A participant on the expedition stands two rock towers which stand at the entrance of the desert.

At the hot spring of El Haize, a small valley in the Western Sahara, Osam Ahmed rested against a white brick
wall under the thatched stick roof of a makeshift hut. His black and white
kaffiya, the traditional headdress of the Bedouin, faded gray shirt and dirty blue jeans reveal
— along with an emerging beard and sand-streaked face — that he hasn’t bathed
or changed clothes for days.

“If you see me with a shower, shaved, with nice clothes, you
would say, ‘Who is that man?’” he laughed, responding to a guess that he is 30
years old. Born in 1985 in the oasis town of Bahariya, Ahmed has spent his entire life in
the desert. For the past five years, he has led tour groups through the Sahara, including our group of American study-abroad
students on the weekend of Oct. 6.

Some spots still impress Ahmed. “Welcome to the second
planet,” he said.

At the White Desert’s
opening, where Jeeps parked between two cliffs atop a sprawling dune. The group
then climbed a hill to get the full panoramic view.

The sand pouring into the valley crashes into immense stone
monuments, shaped by years of heavy wind.

While some in the group descended, others climbed up the
side cliffs and gazed upon the smooth skyscrapers of rock jutting out of the
earth below. Tracks in the sand marked where Jeeps had passed between the
towers and headed off into the vast expanse of horizon.

Ahmed has been all over Egypt
— to the Black and White Deserts, to the Great
Sand Sea
in far western Egypt
and to the Gilf el Kabir in the southwest. He leads groups north to the Siwa
and Gara Oases, to the Qattara Depression in the central north and to Fayoum
and Giza just outside Cairo. He travels to Frafra and Dakhla Oases
in central Egypt and to the
southeast Kharga Oasis just west of Luxor.

“In November I am going for 22 days from the White Desert,”
he said. “We will go by camel. This is a fun trip. It is a good time to be
going.”

Ahmed never worries about spending long spells in the desert
or about getting lost in the endless sands.

“It only happened once,” he said. “A group of three
Japanese; they drank all night and in the morning [the guide] was not clear, he
headed off the wrong way. We know this man is supposed to be back, so when he doesn’t show everyone gets their
Jeeps and goes out. We found one man, he was far from the others and he led us
to them. It happens, but never to me.”

Outside the hut in El Haize, several trucks pulled into a
dirt lot. They were newer than those of Ahmed Safari Camp, the tour and hotel
management group run by the Ahmed family, and no gear was strapped to the
roofs. The Ahmed family’s three Jeeps hauled stacks of sleeping mats, sleeping
bags, oriental rugs, low-lying tables and firewood — all the luxuries of a
desert camp.

The other tour group, made of two families, climbed out of
their air-conditioned trucks and gathered around the hot-spring pool while
Ahmed, his three fellow guides and 14 student tourists rested in the hut’s
shade. The 3-foot deep, 8-by-12 concrete pool is filled by the pressure of the
spring fed through a large black pipe, spilling its water into an aqueduct and
through the middle of the hut, finally draining into the gardens behind.

An hour earlier, Ahmed had swum in the pool. The desert
guides dunked their tourists under the water and splashed around beneath the
desert sun. The silky, light blue water filled up with disturbed slick sludge
from the pool walls.

Children from the quiet, rustic village nearby gathered to
swim, play and fill water bottles in the spring as the second tour group
departed. When approached, they smiled and put up their thumbs. They asked for
money and then, giving up the pursuit of cash, asked for pens.

Ahmed grew up in the desert, living a life similar to the
children at the pool. He now leads safaris among the soft bleached rocks of the
White Desert, the jagged mushroom-shaped
stones and waves of clay resembling wind-blown sand. He finds home’s comforts
in the echoing silence of the desert night. The environment practically raised
Ahmed; he never received an education beyond what the desert has provided him.

Resting under their shelter of reeds and thatched sticks,
the American students consulted guidebooks and discussed future weekend travels
to Turkey, Jordan and Greece. Chatting about Egypt, the previous night spent in the Sahara dunes and the luxuries of home, we rested and
waited for our meal.

Alongside the trickling water of the shelter’s aqueduct, we
dined on warm pita bread, platters of grapes and a freshly made tuna salad
chopped with tomatoes and onions. After the meal and another round of lounging,
Ahmed called out to the group, “Yalla” or “let’s go” in Egyptian Arabic.

The Jeeps pulled out from the hot spring and drove past the
kids of El Haize, who waved from the side of the road, saying goodbye to
another group of tourists on their way to a camp in the midst of the “second
planet.”

For students who enjoy meals comprised of mass-produced
ground beef or greasy Chinese food, Price Center offers a smorgasbord of quick
and tasty options that may not provide nourishment but definitely leave
students feeling full. But where can those students find something more
nutritious, healthy and even fresh? Fortunately, UCSD has an expanding amount
of options for students searching for organic foods; it just takes a little
invested interest to find them.

Fresh fruit sold at the Food Co-op comes from local farmers who practice eco-friendly farming methods and avoid using chemicals for growing or weeding purposes. (Photos by Eric Rounds/Guardian)

Students who shop at Groundwork Books or find themselves
lost between John Muir and Revelle Colleges might have found the student-run
Food Co-op in Student Center, which provides vegan and vegetarian snacks, along
with fresh produce and an organic salad bar. Though it is tucked away in a part
of campus that is home to more construction than students, the co-op promotes
making educated choices about food, not only for personal health, but also for
the world.

“The main thing
[about organics] is connecting yourself with the communities that provide you food,
not having it appear in a Styrofoam box,” Muir College senior and Co-op member
Adam Calo said. “People don’t understand how their individual choice is
important.”

By cutting out the use of pesticides, distributing locally
and using manual labor in place of machinery, organic growers greatly decrease
the environmental impact of their food production. Choices as simple as picking
up an organic apple or salad influence the way farmlands and farm workers are
treated; the effect goes beyond a singular choice.

“I can use my ability as a consumer to choose products,
choose practices I support morally and ethically, and not have food be
separate,” Calo said. “The world is so dependent on agriculture and how it’s
done, so to separate your meals from what it’s actually doing in the world is a
big error.”

If Student Center is too remote for students only familiar
with the campus’ main paths, organic options can also be found in Price
Center’s Sunshine Store. Bonnie Harmon, the store’s manager and developer,
surveyed eco-friendly chains such as Whole Foods and Sprouts this summer, and
has contacted other major organic vendors to give the campus convenience store
a healthier variety of foods in preparation for the Price Center expansion
project.

“The [UCSD] community has a responsibility to the students
on campus to provide them with an environment where they are able to make
choices that are healthy for themselves,” Harmon said. “… I feel responsible
for making sure [healthy] options are there.”

Though the current selection of organic products is limited,
the Sunshine Store will be expanding in February 2008 to become the Sunshine
Market, which will not only include not only an organic section, but an
international section also. Though the store is growing and will be providing
more options, Harmon wants to remain appealing to budget-minded students.

“One thing I want the students to know they can count on at
the Sunshine Store is good value,” Harmon said.

Harmon also spearheads the farmer’s market, another
convenient organic option located on Library Walk and Lyman Lane near the
Chancellor’s Complex, every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“I have seen a
revolution brewing … students are very knowledgeable about what they want to
eat, what they want to put into their bodies and what they expect that food to
provide for their bodies,” Harmon said. “That’s why we brought the farmer’s
market on campus.”

