UCSD, Black Student Union agree on plan for diversity programs

UC San Diego administrators and members of the school’s Black Student Union on Thursday announced an agreement that would attempt to address racial tensions on campus.

Black students have said they feel unwelcome and unsafe on the La Jolla campus since an early-February party called the “Compton Cookout” that mocked Black History Month.

At a series of on-campus rallies, members of the Black Student Union have complained more about structural racism at UC San Diego than the incident itself.

“We now have a signed agreement to move forward,” Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said. “We applaud our student leaders, the campus and San Diego community for their engagement, passion and leadership on finding solutions to these issues. Although there is much work ahead of us, our ongoing partnership will build a healthier campus climate that supports everyone in a meaningful way.”

The agreement calls for the school to fund for three years Black Student Union programs to increase diversity in admissions, increase the amount of minority faculty, require students to adhere to a student code that encourages diversity, and promote other diversity programs.

The items in the agreement also provide benefits for Latino and Native American student groups.

The mood on campus has been further charged by discoveries of a noose in the seventh floor of the main library and a crude representation of a Ku Klux Klan hood on a statue of the late children’s author known as Dr. Seuss.

The school and BSU released a joint statement that said, ‘The UC San Diego administration and students have engaged in a productive and wide-ranging conversation about how our common goals can be reached. The conversations of this week show that there is a commitment from all participants to work together for the benefit of the entire campus.”