Racism at UCSC

jkirk1975
Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:14:43 +0000

I am an African American student currently attending UCSC. I am also an Oakes student.

Just for the record, I transferred to Porter when I was majoring in Film, but since the film classes weren’t impressing me…I’m now minoring in Film…and I major in American Studies with an Asian American Studies focus.

I have also experienced racism from various individuals mainly from instructors and administrators.

A department head (white female) who dismissed one of my complaints told me with a smile: “You probably don’t want black people coming to UCSC because of your experiences.”

I was yelled at by an Asian female instructor who didn’t like me writing stories about black male/Asian female relationships…yet, she is married to a white Brazilian male. (Not too mention, there are various white male/Asian female couples on campus which I’m sure she didn’t have issues with).

I currently have several complaints going on, against her…as well as other individuals. I plan on submitting, with the help of another UCSC administrator, complaints to the Office of Civil Rights…as well as document my experience in a blog and/or Youtube video.

I was also informed that not only have some African Americans been subjected to racist treatment…but I’ve been told of an experience towards a Latino student.

The school isn’t diverse, unfortunately. I also was speaking with a student in the Chinese/Taiwanese Union(a club I am a part of) and we discussed about how the school is majority Caucasian, and probably how that affected my experiences at the school.

The only reason I attended UCSC was because it was close, and the only other schools accepting applications (due to the budget crisis at the time) were UC Riverside and UC San Diego…two other schools I was also accepted to.