The market is currently in its fourth season of operation
and has a wide variety of healthy, fresh and organic foods. Vendors
representing certified organic growers such as Budwood Farms and Smit Orchards
frequent the campus market and also participate in other markets throughout San
Diego County.

“[UCSD] is a great place to be selling organic food because
fruit isn’t something that needs to be prepared,” Smit Orchards vendor and UCSD
alumnus Matthew Smit said. “You can eat it right away or put it in your fridge
… so [for] students, it’s a fantastic thing.”

Like most certified organic vendors, the price of Smit
produce tends to be more expensive than their nonorganic counterparts. However,
the increase in price not only accounts for the food quality, but also
environmental benefits and labor consciousness.

“[Organic farmers] are growing the products and taking the
extra steps to make a really healthy and tasty product; we’re not trying to
just make as much as possible, grow as much as possible and sell as much as
possible,” Smit said. “So, because of that, organic farmers tend to be a little
more conscious about [their workers.] … [Organic food] is coming straight from
the farm to the customer.”

Along with Smit, returning vendor Larry Nedeu of Budwood
Farms can be found among the vegetable and fruit-laden tables at the farmer’s
market, selling organic produce to UCSD students. Both Smit and Nedeu are
certified organic vendors and have dealt with copious amounts of paperwork and
high expenses to continue sustainable farming. Nedeu has been farming
organically for 12 years, working manually without the assistance of tractors
or any heavy machinery. Weeding proves to be especially tough for organic
farmers that either deal with the problem themselves or have to hire
assistants. However, the extra work goes a long way on a grander scale: The
food is more nutritious and the land isn’t left ravaged by pesticides or heavy
machinery.

“It’s all about
improving the land, not just taking from it like conventional farming,” Nedeu
said.

These environmentally friendly techniques are evident in the
food’s appearance.

“We have some really great-looking produce and that just
comes from putting in the effort to do it right,” Smit said.

For students dedicated to the standard meal-point system,
Housing and Dining Services has also introduced organic food to its cuisine.
With dining halls such as Foodworx, Sierra Summit and Cafe Ventanas offering
organic teas, coffees, yogurts and soups, students can also make healthier
choices while still being able to rely on the money allotted to their
meal-point plans.

Steve Casad, the director of Dining, Retail and Conference
Services, has made a conscious effort to provide organic options, especially
for students who live in apartments.

“There is an increasing organic line at Earl’s Place,” Casad
said. “We want to make sure there is an array of organic choices for students
to take back to their rooms to prepare.”

At on-campus dining halls, organic foods have become
ingredients in many of the entrees that dining halls produce, due to the recent
addition of a culinary director and dietitian to the staff. The culinary
director and dietitian work together to formulate recipes that appear in all of
the campus dining halls, and focus on attaining a uniform standard of high
quality taste and nutrition.

“It is our responsibility to take care of the students and
offer healthy and nutritious meals,” Casad said.

While the staff at Housing and Dining Services and other
on-campus eateries is looking to expand the selection of organic food, at the
end of the day, the choices and students’ desires will determine whether
organic options are expanded.

“[What we serve] is
based on the masses,” Casad said. “The organic, health conscious,
environmentally and labor friendly options are out there, and have the potential
to expand — the choice is up to you.”

STUDENT LIFE — At its Oct. 17 meeting, the A.S. Council
approved a $4,000 funding allocation for Triton Tide — as though the now $3.6
million athletics budget (thanks to last year’s fee referendum) and the
already-allotted $13,400 of council money just wasn’t enough.

This recent allotment is particularly surprising, as it
comes from a council that, just last year, made strides to stop funding
duplication. In fact, the 2007-08 budget approval meeting spurred great debate
over Triton Tide specifically, because the council gave the organization $4,100
less than it had the previous year. However, it appears that in light of an
overwhelming $264,000 carryover, the council has decided to throw logic to the
wind, kneeling to Triton Tide’s ever-persistent leader Dave Payne.

What makes the $4,000 truly aggravating are the
circumstances under which it was allotted. Months ago (and without proper
approval) Triton Tide ordered foam fingers to distribute at games. But this
wasn’t just any we’re-number-one, run-of-the-mill type spirit gear. Classy as
they are, UCSD’s elite spirit crew ordered $2,000 worth of blue-and-gold UCSD
fingers, specially molded into the “shocker” gesture. That’s right, nothing
says school pride like an obscene hand motion. And though the group claimed the
design was meant to represent a trident, anyone who has gone to a UCSD
basketball game (“Shock ’em Tritons!”) knows this is a transparent defense of
the signal’s true meaning.

Fast-forward to the fingers’ arrival and Payne sat beaming
over his brilliant idea. It was A.S. President Marco Murillo and A.S. Vice
President of Finance and Resources Sarah Chang that had to break it to Payne
that it’s generally best not to use explicit or offensive signs to represent
yourself, the university or your school pride.

The fingers were reportedly nixed — $2,000 taken from
student pockets and sent to the trash compactor — and Payne, rather than
realizing his egregious mistake and apologizing for his flagrant abuse of
money, complained for replacement funds and threatened to pass out the peppy
contraband despite unequivocal directions not to do so.

Apparently trying to ameliorate an unruly Payne, Chang and
Murillo appeased greedy hands by sponsoring a finance committee bill that
increased Triton Tide’s funding by $4,000; $2,000 to replace money already
spent on the original fingers and order new ones, and $2,000 more for “rush
shipping” — and whatever else Payne fancies. This brings the council’s
contribution to Triton Tide to a total of $17,400, just $100 less than last
year’s allotment. So much for not duplicating funds.

Then on Oct. 17 the council, frivolous and blase from their
unusually large carryover, approved the bill 13-9-3.

Now regardless of the implication of the shocker, or the
appropriateness thereof, the bottom line is that Payne’s fiscal
irresponsibility and a complete lack of council oversight has forced Triton
Tide to throw away $2,000 of students’ money. But rather than being reprimanded
like the misbehaving child it is, the group’s A.S. Council parent organization
gave that spoiled brat a $2,000 reward.

Forget the initial questions: what could Payne have possibly
been thinking when he ordered something so obviously distasteful? And why are
student fees being spent on something as useless as foam fingers anyway? We
should recognize how telling this event is of the council’s spending practices.

Where was the council oversight?

And even more importantly, why does the council continue to
fund Triton Tide in the first place? Students are now handing athletics $3.6
million a year, no strings attached, which the department has spent on who knows what. The least it could do is pump a
few grand into publicizing its own events.

But try to suggest that at a council meeting, and feel the
irrational wrath of zealots Payne and All-Campus Senator Meghan Clair, an
unwavering Triton Tide ally. Apparently, for the 2007-08 council, it isn’t about
supporting the decisions that make the most sense; it’s about who can yell the
loudest and what it takes to shut them up.

Instead of an efficient, logical or even priority-based
distribution of funds, the council, under constant pressure from Triton Tide
supporters, is throwing thousands of dollars around like candy. And students
are suckered into paying more and more, just to see their activity fees wasted.

