Student Commission on Racial Equality (SCORE)

Introduction

SCORE is an organization dedicated to advocating for the rights and issues of students of color and underrepresented communities at UC Santa Barbara and the broader system of higher education. Through education and direct action, we strive to promote diversity, equality, cultural understanding, and community empowerment.

This Year’s Officers

Activities

Annual Facing Race Conference

SCORE hosted the 14th Annual Facing Race Conference held here on campus in February. The annual conferences seek to confront some of the most critical issues facing people of color and other underrepresented communities today.

This year’s theme was “Against the Gun: Deconstructing Narratives of Violence in Communities of Color”. Participants discussed how different forms of violence, e.g. physical, domestic, verbal, etc., affect communities of color, and how we can combat these issues. The conference was open to all students, allies, staff, faculty, and community members. Through workshops, lectures, keynote speakers, and other special programming the planners hoped to educate and empower all who participated to create social change. As they stated in their invitation to participate:

“Remember, this conference is dedicated to further empower students and keep them educated on issues that directly affect communities of color. A vital way to achieve this goal is to have students engaging in dialogue and be active participants in creating this change. That is where you come in. In order to be as educational and engaging as possible, we need to make sure that students actually attend and spread the word about this conference. In order to empower, silence needs to be breached. To break that silence requires the attention and active participation of all of you. Remember that these spaces were created in response to oppression and to spread awareness of systems attempting to keep communities of color silent. Through active dialogue and invested discussion from peers and colleagues, y’all can become more aware of these important issues, and hopefully this knowledge will develop into empowerment.”

The conference was well attended with participants coming from across the UC and State College systems.

Student Input, Day of Action

The AS Office of the President created a space for those in charge of the University to hear directly from students. This meant collaborating with several campus groups to hold a Town Hall on Diversity in Corwin Pavilion during Spring Quarter, where students voiced their experiences and grievances about the University’s commitment to diversity directly to the UCSB Administration, since those who make policy and can make change.

Students had the rare opportunity to address marginalization and diversity at UCSB. They raised their voices on issues facing students including representation, resources, sexual violence and violence at large, and retention and recruitment.

The meeting featured two panels, one made up of students and one of upper level Student Affairs and other University officials, including Vice Chancellor Michael Young. The student panel included Anisha Ahuja, Yoel Haile, Gloria Campos, Melba Martinez,  and Katlen Abuata. In addition to Dr. Young, the administration panel included, Educational Opportunity Program Academic Director Lupe Navarro-Garcia, Senior Associate Dean of Enrollment Services Mary Jacob, Associate Dean of Student Life and Activities Katya Armistead, Senior Associate Dean of Student Life Debbie Fleming, Acting Associate Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Academic Policy Anna Everett and Executive Assistant to the Chancellor Kevin McCauley.

Students were encouraged to ask questions of the panelists. According to the Daily Nexus, Dr. Young emphasized the significant funding cuts to Student Affairs of about $11 million over the 23 year’s that he’s been Vice Chancellor. At the same time, although he sympathized with student’s concerns and supports their efforts, he also stressed the need to work together, rather than approaching the real challenges we all face in an adversarial manner with students on one side and Students Affairs seen as the enemy.

The event was co-hosted by: Student Commission on Racial Equality (SCORE), Student Lobby, UCSB I.D.E.A.S., Muslim Student Association, Students for Justice in Palestine, Pacific Asian Coalition, Office of Student Advocate General, South Asian Students Association, MCC Council, BPRO, Black Student Union, Human Rights Board, Arab Student Group.

 Allison Moon Speaks on “Artivism”

SCORE was a co-sponsor with the Commission on Student Well Being (COSWB), and Take Back The Night (TBTN) to bring Allison Moon to campus during Winter Quarter to speak on art as activism. She explored the politics, privileges and identity issues involved with creating art.

In her interactive talk, Moon deconstructed notions of “privilege guilt” into useful components for creativity, discussed the intersection between art and social justice, deconstructed activist skill-sets to turn them into useful tools for the creation process, and shared methods for distilling passion from conflict to turn activism into relevant art.

Multicultural Mixer

SCORE hosted two Multicultural Mixers this year at the Multicultural Center. They were a HUGE success with over 25 co-sponsorships, over 100 attendees, TONS of food,spoken word, dancing, and much more! At the Spring Quarter event, the group that brought in the most people received a prize at the Loma Pelona Center.

Reaffirmation Campaign

As part of its effort to inform students about how SCORE serves the students community during the as lock-in reaffirmations campaign, SCORE created a series of provocative images, “Breaking Ethnic Stereotypes”,  that it placed in various strategic places. The campaign was successful and UCSB reaffirmed their support for the work that SCORE does each year.