Chants of \u201cBring Back Lupe!\u201d filled Sproul Plaza on Wednesday as nearly 100 students rallied to condemn UC Berkeley\u2019s suspension of Lupe Gallegos-Diaz, who directed campus\u2019s Chicanx Latinx Student Development office.<\/p>\n
Gallegos-Diaz was abruptly placed on leave in August for a \u201clack of professional judgement\u201d \u2014 sparking outrage and frustration for students and community members who have known Gallegos-Diaz as a pillar of campus\u2019s Latine community for almost 30 years.<\/p>\n
Students hoisted signs that read \u201cReinstate Lupe\u201d and \u201cLucha 4 Lupe,\u201d Spanish for \u201cfight for Lupe,\u201d as organizers gave speeches in front of Sproul Hall demanding accountability from campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cLupe is a pillar of this campus, an alumna, lecturer, co-founder, and director and has built a home for generations of Latina students,\u201d said Selina Mendez, ASUC external affairs vice president, at the rally. \u201cShe gives us institutional knowledge, teaches our history and teaches us how to organize and that frightens an administration that prefers a quiet, compliant student body. We cannot afford to stay quiet while they chip away our community piece by piece.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the rally, demonstrators marched to California Hall, which houses the chancellor\u2019s office. Students called out administrators and UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons for their lack of transparency.<\/p>\n
Campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore told The Daily Californian that campus cannot comment on personnel matters due to confidentiality under university policy, but is \u201ccommitted to Latinx community and the Chicanx Latinx Student Development (CLSD) office and the important work it provides to our students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Midway through student speeches in front of California Hall, the hall\u2019s window \u2014 which had previously been open \u2014 was closed, igniting boos from the crowd.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Pe\u00f1a, an intern for CLSD and co-organizer of the demonstration, said she wanted to organize the demonstration to keep the movement for Lupe alive and hold administrators accountable in face of the lack of communication from campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe (needed) to do something because this can\u2019t be just an initiative that (we) did in the beginning of semester and then slowly died off,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said. \u201cFor them to make this big decision is basically a slap in our face \u2014 this big decision to cut off our main staff person, our main advocate, our main supporter and a core pillar of the Latine community is just absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma Enr\u00edquez, an administrative assistant for the CLSD office and ASUC senator, says she\u2019s been \u201cappalled\u201d by the lack of communication from administration regarding Lupe\u2019s suspension.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdministration just really doesn\u2019t (respect) students themselves who are facing these hardships. It\u2019s just incredibly ridiculous to see the lack of communication they\u2019ve also provided,\u201d Enr\u00edquez said. \u201cBeing a senator and having a role where my community felt that I could represent them through the Latine endorsement, and now even I can\u2019t get any response out of administration. It\u2019s just really ridiculous right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Enr\u00edquez, the only communication from Lyons came through an email sent to a select few individuals and community groups Sept. 11. In his email, Lyons noted that while administration couldn\u2019t legally discuss any \u201cpersonnel matters,\u201d they were \u201ccommitted\u201d to the Latine community and CLSD office.<\/p>\n
The message included a list of public updates about CLSD, confirming that a leadership seminar Gallegos-Diaz taught was canceled and an alumni networking event has been paused.<\/p>\n
Enr\u00edquez said the message felt like \u201ca slap in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s absolutely no mention of what students have been asking for, which is just administration to acknowledge the fact that Lupe is not in her position currently and that she is on administrative leave,\u201d Enr\u00edquez said. \u201cIt really just says everything that we already know, which just feels like they are just riding on this high horse, and they really just don\u2019t want to acknowledge what students are feeling whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n
She argued administration has not given clear answers on how they are supporting CLSD staff and interns, who are taking on Gallegos-Diaz\u2019s former responsibilities, or if the Ethnic Studies department will bring in a new faculty member.<\/p>\n
Gilmore did not give specific details regarding how campus is working to make up for the loss of canceled and suspended programs.<\/p>\n
Students with the Latin\u00e9 Caucus met with administrators last week, who assured them that \u201cvacancies happen all the time\u201d and that Lyons didn\u2019t want to make it a \u201cconstant factor to meet with students,\u201d according to Latin\u00e9 Caucus student leaders.<\/p>\n
Jewlz Anahuac, who attended the protest, arrived to campus as a transfer student last month, excited to come to UC Berkeley as a Chicana. But when she got the news that Gallegos-Diaz had been suspended, it felt like her community was \u201ccompletely disregarded and swept under the rug.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels dehumanizing to have to keep demanding that we be heard and to prove that we matter,\u201d Anahuac said. \u201cJust the action of us having to prove that we matter to our university makes me feel dehumanized \u2026 it feels really unfair that people were just able to pass by (the protest) because they\u2019re not affected by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Anahuac \u2014 clad in orange in honor of Orange Shirt Day, a day of memorial to honor Native children who survived the residential school system \u2014 emphasized the importance of speaking up and fighting back as a community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI truly believe that them putting Lupe on a leave is an absolute form of oppression on us students of color. I truly believe they\u2019re oppressing us, and I believe this is the same pattern America has had within many universities, and that it\u2019s unacceptable,\u201d Anahuac said. \u201cUs students of today, with the heart and courage and willingness to speak out, will not tolerate it, and we will not stop until our demands are met.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chants of \u201cBring Back Lupe!\u201d filled Sproul Plaza on Wednesday as nearly 100 students rallied to condemn UC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[188786,188788,7273,38336,51363,188785,188787,183360,16155,35803,29055,183358,143,145,144,118584,30725,26656,149],"class_list":["post-481584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-asuc-external-affairs-vice-president","tag-asuc-senator","tag-august","tag-california-hall","tag-chancellor-rich-lyons","tag-chicanx-latinx-student-development","tag-elizabeth-pea","tag-emma-enrquez","tag-janet-gilmore","tag-latin-caucus","tag-latinx","tag-lupe-gallegos-diaz","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-selina-mendez","tag-sproul-hall","tag-sproul-plaza","tag-uc-berkeley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}