It’s good for Payne: In being completely insufferable, his
incompetence was ignored and his beloved Triton Tide was allowed to literally
throw away $2,000 of student fees. Meanwhile, many organizations and student
services, which actually affect a far greater number of students than the few
that attend athletic games, remain underfunded.

Maybe these starving organizations should learn something
from Payne: All it takes for their slice of the carryover pie is to harass
chunks of it out of the council.

When asked about Triton Tide and the recent funding
allotment, Payne declined to comment.

Let me be one of the first to admit: We college kids are a
rather pretentious and arrogant bunch.

Most of us love feigning that we’ve been around the block a
few times, acting like we know what we’re doing with our lives and criticizing
everyone around us because we clearly know better than the rest of the world.
We also enjoy deluding ourselves by thinking that we’re the most cultured,
globally concerned, politically knowledgeable and talented group of scholars
out there. To be frank, in spite of all our book-smarts, the majority of us
shouldn’t be giving ourselves that much credit.

I, too, have often fallen into this unsavory category of
overconfident, self-entitled university students. I hardly ever fail to find a
good excuse as to why my teachers are completely unjust in their grading
systems, and hardly acknowledge advice
from friends and family because I like to believe that I’m always right. In
fact, it took an entire summer of being emerged in the culture and lifestyle of
a foreign country before I finally began to realize how little I actually knew
about the world.

Fortunately, this startling realization was one of the most
rewarding and enlightening experiences that I could hope for, and I can’t say
that the rest of my ever-so-brilliant and culturally-aware colleagues wouldn’t
benefit from the same sort of experience.

For a great number of us, it is difficult to see a world
outside the cozy confines of Geisel library, Price Center
eateries, themed house parties and our happy moments solving the Guardian’s
sudoku puzzles during class instead of paying attention to our oftentimes-bland
lectures on thermodynamics or electromagnetism. We get so embroiled in the
unending flurry of papers, midterms, lunch dates and reality television shows,
that it’s often hard for us to look beyond our day-to-day college experiences
and explore the world in its entirety.

For these reasons, it comes as a surprise to many of us that
there is a realm outside of our demanding college lives and, yes, even outside
of the United States,
just waiting to be explored. We may read about it in the newspapers, or catch
glimpses of it on the evening news (though many of us would rather watch the
latest episode of the Office instead), but experiencing it for ourselves
firsthand is something completely different, and also completely necessary, if
we would like to label ourselves as informed and cultured individuals.

When I finally left San Diego’s confines to study abroad in
Siena, Italy, I was thrilled to learn what the lands beyond California had to
offer. My journey from

Rome up through the rolling hills of Tuscany was a learning
experience in itself. I knew only a few key phrases in Italian, and finding my
way to the train station and asking for directions was a lot harder than I initially
thought it would be. Carrying close to 80 pounds of luggage while struggling to
translate directions and understand train schedules was stressful. To make
matters worse, no one had informed me that single-file lines and common
courtesy were not all the rage in Italy, and that no one will ever feel sorry
for you if you fall down an escalator in a busy train station.

For the first time in a long while, I honestly felt
incredibly humbled. I knew that I shouldn’t have expected to immediately plunge
into a completely different world to be easy — but even with my attempts at
mental preparation and my trusty Italian phrasebook in hand, coming out of my
little college utopia to immerse myself in the Italian culture was a
much-needed reality check.

As I stepped outside Fiumicino airport into the humid Roman
air, I had a number of harsh realizations: No one around me understood English,
or my sad attempts at Italian. Not everyone in Europe was in love with my
profoundly American accent or impressed with my Jansport backpack and Chuck
Taylors. As a matter of fact, many Italians were just as irritated (if not more
so) by my cultural ignorance as Americans are with foreigners who speak poor
English and mock our love for ice cubes and big cars.

In a way, it was refreshing to be seen as an ignorant
foreigner. I had become so accustomed to being in control of everything back at
UCSD, and priding myself on my academic achievements, Guardian articles and my
dear posse of friends — but none of those things mattered in Italy. What did
matter were my abilities to adapt to Italian culture and my efforts to
integrate myself into the country’s rich customs and traditions. This process
was quite a challenge for me, but in the end, my efforts paid off and I was
generously rewarded with a deeper look into the society, politics and the way
of life in this beautiful country. If I hadn’t been able to put my slightly
stubborn, slightly haughty, American-college-student ways aside, I’m certain
that my experience in Europe would not have had such a profound affect on my
life and I probably wouldn’t have learned so much about myself and the world
around me.

Experiencing life in Europe and seeing the United States and
American college students from an outsider’s perspective was an eye opener
that can never be experienced within the
protective shield of university life. It gave me a genuine idea of culture,
world issues and lifestyle, and really changed my perspective on the world,
which I thought I had already known so well.

So I challenge the rest of you know-it-all college kids to
break out of your safe havens and try seeing yourselves from someone else’s
perspective instead of from your own glorified points of view. If this means
studying abroad, traveling or simply seizing opportunities to try things that
you normally wouldn’t do, so be it.

One thing is for sure, if we stop kidding ourselves and
putting on our pretentious-college-student shows, we can experience situations
that will help us learn much more about ourselves and our world than any novel,
news program or psychology class could ever hope to teach us.

STUDENT CENTERS AND HEALTH — In the past few weeks, students
across the nation have been exposed to virulent outbreaks of staph infection,
including a deadly strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus know
as MRSA. But it wasn’t until Oct. 16, when the death of a senior at Staunton River
High School in Moneta,
Va. prompted student protests, that the true
magnitude and dangers of staph infections in the United States were brought to the
public eye.

According to reports from doctors at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, nearly 19,000 people in the United States died in 2005 from
MRSA infections — exceeding the number of deaths attributed to A.I.D.S.,
Parkinson’s disease, emphysema or homicide each year. New evidence from the
American Medical Association suggests that cases of the antibiotic-resistant
MRSA infections may be twice as prevalent as previously imagined.

In view of these recent reports, it’s disappointing that
local health and education officials weren’t the first to shed light on this
threat at Virginia high schools, but instead waited for student protestors to
be the proponents of disinfecting facilities and preventing the spread of this
potentially lethal strain of bacteria. In light of recent outbreaks, it is time
for officials in Virginia and throughout the country to treat this situation
with the caution and gravity it warrants.

The severity of these staph infections shouldn’t be taken
lightly — the current strain of MRSA circulating in schools across the nation
does not respond to penicillin and other related antibiotics. The infection can
be spread easily by skin-to-skin contact or through sharing hygiene items (such
as towels or razors) used by infected persons, especially those with open
wounds. Considering there were 11 other reported MRSA cases throughout southern
Virginia in the six months leading up to the most recent student death, it
comes as a great upset that schools did not make greater efforts to caution
students and prevent infections.

At Staunton River High
School, students took matters into their own hands by organizing a protest
overnight on Oct. 15 using text messages and social networking Web sites. They
brought the Bedford County School Superintendent on a tour of the school on
Oct. 16 to show him the filthy conditions of their facilities — especially the
locker rooms, a common area for student-athletes to contract staph infections.
The students’ efforts encouraged county officials to disinfect Staunton River
and 21 surrounding high schools in an effort to prevent further outbreaks.

It is discouraging that health and education officials
failed to initially take greater
preventative measures. Fortunately, the staph infection cases in Virginia were
promptly addressed after they were discovered, but had people been more
informed, it may have been possible to prevent the Richmond student’s death.

