Group opposes Connerly reappointment

A coalition of affirmative action supporters, speaking during the public input session at the September 22 UC Board of Regents meeting, told the regents that it had collected more than 15,000 signatures on a petition objecting to the reappointment of Regent Ward Connerly.

Approximately half a dozen speakers from the group By Any Means Necessary made emotional statements to the regents, at times yelling over the directions given by the board’s secretary. Connerly walked out of the meeting several minutes after the group began speaking, with members of the audience cheering.

Members of the group called Connerly an “Uncle Tom” and likened him to segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace.

Connerly, a black businessman, was a main backer of Proposition 209, which banned the use of racial preferences in the state, and supported last year’s failed effort to prohibit the state of California from collecting data on race.

Originally appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson, Connerly’s 12-year term on the board will end in March.

Chancellor Fox to host online conversation

UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox will hold a one-hour online chat with students and members of the press on Sept. 29.

Those who participate in the live forum will be able to ask questions and receive “direct, personal feedback,” according to a university statement. The chat follows Fox’s impromptu conversations with students as they moved into campus housing and a cookie distribution during Welcome Week.

The chat will begin at 4 p.m. at http://chancellorchat.ucsd.edu.

Nonprofit urges youth to pledge sex with voters

In an effort to increase turnout among young voters, a nonpartisan group led by recent college graduates has launched a campaign to link voting and sex.

Spokeswoman Michelle Collins said the goal of the campaign, called Votergasm, is to turn Election Day into “an erotic national youth festival, an orgy of democracy and civic participation.”

The nonprofit group says it wants to reverse two trends: “low voting rates among young people and unacceptably low rates of youth sexual activity.”

To encourage election-night sex on campuses, the group is planning to launch an advertising campaign in college newspapers in swing states.

Through the campaign’s Web site, students can pledge to abstain from having sex with nonvoters for various periods of time. To pledge at the highest “American Hero” level, they have to promise “have sex with a voter on election night and withhold sex from nonvoters for the next four years.”

Report gives state “B” grade for college affordability

Despite improvement over the last decade, California still has work to do in improving affordability of its higher education, a new report card has found.

Overall, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education awarded the state a grade of “B” for college costs.

Even though community colleges offer poor students low-priced access to a college education, families in California spend a larger share of family income on higher education costs than the best-performing states, the study found. However, the center noted that the share of income spent on college has decreased over the last decade, in part thanks to the state’s commitment to provide financial aid programs to needy students, it said.

In addition, the report card gave the state an “A” grade for the rate of college enrollment among its students, attainment of degrees and civic participation.

Davis law student confirmed as student regent

The UC Board of Regents has approved the appointment of a second-year UC Davis law student to serve as the student member of the governing body for the 2005-06 academic year.

Adam Rosenthal, a 25-year-old UCLA graduate, will begin attending meetings during the current year but will not participate in regent votes.

Rosenthal cited costs of higher education, diversity on UC campuses and determining the role of the university in managing the Department of Energy’s national laboratories as the priorities during his tenure.

He will succeed UCLA graduate student Jodi Anderson, the current student regent.