After a UC San Diego professor was recorded saying racist vitriol against unidentified Latino workers, students gathered at last week’s A.S. Council Meeting to protest against a measure to cut the A.S. Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) budget. 

At the A.S. meeting last Wednesday, Oct. 19, a large number of activists crowded together, lining the sides of the meeting room around the gathered Council members. 

At the beginning of the meeting, the A.S. Council opened the floor to any members of the public, and activists lined up to present their speeches against cutting the EDI budget. In total, activists spoke for about two hours before the meeting could officially begin. 

The activists voiced their general frustrations with UCSD, especially after witnessing the viral Instagram video of Professor Ternansky making racist comments. 

“You can understand my disgust then, when I saw a professor from the institution which I had worked so hard to get into, say racist slurs to my people. As a Latinx student organizer, I was ready to organize to protect my people, as well as continue the legacy my parents and many of your parents left you,” said the first activist. 

Others also spoke on the impacts of racism they experienced and how it has influenced their lives. 

“After so many experiences being so unwhite, just to find out [white people] cannot see me as American to not being valued for my culture, I do not know how many of the white people on this planet I can trust,” one activist statedspoke gravely. 

All who spoke in the open floor agreed that cutting the budget of the Office of EDI was irrational and unnecessary and only caused more harm for students who benefited from the services provided. 

Later in the meeting, Associate Vice President of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Cristian Fuentes Hernandez and Chief of Staff of AS Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Christina Marie Green presented a breakdown of the proposed budget for the EDI office for the 2022-2023 school year. They also offered an overview of the new events, conferences, and on-campus initiatives the office was planning for, as well as the annual UCSD cultural celebration. 

Hernandez first went over the new proposed budget for the office, comparing it to last year’s budget. The individual budgets and how they are divided are listed in the graph below. 

Additionally, Hernandez also went over the budget for the Women’s Commission. It is shown below in comparison to the 2021-22 budget.

Following the budget breakdowns, Hernandez went over the new events and conferences the EDI office is offering. He started with the Latinx Leads Student Leadership Conference, a new conference that just had its first meeting last weekend. Hernandez elaborated that this conference endeavors to help UCSD in its goal to become a Hispanic-Serving Institution. 

Green then introduced the 18th National Black Pre-Law Conference and Law Fair at Harvard Law School and Boston College Law School. Approximately eight to 12 aspiring Black lawyers will be able to go on a four-day trip to Boston to engage in workshops and panel discussions. EDI hopes to cover all the expenses, but the budget has yet to be approved by the administration. Additionally, Green went over the budget of the Asian Pacific Islander Student Alliance (APSA) Voting Event, which is also listed below.

Green then covered the initiatives that EDI wanted to address. First, the EDI Office wanted to address the accessibility issue of homework access codes, as they can be costly for students and discriminatory toward students with disabilities, such as those with vision impairments. UCSD is currently planning on introducing a Netflix-inspired model for textbook and homework access codes, meaning students would pay $200 each quarter to access codes, but EDI hopes to provide sponsorships to help students to afford these. However, EDI mostly hopes for policy changes and will send a survey to get a consensus on how to access homework and textbook codes. Additionally, Hernandez stated that the EDI office plans to collaborate with the Raza Resource Centro and the Triton Food Pantry to establish additional food pantries at the resource centers, such as the Women’s Resource Center and the Cross-Cultural Center. 

Finally, Hernandez went over the UCSD Annual Cultural Celebration, which will happen sometime in the winter or Spring Quarter, as well as other events planned out for those quarters. 

A.S. meetings are held every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Forum at Price Center East on the Fourth Floor. They are also streamed live on the Associated Students Facebook. More information can be found here. 

Photo by Raya for the UCSD Guardian.

Data visualization by Ifunanya Okoroma for the UCSD Guardian.

Editor’s note: The writer of this article was not able to record the names of those speaking at the protest.