According to reports, the student’s mother said that her son
was originally sent home from the hospital after doctors ruled out appendicitis
as the cause for his severe stomach pains.

He was readmitted after a few days, but wasn’t diagnosed
with MRSA until the staph infection had spread to his kidneys, heart and lungs.
By then, it was already too late.

If schools and medical facilities throughout the area are
made more aware of recent bacterial outbreaks, it may be possible to discover
MRSA infection sooner so that future patients can receive the proper drug
treatments quickly.

Considering that student MRSA infection have already been a
problem in Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Florida and Illinois, it is not
unreasonable for schools in other states to inform their students about the
dangers of staph infections.

In order to ensure infections won’t continue to spread
throughout the nation, student health centers should provide more information
to educate students about the severity of these bacterial strains and what can
be done to detect and prevent future infections. Additionally, schools should
take their own measures to promote clean environments instead of hot-spot
bacteria-infested areas such as locker rooms, where infections are most often
contracted.

Five-foot-6-inch senior midfielder Chelsey Campbell had a hard time shooting over the tall Chico State defenders on Oct. 19, but she assisted on a header for a goal in a 4-0 win over Cal State Stanislaus on Oct. 21. (Erik Jepsen/Guardian)

Just as the San Diego sun set
over Triton Soccer Field early on Oct. 19, the UCSD women’s soccer team made
one last futile attempt to push the ball toward the Chico State
goal, hoping for an equalizing goal to send the game into overtime. As was the
pattern all game long, the Tritons just could not penetrate the Chico State
defense and fell victim to the Wildcats, 1-0, for their second straight home
loss.

With only three games left in the regular season, UCSD
proved that its aspirations of a national championship are not unfounded by
bouncing back on Oct. 21 with a resounding 4-0 win over Cal State Stanislaus.
The game was accentuated by an overpowering Triton offense that scored three
first-half goals and dominated the time of possession.

The recent UCSD losses have coincided with an expanding
injured-reserve list. The makeshift lineup has been doing its best to step in,
and the Triton bench has performed admirably.

“We’ve been missing a couple of starters due to injuries
lately and that has been really hard on us,” senior midfielder Chelsey Campbell
said. “[Junior] Amanda Esquivel and [senior] Stacy Johnson are our two outside
defenders, so right now we’re missing two out of our three defenders and that’s
hard to overcome. Stacy has been out for almost a month but we’re looking to
get her back next Friday, so that should be a big lift.”

The first 30 minutes of Friday’s game saw UCSD and Chico
State trading offensive drives that fell short. Each team had opportunities,
especially from corner kicks, but was unable to capitalize.

“We didn’t have some luck behind us versus Chico [State],”
senior defender Nicole Pepper said. “We had opportunities but we didn’t have
that extra oomph that we needed. Sometimes we have dry spells. It happens in
soccer and sometimes the best team doesn’t win.”

In the 31st minute when the Triton defense was trying to
clear the ball, a UCSD turnover deflected the ball back into Wildcat possession
in front of the goal, and Chico State forward Melissa Lindsay was able to beat
junior goalkeeper Jessica McGovern with a low, hard shot that was just beyond
the reach of McGovern’s dive. The goal proved to be the game-winner, as neither
team was able to score again.

UCSD simply could not penetrate Chico State’s unusually tall
defense the rest of the game, managing only five shots on goal. For a Triton
team not known for its height, the obstacle of four tall Wildcats blocking the
goal was too much to overcome.

“We never really got to connecting good passes and getting
good plays together so we ended up having the midfielders playing the ball up
in the air,” senior midfielder Ali Lai said. “Their entire back line was at
least 5-foot-10-inches [tall] or 5-foot-11-inches and I’m 5-foot-3-inches, so
we couldn’t get to those balls.”

Despite two recent losses, the Tritons are not pressing and
taking their season one game at a time.

“We’re not starting to crack and we’re not losing our composure,”
Pepper said. “Sometimes you just have those losses. You have those games where
you knew you could win, it’s just putting it together from the back all the way
to the front. We’re a really strong team mentally so it’s just going to come
down to us coming together and showing we can win.”

The Tritons realize that they cannot continue their style of
play if they hope to play deep into the postseason.

“I think it’s getting harder to get away with playing this
poorly,” Campbell said. “We can’t play like this in the postseason. We’re good
at making the [California Collegiate Athletic Association] league championships
but there is no way get away with this in the NCAAs. We’ll regroup and play
like we know how.”

Sunday’s win will hopefully get the Tritons back on track
for their last two regular season games so they can head into the postseason
with some momentum. On Oct. 26, UCSD will take on Cal State San Bernardino at
home.

It seems that the UCSD women’s volleyball team has finally
found its groove. After struggling to achieve any kind of consistent play
through the first half of the season, the Tritons are at last playing nearly at
their peak.

Senior outside hitter Casey Wilson helped the Tritons to two straight set wins, totaling 16 kills, 14 digs and three aces in UCSD wins over Cal State Stanislaus and Chico State on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, respectively. (Sanh Luong/Guardian)

Guided by resilient defense and a powerful offense, the No.
20 Tritons swept their two weekend matches, dominating Cal State Stanislaus
30-24, 30-26, 30-25 on Oct. 19 followed by a stellar performance the next day
with a 30-25, 31-29, 30-27 win over No. 19 Chico State. With the victories,
UCSD boosted its record to 15-6 overall — and more importantly, took over a
share of second place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association with a
league record of 9-4.

Head coach Tom Black said that he feels that the players
haven’t quite reached their highest level but are progressing.

“We’re on our way to reaching our peak and last night was a
big step,” he said. “Hopefully we reach that peak in the final games of
conference play and into playoffs.”

On a busy athletics night at UCSD on Oct. 19, the Tritons
didn’t disappoint the loyal fans that came to watch their thrashing of Cal
State Stanislaus. The Warriors would take the first advantage in game one as
UCSD got off to a slow start. Down by one, the Tritons went on a six-point run
to take a 25-19 lead and eventually took the game.

Fired up after squeaking out game one, the Tritons blazed to
a 6-1 lead early and then stretched the margin to nine at 20-11. The Warriors
didn’t have an answer for the robust Triton offense on the night, as UCSD was
relentless and put down 14 kills in the game to take the win.

Down early in game three, senior opposite Amber Ries powered
the Tritons to a 12-7 lead on a monster smash over a Warrior block. UCSD
stretched the lead to nine on a pair of kills by junior outside hitter
Kimberley Carpenter. Cal State Stanislaus made things interesting in the later
stages, closing the gap to 26-23. But the team couldn’t pull off the comeback
and the Tritons finished off the Warriors 30-25.

Despite the victory, Black was frustrated with the team’s
slow start.

“I think we came out a little sluggish,” Black said. “We
know we can’t do that and really need to improve there.”

Oct. 20 was a different tale. Unlike Cal State Stanislaus,
who hasn’t beaten UCSD since 2002, the Wildcats from Chico downed the Tritons
in the opening weeks of conference play. With revenge in mind, UCSD played
consistent and tough volleyball in a well-contested match.

The Tritons cruised in game one by opening a 17-11 lead in
front of 979 rowdy fans. They wouldn’t be tested the rest of the game, taking
the win on an explosive Bailey kill.

