Following String of Racist Incidents, UC San Diego Students Occupy Chancellor's Office

by via Democracy Now

Mon, Mar 1, 2010 7:36AM

Monday, March 1, 2010 :Crowds of students stormed and occupied the office of a University of California, San Diego chancellor for six hours Friday after a noose was found hanging from a bookcase in the main library. The noose is only the latest in a string of incidents over the past few weeks. Protests were initially sparked by an off-campus party last month they called "Compton Cookout" that mocked Black History Month and denigrated African American women. UC San Diego has the smallest percentage of African American students in the nine-campus UC system. The Black Student Union at UC San Diego has declared the campus climate for racial minorities to be in a "state of emergency."

Daniel Widener, associate professor of history and faculty director of the African American Studies minor at UC San Diego

Fnann Keflezighi, co-chair of the UC San Diego Black Student Union