Recent Incidents of Intolerance and Hate on UC Campuses

This letter was sent to all UCSB students registered with a umail account. While the Daily Nexus editorial staff issued a staff editorial about ASUCSD President Utsav Gupta’s funding freeze for UC San Diego campus media(viewable here), this letter from Student Affairs leadership tackles the sentiment at the core of the issue.

March 4, 2010

Dear UCSB Student:

As in the lives of individuals, there come significant moments in every community that define what it stands for, what it believes in, what principles it espouses and lives by—moments that define how each and every member of a community should act and should be treated. The UC Santa Barbara community is experiencing one of those moments, one that demands that we take stock of ourselves—what we aspire to be and what we work to be as a community.

It is important to bring this moment into sharper focus with some details of the recent incidents of incivility, intolerance, hate, stupidity, and criminal behavior occurring across the University of California campuses. Among others, these include a racial “theme” party mocking Black History Month that was sponsored by a fraternity at UC San Diego, race baiting comments by some student media there, a rope noose found hanging from a bookshelf in the library, and a Klan-style hood placed on a statue on campus. (more…)