In game two, Chico State rebounded, speeding out to a 16-9
advantage. The Tritons regained form after the disappointing start, slowly
closing the gap. UCSD took advantage of each service opportunity while down,
going on several small runs that helped tie up the match at 23-23.

Black said he enjoyed seeing his squad dig itself out of a
hole and catch up to the Wildcats.

“The comeback was really fun to watch,” Black said. “We called
the timeout and knew all we had to do was get on some service runs and that’s
exactly what we did. It was really impressive.”

The Wildcats showed the maturity of a battle-tested team,
edging out a 29-28 lead. However, Bailey denied Chico State’s game point with a
kill, and sophomore middle blocker Sylvia Schmidt added an ace to take a 30-29
advantage. Junior middle blocker Hannah Gary then threw down the final point
for UCSD.

According to Bailey, Gary’s joust to finish game two capped
a spectacular team effort that was heightened by the swarming Triton Tide.

“We’ve really been focusing on the task at hand and playing
for the next point,” Bailey said. “We just chipped away and chipped away and
did it well last night. But we couldn’t have done it without that crowd. They
really gave us energy.”

Junior defensive specialist Michelle Torres picked apart the
Wildcats from the service line in game three, and her presence at the game was
a pleasant surprise according to Black.

“Michelle had some bad milk earlier and was sick,” he said.
“She drove in a half hour before the game and warmed up and played spectacular.
It was a really gutsy performance.”

Up 15-10 after a Schmidt kill, Torres continued to put
pressure on Chico State with aggressive serving, extending the lead to
18-10.

The Wildcats continued to play tough, but it just wasn’t
enough on a night where UCSD totaled 46 kills and nine aces as a team.

“It was probably one of the best nights of my career,”
Bailey said. “We came together and played together and were extremely loud on
the sidelines. Everyone wanted it and the big win is a booster heading into
next week.”

The Tritons hope to extend their five-game winning streak
against Cal Poly Pomona and No. 2 Cal State San Bernardino on Oct. 26 and Oct.
27, respectively.

O.A.S.I.S., which tutors students in subjects such as math, science and English as a second language, had its funding cut by $46,000 in 2006. (Erik Jepsen/Guardian)

Despite a drastically reduced budget, the Office of Academic
Support and Instructional Services survived threats of closure last year,
continuing to deliver a number of academic support services such as the Summer
Bridge Program for freshmen, English as a second language workshops and the
highly popular math and science tutoring program to the student body.

Due to budget cuts to the Student Affairs Office ordered by
former Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson, O.A.S.I.S. faced a
$146,000 loss in funding in 2004-05, as well as a permanent reduction of
$46,000 the following year. However, research by a task force on the
Coordination of Undergraduate Academic Support Services, charged with
investigating academic student support services such as O.A.S.I.S., indicated a
clear sentiment from academic departments and colleges that O.A.S.I.S. programs
were vital to student success.

Thereafter, further cuts to O.A.S.I.S. were no longer
discussed.

So far, O.A.S.I.S. has managed to operate smoothly, relative
to its new budget parameters. According to Rabia Paracha, former A.S. vice
president of academic affairs and undergraduate representative to UGASS, the
math and science tutoring program has been so popular that it has had to turn
students away.

However, O.A.S.I.S. is restricted to being a basic tutoring
program that cannot fully respond to the needs of a growing student body,
Paracha said. For example, O.A.S.I.S. offers writing tutorials for students in
ESL or Subject A, but does not have the resources to implement a more
comprehensive program to serve native English speakers who need help in college
writing courses.

Patrick Velasquez, director of O.A.S.I.S., said that academic
support should be based on a culture of excellence, and that it would be
disastrous for O.A.S.I.S. to become a program relegated to remedial help only.

The budget downsizing has also affected resource options for
upper division math, chemistry and services for transfer students.

However, Velasquez said O.A.S.I.S. has suffered the most
from students’ perceptions that its services had been impaired by the budget
cuts more than they actually were.

The image of O.A.S.I.S. as an abandoned and underfunded program
seriously hurt its ability to recruit tutors when in reality, most of
O.A.S.I.S.’ previous services are still being offered, with the exception of
the study skills program, Velasquez said.

Paracha said that possible solutions to alleviate the effects
of the cutbacks are still being evaluated. Specifically, there have been
suggestions to move O.A.S.I.S., currently a program under the Student Affairs
Office, to the division of Academic Affairs, where there appears to be a
greater willingness to put more time and resources into the program.

In addition, regular meetings with the vice chairs for
undergraduate affairs and O.A.S.I.S. staff
are necessary in order to keep the administration informed of academic
support services, she said. The administration can in turn coordinate
communication between O.A.S.I.S., academic departments and colleges to ensure
that overlaps in services between these three branches can be integrated to
reduce overall costs.

There has been considerable debate on whether UCSD should
gear academic support services toward incoming freshmen who require additional
assistance and encouragement in their first year, or spread services throughout
the rest of the student body to promote a higher academic bar. In a discussion
with Paracha, Watson was very adamant about structuring O.A.S.I.S. to fit the
needs of underclassmen — not senior students.

However, Watson dealt a crippling blow to the office’s
Community for Learning and Academic Success program, which provides counseling,
networking and tutoring workshops to freshmen, when he cut $100,000 two years
ago.

“The temporary funds to run CLAS were eliminated because
former Vice Chancellor Watson lost interest in serving a broad degree of new
freshmen who would benefit from services that facilitate their transition to
UCSD,” Velasquez said in an e-mail.

Paracha, on the other hand, said that academic support
should be spread out evenly among all UCSD students.

“As students, some days are good and others are bad and
there is no telling whether our bad days will come earlier on in our education
or whether we will encounter obstacles later on in our years at UCSD,” Paracha said. “For this reason, all academic
support services should be geared toward all students.”

John Muir College sophomore Jeremy Lee, who uses O.A.S.I.S.
as a study tool for his chemistry courses, said that the office is a valuable
resource for students enrolled in historically difficult math and science
classes.

“It kind of cements some of the things you hear in lecture,
and it goes a little bit faster than lecture, too, so you don’t get lost,” he
said.

However, Lee said that long wait lists are problematic for
the large number of students who need help in particular courses, but that
offsetting the cuts in funding would likely allevite that problem.

“More funding could maybe allow them to hire more people and
get people off the huge wait lists,” he said.

Men’s water polo is one of the 23 teams that received a boost to its budget following the passage of the undergraduate athletics fee referendum last year. (Sanh Luong/Guardian File)

After the approval of last year’s undergraduate athletics
fee referendum, the UCSD Athletics Department is now utilizing its $3-million
boost to increase team budgets, raise coaches’ salaries and provide new
student-athlete scholarships, furthering its rags-to-riches quest to make the
school a competitive member of Division II collegiate sports.

Last year, 56 percent of the more than 9,000 students
participating in the special election voted to alleviate the department’s
$300,000 debt by increasing the student-paid grant-in-aid fee to $329 a year.
The highly contentious special election culminated in 4,991 students voting for
and 3,948 students voting against the referendum, despite the A.S. special
elections committee prohibiting campaigning right before the vote by referendum
supporters, after it found them guilty of violating election bylaws regarding
campaign zones and use of council materials. The increased athletics fee
provides roughly $3.6 million to the department, a budget that is now being
strategically allocated to UCSD’s 23 intercollegiate teams.

