for the poor faculty who could be much more productive sitting in their hot tubs discussing how great the revolution will be.
/sarcasm off
How did these idiots come to run our schools?
Putting aside the false assumption that activism is an academic necessity and the tactfulness of the generalizing, it doesn’t seem accurate on its own terms. I attended UCLA from Fall 95-June 99 and every day I went to classes along “Bruin Walk.” From Bruin plaza to Kerckoff Hall, about 70 yards, this walkway was lined with tables that would be manned by various student groups, so even a casual passerby could get a pretty good feel for the active membership of these groups.
As the campus was then about 40% Asian (a frequency that was suppressed by AA and now slightly higher), it’s not surprising that this was about the composition of the campuses’ little platoons. Asians were especially involved in campus evangelical groups, by my recollection there were 5 or 6 Asian Christian groups. SP1 & SP2 having passed a few months before my time, and 209 during it, there was a great deal of protesting for the good ole days of racial balancing. Asians often joined in on this at rates close to their share of the campus, which always surprised me, since I can understand the logic of white guilt, but one would imagine that a group with no domestic historical sins to atone for would resist being discriminated against. It’s difficult to say since even under AA-admitted cohorts they were only about 5% of the student body, but I don’t recall blacks being especially involved in campus activism. On the other hand, if memory serves, Hispanics were disproportionately involved in campus politics and so regarding them the administrators are probably accurate.
In general though it seems the powers that be are confusing left-wing activism with activism. Difficult as it may to believe, someone can be concerned with society and things other than success through education without buying into your party line. Baby boomer elites may not appreciate that when UCLA’s Asian students form groups they often, but not always, do so to worship Jesus Christ rather than Frantz Fanon, but one cannot accuse them of a lack of civic engagement and ascribe it to the stereotype of the diligent but passive oriental.
Bad Campus Environment?
Now why would a college official act as if it’s a bad thing that students want to focus on education? Well, at UCLA, they are apparently upset by the trend….
The worldview of certain college administrators is a wonder, is it not? It speaks volumes that Nelson could spout such nonsense and not see it as such.
Activists without ‘critical mass’
In the Daily Bruin, UCLA officials complain that the decline in black and Hispanic enrollment — caused by the ban on race-based preferences — is changing campus culture. There isn’t a “critical mass” of activists, they complain. The end of…
As a white man married to an Asian woman, I am constantly astounded by (1) how widespread and deep is prejudice against Asians, particularly in the white community, and (2) the refusal of my wife and her friends, relatives and colleagues to focus on doing something about it.
Prejudice against Asians emanates from white women, who see Asian women as unfair competitors. Asian women, in general, believe in being helpmates to men. They don’t buy the feminist line. And the cult of femininity is still powerful. (If you don’t believe me, go to the Macy’s flower show in NYC for a view of the long line of Asian women who like to think of themselves as incarnations of flowers. It’s surprising how many of them are named after flowers.) My wife regards the hostility of white women as an immoveable and unchangeable force, and thus not worth bothering with.
“Better to be like water,” is her motto. “Water eventually wins over everything. Even stone.”
You might want to ponder that in relation to this subject.
I wish that I had Berky Nelson’s talent for not generalizing while generalizing. It’s really doubleplusgood. Especially when he must struggle against the superstitious belief of some students (sorry–groups of students) that the way to success is through education. If four years at university won’t teach them otherwise, there can’t be much hope.
Alarmingly, Dr. Nelson seems to be consuming more than his share of unintentional irony, thus doubtlessly contributing to the looming deficit of this irreplaceable resource. *Here*, he discusses student activism with some Tunisian visitors:
“[Nelson] recalled one time when the CIA came to recruit students, and students who opposed the CIA broke up the meeting.” And he related with pride “that after 9/11 there were very few attacks on Muslim students.”
I wonder if Nelson would be amused by the results of the *complicated Google search [UCLA Muslim attack]* I used to find out more about these very few attacks.
doing early morning research for a summer school paper on activism and ran across this page. as a student activist at ucla (black and queer, here folks) i’d like to point out that mr. nelson is black. i’d also like to point out that the article was not written well as it didn’t fully explain the context of the political climate on the ucla campus. for nearly 10 years UCLA’s student government has been run by a collective formed (usually) by the student of color, currently called students first. often the collective has been led by the african student union and mecha (the latino org) which is why lower numbers are a big deal. with activism at UCLA being majorly run by african american for decades (google angela davis, bunchy carter etc) there are larger ramifications that the DB article fails to address…