BLUFFS TRAIL RIBBON CUTTING

Cyclists, joggers, surfers, and other beachgoers now have a much smoother ride, run, or walk to the beaches at Coal Oil Point. After seven years of negotiations and planning the West Campus Bluff Trail received much needed improvements this year. The half-mile long trail that snakes along the bluffs between the western edge of Isla Vista and Coal Oil Point is the main corridor for people to walk or ride from IV to Coal Oil Point.

The A.S. Coastal Fund and A.S. BIKES collaborated in the planning and gave over $150,000 to redesign and upgrade the trail to make it far more user friendly and durable. The California State Coastal Conservancy provided  $175,000 in matching funds for the project and the Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER) donated an additional $32,000 and oversaw the restoration work, which was carried out by student interns.

The project entailed re-grading, widening, and stabilizing the trail, which had become rutted and otherwise degraded from overuse and poor drainage. In fact, the condition of the trail was so poor that visitors sought alternative routes, creating a network of “social trails” that exacerbated erosion and impacted adjacent habitats. An ongoing feature of the project is to restore these areas with local native plants.

Completion of this project is a testament to the vision of the students who initiated the process. It also shows how the diligence of successive generations of students supported by A.S. staff members shepherded the project through the necessary university and state review processes and worked successfully with outside agencies to secure the matching funds that turned the original vision into reality.

HUMAN RIGHTS BOARD

A.S. added a new board this year. The Human Rights Board started out as the Human Rights Group an official Office of Student Life campus organization created to inform and take action against human rights abuses internationally and here at home.

Upon careful consideration A.S. Legislative Council passed a bill to create the Human Rights Board, which has already addressed several issues, including access to higher education in California.

This year HBR sponsored the Fair Trade Fair to draw attention to the Fair Trade movement. The goal of this movement is to ensure that international producers of commodities, primarily a variety of foodstuffs, including coffee and cacao, and handicrafts receive fair prices for their products to allow social development and the implementation of sustainable practices.

FIRST ANNUAL ISLA VISTA PRIDE FESTIVAL

To cap off this year’s UCSB Pride: Transcending the Rainbow week of events, Queer Commission worked with the office of the Executive Vice President of Local Affairs to host the first Isla Vista Pride Festival.

The festival took place on Pardall Road and ran parallel to Chilla Vista in Anisq ‘Oyo’ Park. Every effort was made to make the two festivals complementary and indeed both were well attended with people moving freely between them.

The Pride Festival provided a variety of entertainment, including headliner Big Freedia, DJ Mycole Beeson, and Lemonade.  It also provided information about the LGTBQIA community and drew attention to hate incidents that are an unfortunate reality in Isla Vista and the larger campus community.

 

Queer Com sponsored several events during Queer Pride Week, some in conjunction with the Queer Student Union. These included the week’s opening ceremony in Storke Plaza. Keynote speaker writer performer and queer rights activist Ryka Aoki spoke in Storke Plaza about transcending the rainbow to be inclusive of a broader range of communities. Her performance included both her poetry and songs. Over the course of the week, a series of workshops, ranging from “Intro to Intersexuality” to “That’s So Gay: The Impact of Microaggressions,” covered topics including homophobia, stereotypes, and sexual assault.

The week’s activities also included both professional and student drag shows that played to capacity crowds. One of the highlights to cap off the week was the annual Queer Wedding officiated by Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Michael Young.  The ceremony is an affirmation of personal commitments and a public statement of solidarity that includes members of the LGTBQIA community and allies.

 

STAND Against Sexual/ Domestic Violence Conference

Text by Danielle Mayorga, Take Back the Night Co-Chair

On January 22-23, 2011, UCSB hosted the first UC wide conference for student sexual/ domestic violence issue organizers: STAND Against Sexual/ Domestic Violence Conference.

Since some UC campuses do not have anti-sexual violence organizations, and some campus organizers do not receive any training before starting their work, STAND (Stratgeizing, Training, Advocating, Networking, Developing) Against Violence was developed as an opportunity for all UC’s to receive equal training on sexual and domestic violence issues, as well as for organizers to share ideas and network with each other. Student organizers from UC Davis, UC Merced, UCLA, UC Irvine, and UC Santa Barbara attended the conference. The conference included two training sessions, beginner and advanced, hosted by Jeff Bucholtz of We End Violence, and Mia Mingus, activist, writer, and speaker. Both sessions provided outstanding information and tactics that the student organizers were eager to use. Many conference attendees hosted their own workshops, such as Sexual Violence and the Queer community, Engaging Men, Stalking Awareness, and Prevention Techniques.

The conference also included an inclusivity and diversity training, presented by Just Communities. Attendees also participated in an open plenary in which they collectively decided the structure and mission of a UC-wide sexual violence organizing coalition. The coalition, named SPEAC (Students Preventing Educating and Advocating in California) Against Violence, will be responsible for future STAND conferences, as well as planning statewide campaigns. UCSB will have 2 delegates on the coalition. Interested students should apply through A.S. Take Back the Night to represent UCSB on the coalition.

Conference Planning Committee:

• Janelle Mungo, Planning Committee
• Danielle Mayorga, Planning Committee
• Elysse Madarang, Planning Committee
• Doug Wagoner, Planning Committee
• Laura Luttrell, Planning Committee
• Travis Taborek, Planning Committee
• Marilyn Dukes, Advisor

Coastal Club

Coastal Club was founded in Winter 2011 and was formed for non-board members to become more involved in what Coastal Fund does.

Coastal Club is not your typical club. Coastal Club is for those individuals who want to actively pursue and accomplish a campus-oriented Coastal Fund project. The club meets every Thursday at 5pm in the Coastal Fund office, 2nd floor Multicultural Center (MCC) Rm 2521 and is open to anyone.

We spread Coastal Fund opportunities, put on educational events, lead tours of the completed projects and restoration areas, and more!