The referendum initially outlined the department’s goals if
the fee was approved, citing the major renovations that the possible budget would
facilitate as an argument for its passage.

However, the department maintains full control of where the
money goes and how it is spent.

“We’ve been moving cautiously this year, as there are a lot
of parts to the program that need attention,” Senior Associate Director of
Athletics Ken Grosse said. “The election proved successful in opening up a
dialogue with the students to find problems. Now we can correct those problems
and create the best program possible.”

The department has increased the operating budget of each of
the 23 teams to assist with travel expenditures, purchasing new equipment and
uniforms, and secondary health insurance — costs that students and their
parents used to pay — that the program had previously compromised due to budget
deficiencies. Each team is permitted to use its budget at its own discretion,
and some teams may have additional costs, Grosse said.

The department has also hired another full-time athletic
trainer in addition to the two already staffed, allowing for full accommodations
for the more than 600 student-athletes to train safely with staff supervision.

Moreover, staff salaries have been increased, with the
earnings of the 20 head coaches raised by 20 percent and the wages of the
assistant coaches also augmented to cover the high cost of living in San Diego.

“Our coaches were very underpaid before this year,” Grosse
said. “We basically paid our full-time coaches part-time wages. We were at the
bottom of the scale in our conference in terms of salary.”

This year’s fiscal budget will also be utilized to pay the
$800,000 loan used to complete Canyonview Pool. By addressing these costs this
year, the department hopes to free up the budget for long-term planning
improvements to other areas of the program, including publicity and marketing
to get students interested in attending games, conferences and tournaments,
Grosse said.

Although many athletic facilities, including the baseball
field, are in need of renovation, Grosse said that the department will rely
primarily on fundraising and donations to cover the costs, as most of the
department’s new budget is focused on the student-athletes and their growth.

“It was tough to maintain morale with no funds for travel,
equipment and other expenses,” he said. “We just couldn’t afford to do the
things other teams could, but now our athletes know that the school supports
them and it’s shown in their performance.”

The athletics program has also budgeted $250,000 for
student-athlete scholarships, mandatory for a NCAA D-II status, which were not
previously funded.

This year, each athlete will receive a $500 scholarship, and
although the NCAA requires only a 2.0 minimum GPA to be on a team, the
Athletics Department and the Student Affairs Office have coordinated a new
grant-in-aids stipulation that requires students to maintain a 2.5 GPA during
their first year, 2.6 after their second
year and a 2.7 after their third year at UCSD.

This new requirement corresponds with the academic tradition
of UCSD athletes, according to Stephanie Chang, A.S. associate vice president
of athletic relations and member of the women’s crew team.

“As one of the most rigorous academic institutions in the
United States, more than 60 percent of the more than 600 student-athletes carry
cumulative GPAs of 3.0 or above and the average GPA of that group is routinely
higher than the average of the student body at-large,” Chang said in an e-mail.
“The athletic department has always prided itself in its student-athletes.”

Grosse said the athletics department will pursue the
implementation of various fiscal changes as it gauges where the money is needed
most. But, it hopes that students will continue to support athletes as the year
progresses.

Triton Tide Director Dave Payne said the student support of
athletics has already begun to show.

Attendance at many sporting events, including water polo and
basketball, has gone up, and students are more engaged in the games and status
of their favorite teams.

“Sports are important because they give students something
to rally behind, something to believe in, something to get really excited
about,” Payne said in an e-mail. “It gives them bragging rights and makes
things a lot more fun. Yes, we have awesome academics, but who goes home and
brags about rankings to their friends? There is more to what you get from
college than your education.”

With the 1999 creation of the Chancellor's Diversity Council and efforts to admit more minority students, it appears everyone is working to increase diversity at UCSD.

Pat Leung
Guardian

However, the issue poses many questions.

What does ""diversity"" really mean and why is it important? Are the changes being made to increase it actually working and are they even needed? Whose responsibility is it to address these questions?

Ask students, faculty and staff and you'll get different answers to each of these questions.

UCSD Chancellor Robert C. Dynes stresses the importance of on-campus diversity -- ethnic, racial and otherwise -- because it fosters the type of strength that he says comes ""from people that aren't part of the Establishment asking questions that the Establishment won't ask,"" and from people ""bringing their own culture and their own wealth of ideas, wealth of perspectives together.""

He continued, ""The strength comes when we all learn -- we don't have to agree with everybody -- but the strength comes when people begin to appreciate and respect different views.""

Dynes said racial diversity is not the only key to achieving this strength; benefits also arise from ""diversity in the broadest sense.""

Some feel it is the school's responsibility to provide UCSD students with an education that includes diversity.

""If we are graduating students who have no background and understanding of diversity, community and multicultural issues, we are not meeting our responsibilities as an institution of higher education,"" said Edwina Welch, director of the Cross-Cultural Center.

On the other hand, UCSD Conservative Union Vice Chairman John Allison says diversity is important at a university, but that making it ""more important than academic excellence"" compromises that excellence.

Ethnic studies professor George Lipsitz feels that such a view is detrimental to diversity at UCSD.

""The toughest thing is for people to see this as a matter of academic and intellectual excellence rather than reparations for other forms of social inequality,"" Lipsitz said.

He also said that many people see the effort to increase diversity on campus as ""an act of charity, but it's a matter of self-interest for our own selves because good scholarly conversation draws on the widest pool of voices.""

Lipsitz said he thinks there are several problems with current admission procedures, which he says help reinforce a lack of diversity at UCSD and give rewards to already privileged students.

The policies and efforts of the Chancellor's Diversity Council, Lipsitz said, are ""well-intentioned but not likely to succeed. I don't think they're seriously going to change the climate on campus.""

So what needs to be changed to make tangible differences in UCSD's diversity?

According to Revelle junior Adam Richards, nothing.

""I do not believe that changes need to be made to the ethnic and racial diversity of UCSD,"" Richards said.

""Though change would certainly be beneficial for all, this change should not be a result of a mandate or regulation involving quotas,"" he continued. ""If more students are admitted that happen to fit into underrepresented groups here at UCSD based on current admission policies, fantastic. However, deliberate changes in admission policy to promote this diversification by allocating quotas are unfair and illegal.""

However, there are many people who do feel changes in diversity at UCSD are necessary, though they do not agree on what those changes should be.

Marshall sophomore Jennifer Richter said any future differences in diversity would require ""people being open to see new cultures ... and get out of their ethnic rut; people being able to feel they are welcome to [do this] no matter what race they are.""

Shaun Travers, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Association at UCSD, seconded the demand for a change initiated not by administrative programs, but by individuals.

""Money can only do so much,"" Travers said. ""What would be better is more of a community.""

Allison does not think efforts being made on campus will affect diversity at UCSD. Student organizations that try to promote education about their various cultures ""do not change the ethnic make-up of students on campus,"" he said. ""The only way the diversity on campus can change is if the people applying to school change.""

How those people applying to UCSD are evaluated, however, affects who is admitted and ultimately who registers.

According to Lipsitz, ""our admissions policy is the worst in the UC system in producing barriers to minority enrollment."" He suggested several ways to boost enrollment of minority students.

Instead of admitting the top 10 percent statewide, admit the top 3 percent from Imperial and San Diego counties, Lipsitz said.

