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Photo by Farhad Taraporevala
In response to the numerous student protests that have heavily impacted the University of California system, the Regents of the University of California have declared that beginning October 5, any student located on a UC campus is considered being in violation of the student code of conduct.
In UC President Michael Drake’s announcement, he stated that “while learning is important, students need to realize that they cannot disrupt the academic process of developing properties and performing research for the military-industrial complex. So we’re going to disrupt it before they can do it for us.” Proponents of this policy on UC San Diego’s campus are largely, and according to demographic reports, “disproportionately,” rising seniors. “At least I won’t be forced to see the sorry state of Sunshine Market during my last year here,” said fourth-year bioengineering major Don T. Care. Another fourth-year, business major A. Paul Litical, said, “I had a scuffed high school graduation, and I will make damn sure that I’ll have a scuffed college graduation too.”
Another student admitted, “I’ll go as far as to say that I’m starting to miss those early pandemic days of playing video games during class with my webcam off.” The ban on students has also been largely supported by incoming first-years: “I just don’t want to have to live with a smelly roommate who doesn’t shower or clean up after themself,” said first-year Kallie Ann Varnish. “I don’t know what the fuss is about freedom of speech,” she continued. “Didn’t we get that in 1776 already? I just want to graduate!”
The majority of the UCSD student body criticizes this move as an outright suppression of their voices after the events of the past spring, and presented a wide variety of grievances. “I waited thirteen years just to achieve the dream that I’ve had since I learned about UCSD: see the vaunted watermelon drop from Urey Hall. But the UC Regents took this opportunity away from me,” said Preby S. Conrad, San Diego native and recent high school graduate. Brock Yerinovich, a UCSD Biology and Public Health double major, added, “I’ve been here over the summer and the bottom two floors of Geisel Library are still effectively biohazardous. At least students won’t be exposed to that anymore, but I’m worried that this move will just sweep this glaring problem — among others — under the rug.”
In Chancellor Pradeep Khosla’s announcement following President Drake’s, he announced seemingly unrelated plans conjoined with this decision, such as the expansion of Geisel Library into GeiselPurdue Library Pharmacy & In-House Laboratory, and the addition of commemorative buildings honoring UCSD’s Camp Matthews past. “Depending on the success, we could even get ahead of the future and make the undergraduate division of UCSD a completely online university, so that they can get the convenience of an undergraduate education while graduate students can peacefully train to become the engineers for next-generation drones.”
