Berkeley asks Gov. Davis to reshape UC Regents

(U-WIRE) BERKELEY, Calif. -- Hoping to bring affirmative action back into the UC system, the ASUC Senate has passed a bill asking California Gov. Gray Davis to change the face of the UC Board of Regents.

The university's student government approved a bill Wednesday night, written and sponsored by Senator Arian White, that asks Davis to fill the five currently open seats on the board with affirmative action proponents.

“I think (the bill) will have impact in that it will complement other actions,” White said. “However, by itself, it is not that powerful.”

Heather Bergman, a member of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action by Any Means Necessary, a campus pro-affirmative action group originally wrote a different form of the bill. White said Bergman approached him with the bill to try to get it through the senate. He later altered the bill and wrote the official draft.

One of the changes that Cal-Serve member White made to the bill before senators passed it was replacing the word “demand” with the much less-forceful word “ask.”

“It is only right that we give the governor an opportunity to (further affirmative action efforts) without demanding it,” White said.

White, who is not affiliated, with BAMN, is not the only supporter of affirmative action policies in the student senate. He said he was approached because “they have seen me fight for affirmative action in the past, and I am a visible person.”

He added that he appealed to Davis because “as of now, I see Davis as someone who has a responsibility to help because people who elected him are the people who would benefit from affirmative action policies.”

The bill also asks for the voluntary resignation of UC Regent Ward Connerly, who led the campaign to ban race and gender preferences in the UC system in 1995 and state wide through Proposition 209 in1996.

“I firmly believe that Connerly's crusade to abolish affirmative action policies is a tool to assist him in his political goals,” White said.

Further, according to the bill, “(Connerly) has done immeasurable harm to the lives and futures of countless numbers of students. He is an enemy of education.”

The bill was widely supported by the senators and was opposed only by senator Todd Dipaola.

“I, personally am not in favor of affirmative action,” Dipaola said. “There are a lot of other senators who feel (the same) way but are not voting their conscience.”

Connerly could not be reached yesterday to comment on the bill.

As for the support from the other senators, White said he was surprised by the bill's overwhelming approval.

“I did not know so many proponents of affirmative action were in the senate,” White said.

Of these supporters, many expressed hopes that the new bill will accomplish needed reforms.

“I am very pleased it was passed,” said Senator Priscilla Hernandez. “Affirmative action is necessary within the UC system to maintain diversity because things are not equal at this time.”

White offered a personal testimony about the benefits of affirmative action.

“Had it not been for affirmative action policies, (Cal-SERVE Senator) Cris Arzate and myself would not be here, and I think we are pretty qualified students,” White said.

“I think it is funny that opponents of affirmative action cry that racial discrimination is so pervasive when affirmative action policies are in effect,” he added. “If this were so, ethnic minorities would have taken over the country.”