He also suggested de-emphasizing AP courses and adopting a policy that makes A's in a high school's hardest classes the top grade. That way, students are not being punished with lower, weighted grade point averages for attending a high school where few AP courses are offered.

Lipsitz also said UCSD needs to ask students how much S.A.T. preparation they had and then weight scores accordingly. Students from a more affluent socio-economic class, who can take multiple preparation classes for the S.A.T., are compared directly with students from lower-income families who may not have had the same level of preparation.

""[The S.A.T.] does not measure merit, but measures preparation,"" Lipsitz said.

Finally, he wants to see more emphasis in hiring new faculty in areas where UCSD's curriculum has trailed comparable institutions, areas such as African studies, Chicano studies and African-American studies.

According to Dynes, a policy that has improved the diversity at UCSD is our unique transfer program.

""If you want a diverse set of people on campus, you [have to] accept that people have different avenues to get here,"" he said. ""A lot of young people, for whatever reason, would prefer to go to community college for two years than to move into residence here [as freshmen]. But if you look at the performance at graduation of those that came as transfer students compared to those who came as freshmen, their GPAs are indistinguishable, which means that we're doing something right.""

Rebalancing the weights given to numerical factors such as GPA and S.A.T. scores is not the only step some see as important to creating an admissions policy that encourages more ethnic diversity.

UCSD psychologist Linda Young, also the director of a peer support program, said as well that more minority students will be admitted to UCSD by ""changing admissions criteria ... giving weight to attributes such as leadership skills and experiences, oral communication, interpersonal skills, personal responsibility, community service and multicultural competency.""

Some think that increased outreach programs will help foster connections with younger minority students and help prepare them for college. Young said that more funding is needed to conduct outreach and to give greater support to programs that increase ethnic diversity, such as K-12 outreach programs and scholarship funding for underrepresented students.

However, there are those who feel that nothing UCSD does will increase its racial and ethnic diversity.

Marshall junior Lauren Rau said, ""I don't think UCSD can do much because I think the problem starts before people get to college.""

Dynes acknowledged the limitations faced by anyone seeking to increase ethnic diversity in higher education.

""This really is a long-term issue,"" Dynes said. ""The problems are created ... from pre-K all the way through. We can't turn that around overnight. [But] we can help, we can dig in, we can go at what we think are the key issues.""

For change to take place, however, someone needs to assume responsibility. Who that someone is depends on who you talk to.

Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph Watson said underrepresented students, if concerned, will take on some of the responsibility to make UCSD more attractive, and that these students carry obligations.

But when asked to speak about diversity, some students hesitate, feeling they aren't familiar enough with the topic to express a valid opinion.

When interviewed, Roosevelt senior Jessica Shpall said, ""I don't know if I'm the right person to talk to. I don't know much about it.""

Other students simply aren't concerned.

""When I go into class, I don't really notice what races are in the class. I could really care less: I'm concentrating on getting good grades,"" said Muir senior Jetson Nguyen.

Lipsitz believes that ultimately, the responsibility of increasing diversity at UCSD lies with the faculty.

""If the faculty demanded a different admissions process, we'd have it,"" he said.

Travers, however, said it is the responsibility of the entire campus. He said that when every member of the faculty, staff and student body ""feels their own personal commitment to increase diversity, we'll improve by leaps and bounds.""

In 1999, UCSD's administration created a new position, the chief diversity officer, to oversee diversity. Dynes filled it himself.

Dynes explained, ""I feel that diversity is everybody's job on the campus -- not one person's, not a few people, not the administration, not the students, not the faculty. It's everybody's job, and I felt the only way to make that statement was to appoint myself [as chief diversity officer]. That way, the vice chancellors would be held accountable to me for what they were doing on diversity on campus.""

In light of so much disagreement about changes that need to be made, Lipsitz sees little hope for the future of diversity at UCSD.

""There is little prospect for improvement in the future,"" he said. However, he noted that ""up until now, there hasn't been sufficient will to do it, but that doesn't mean it can't be done.""

Most people feel more confident that UCSD's future will include a more diverse campus.

""I'm optimistic,"" said African-American Student Union member Sarah Abukar. ""With the new open admissions policy, we can only hope to see a greater number of minority students attending the school in the future.""

Dynes shares that optimism.

""The real goal is to have a community on this campus, and I mean a community ... that is welcoming to any and all differences, so that you can embrace and respect differences that people bring, and celebrate them,"" Dynes said. ""We're going that direction, we're just not there yet. If I didn't believe we could get there, I wouldn't push it.""

Also hopeful for a future with increased diversity, David Brown Mitchell, a member of the AASU, said that with more diversity, "" the campus will gain new ideas, perceptions, intelligence, creativity, culture, music and interests. In short, it will itself become more well-rounded.""

Travers shared this sentiment, saying that with increased diversity UCSD will gain ""wisdom ... it will be vibrant. There will be energy, disagreement and protest ... and that creates education.""

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?

Athens, Greece.

What is your favorite thing about San Diego?

The beach.

What do you think San Diego is missing?

An art scene. It'd be nice if there were more theaters.

What is the first thing you remember from your childhood?

My dog. Playing with him in my backyard.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

A marine biologist.

What do you plan to do after college?

Probably take some time off and then work.

If you could live in any city in the world, which would it be?

London. I have friends there.

What was the best Christmas present you got this year?

My friend drew me a picture of my cat, Elizabeth.

What are your New Year's resolutions?

I never make New Year's resolutions. If I want to make a resolution, it's because I desire to make a change.

What is your motto?

Try everything at least once.

Grinning from the cover of a booklet titled ""Discover UCSD"" are seven students. Clockwise from the top, there is an Asian female, a South Asian-looking male, a female of undetermined mixed heritage, a Hispanic female, a Caucasian male, a Caucasian female and an African-American male.

Anna MacMurdo
Guardian

If the seven students are an accurate sample of the entire student body, UCSD's ethnic breakdown would be as follows: 14 percent Hispanic, 14 percent African-American, 28 percent Caucasian, 28 percent Asian and 14 percent ""other.""

Some of this is fairly correct. A 28 percent Asian representation is similar to the actual 35 percent Asian UCSD undergraduates, the 26 percent Caucasian representation compares to the actual figure of 39 percent, and the 14 percent ""other"" representation is completely accurate.

However, the 14 percent African-American representation is far more generous than reality -- 1 percent of UCSD's undergraduate student body is African-American.

Tyler Huff
Guardian

The cover photo of that booklet -- the pages of which present statistics and information about UCSD and its student body -- whether intended to accurately represent the university or not, sticks in the mind of some applicants and can influence their decision to apply to and subsequently attend UCSD.

Muir freshman Leila Dingding is one such student.

""When I was applying to colleges, I really wanted to attend UCSD because they represented themselves as so diverse,"" Dingding said. ""Now that I'm actually here, I feel kind of like I was deceived.""

Most agree that an environment of diverse thought is important for a healthy exchange of ideas -- a premise on which universities are founded. However, there is controversy over how such diversity is best achieved. Some, like Dingding, value racial and ethnic diversity, in which UCSD lags in comparison to other universities in California. The UC system, on the other hand, while drawing criticism for failing to admit a student population that is racially representative of the state, portrays its student body as varied in background if not in skin color.

""The word that best describes the University of California student body is diverse,"" says the UC Pathways Web site, through which prospective students can learn about the UC system and submit applications.

The Pathways site continues, ""You will meet students from all walks of life at the university ... Students from around the world and the country attend the university, but the majority are from California.""

UCSD also promotes ethnic and racial diversity, which is apparent within the UCSD Principles of Community. It states, ""We value the cultural diversity of UCSD because it enriches our lives and the university. We celebrate this diversity and support respect for all cultures, by both individuals and the university as a whole ... We represent diverse races, creeds, cultures, and social affiliations coming together for the good of the university and those communities we serve.""

Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph Watson, when asked about campus diversity, said ""diversity [at UCSD] is very broad,"" and that ""the vast majority of students are satisfied with their experience at UCSD.""

The students have opinions of their own.

""I would feel more comfortable if our school were more diverse,"" Dingding said. ""That way, I would experience more cultural awareness and understanding of our diverse society.""

Dingding completed UCSD's ethnically diverse Summer Bridge preparation program before school began. She felt there was a startling contrast between the diversity she experienced through this program and that of the actual university.

Muir junior Greg Nichols said that UCSD's diversity is ""pretty good, but some groups are under- or overrepresented. Some changes would be beneficial.""

Meanwhile, Marshall junior Tani Topracki feels differently.

""Our school's level of diversity is OK,"" Topracki said. She feels ""people's individuality"" is more important -- and that isn't necessarily linked to skin color or ethnic background.

A.S. President Jeff Dodge said that racial and ethnic diversity is crucial because ""it's not just an issue of numbers, it's an issue of perspective.""

Dodge feels this apparent lack of diversity is reflected in the atmosphere on the UCSD campus as well as in the quality of education because, he said, the college experience is not just about classes, but the intermingling of unique individuals and perspectives.

""We're lacking in perspective of the world, America, culture and a sense of global identity,"" Dodge said. ""College is supposed to be a microcosm of society. It's a time to be introduced to the basic ideas of other cultures.""

However, the numbers of enrolled minority students do not reflect the demographics of the state of California.

According to the 2000 census, Caucasians comprise 59.5 percent of Calfornia's population. Those of Hispanic or Latino origins make up 32.4 percent. Asians make up 10.9 percent, African-Americans 6.7 percent and Native Americans 1 percent. Persons reporting some other race or mixed race descent total 21.5 percent. UCSD's figures, as reported above, comparatively overrepresent Asians and underrepresent all other ethnic and racial groups.

""It's disturbing,"" Dodge said. ""The lack of ethnic diversity impacts [our] education.""

Watson acknowledges the disparity between California's ethnic makeup and that of UCSD.

""Certainly [the] campus is not reflective of the people of California,"" Watson said. ""Certain groups are severely underrepresented.""

Watson also said he does not feel that UCSD is doing enough to change.

But studies show the situation may be at least partially self-perpetuating. According to the university's Diversity Council's Web site, a survey of minorities admitted to UCSD who decided not to attend indicate two main reasons for their declination: inadequate distribution of competitive scholarships, and lack of a significant number of other minority students.

It has been argued that another trend is partially responsible for some students' dissatisfaction with UCSD's ethnic, racial and cultural diversity.

A.S. Vice President Internal Jennifer Brown said students themselves may be imposing a barrier to the exploration of differences and capitalization on the benefits of diversity by not associating with those of different backgrounds than their own.

""Some students are even unable to embrace the diversity that is present on campus,"" Brown said.

Edwina Welch, director of the Cross Cultural Center, agrees. She said that many campus climate issues stem from self-segregation. ""You must be able to communicate, understand and engage to the best of your ability,"" she said. She said also that to succeed in the world, students will need to be open to ideas that lie outside their own experiences.

""Everybody is impacted [by lack of diversity] -- some people know they are impacted and some people don't,"" Welch said. ""It just depends on where the lens is."" She said that those who think diversity doesn't impact them are those who should be most concerned.

Some are working to turn UCSD into a more racially diverse place.

UCSD is home to a number of ethnicity-specific student organizations such as the Hindu Students Council and the African-American Student Union. These organizations work to provide a community for members of the ethnic or racial groups they serve and often address issues of campus diversity.

Watson advocates such student-initiated efforts and feels that underrepresented students, if concerned, should take on some of the responsibility to make UCSD more attractive.

""Any students working constructively to improve the situation should be commended,"" Watson said.

However, Dodge and Brown both cite a lack of financial support for diverse student organizations as a problem. Without these organizations, they said, underrepresented students lack needed support in the campus community.

Student opinions reflect controversy over the worth of ethnicity-based organizations.

""There are a good number of 'ethnic' organizations [on campus], but I feel that most are not as active as they could be,"" said Tracy Mathews, a Warren senior, as she sat behind the Coalition of South Asian People booth on Library Walk.

Mathews feels CSAP ""is a start at something progressive for people like me.""

Nichols has mixed feelings about these organizations.

""They develop unity. I'm not involved in one. I'm a white male Anglo-Saxon. [There aren't] too many groups for me,"" Nichols said.

Revelle senior Robert Setterbo said he doesn't agree with such race- or ethnicity-based organizations, saying, ""They promote unity as well as segregation.""

One of the primary diversity-oriented groups on campus is the Student Affirmative Action Committee, an independent body that works through the Student Affirmative Action and Human Relations Program at UCSD. SAAC acts to foster communication among organizations promoting cultural diversity throughout the university. It also works in outreach and retention of underrepresented groups on campus.

The Student Affirmative Action and Human Relations Program Web site claims SAAC ""exists to facilitate a university environment that attracts and nurtures a culturally diverse student body and provides equal opportunity and equity for all students.""

Jennifer Ganata, a Marshall junior, is an active SAAC member.

""In considering higher education, some students simply lack opportunities that are afforded to others,"" Ganata said, adding that location and culture can be strong factors in determining these opportunities.

""We don't have a chance to establish a community ... There are people working hard to change [the atmosphere], but it's not diverse right now. When you look at classes, there are no African-Americans [and] few Hispanic people; it doesn't represent California.""

Some students' desire for diversity applies not only to filling the lecture halls -- it also applies to the selection of the professors and staff who make learning possible at UCSD. But while many faculty members and those involved in hiring point out that since the passage of Proposition 209, it is prohibited in California to exclusively base hiring on race or ethnicity.

However, Ross Frank, chair of the Academic Senate Affirmative Action and Diversity Committee, says that more could be done.

""Considering diversity as part of teaching and mentoring actually works under Proposition 209,"" Frank said.

Federal funding still favors institutions with diversity that reflects workforce demographics, Frank said. Proposition 209 allows loopholes for institutions that risk losing their federal funding. For an institution to receive optimal funding, its hiring practices must match up with the demographics of the available work force. But the enforcement of these guidelines can be lax.

Watson cited inaction and indifference as the causes of UCSD's ethnic makeup.

""The main stumbling block is that [the lack of racial diversity] is acceptable to people; it's not a top priority,"" Watson said.

Watson said that increasing ethnic diversity is a near-universal desire, but when it comes down to it, few people make diversity a priority and ""it's not going to happen by wishing it.""

Ganata said students like her aren't just wishing -- they're acting to change the university.

""The student voice is little in number, but loud,"" Ganata said.