SLIDESHOW CLICK HERE for an audio slideshow from the "Day of Reckoning" student march.

The beat of drums guided the chants of several hundred protesters as they marched down Bruin Walk and rallied in front of Covel Commons on Wednesday during the UC Board of Regents meeting, with the goal of having the regents publicly denounce Proposition 209.

“Hey, hey, ho, ho, Prop. 209 has got to go!” students yelled, wearing shirts that read “Got Black Students?” and “Proposition 209 killed diversity.” They were armed with pickets and posters that read “Education and Equality for All.”

Proposition 209, which passed in 1996, prohibits the use of race or ethnicity as a factor in hiring or admissions at public institutions in California.

The march began in the morning at Royce Hall with fewer than 100 people. As the crowd made its way to Covel Commons, it collected over 100 additional marchers and met up with hundreds more in front of the regents meeting.

Representatives from different student minority groups such as the African Student Union, the American Indian Students Association and the Asian Pacific Coalition participated and spoke during the rally.

They repeatedly emphasized that the University of California population does not reflect the diverse population of California.

“We are in a diversity crisis right now,” said Virginia Myers, president of the American Indian Students Association. “And we are showing that it is important to UCLA students; it is important to the community and it is important statewide.”

Speakers from a variety of student groups at the rally addressed three issues they want resolved by UC Regents: for $33 million to be allocated to academic preparation programs; for four students to be added to the UC Regents’ diversity study; and for the regents to publicly denounce Proposition 209 and support a campaign to repeal it.

“Admissions should look at students and where they are coming from and not ignore that person’s identity,” said Lucero Chavez, campus organizing director in the Undergraduate Students Association Council external vice president’s office. “Now it’s a law that it can’t even be looked at.”

At the rally, students were asked to come onstage to express how they felt. Out of a crowd of people dressed in black, students grabbed the microphone, with their voices resonating from the Covel Commons quad throughout the Hill.

Some students said they were angry about what they believe is a lack of diversity on campus. Others said they were inspired by the attending crowd – a crowd which the speakers said they believe reflects the population of California and should be mimicked to establish a more diverse campus.

The academic preparation programs provide resources to underprivileged K-12 students in order to help them compete with other applicants. In 2001, the program received over $80 million in funding and $13 million this year, said Tina Park, USAC external vice president.

The regents’ diversity study plans to inspect the UC system’s current efforts to increase diversity.

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Rhommel Canare, a third-year sociology and Asian American studies student, said the problem she sees with abolishing affirmative action is it disregards the differing social circumstances that students might be faced with if they are low-income minority students.

“What the proposition did was not pay attention to disadvantaged youth in the K-12 system,” Canare said. “How do they compare them to students who are privileged in affluent areas and have the resources to make themselves look good to higher-education institutions?”

But other students expressed concern about how affirmative action affects non-minority students or students who are not from underprivileged backgrounds.

Alethea Go, a first-year art history student and bystander at the rally, said she was concerned that applicants who work hard to get a high GPA might not be accepted because they are part of the majority while students with a lower GPA could get in because they are a minority.

“I don’t think it’s fair if someone get’s a 3.5 and gets in based on their race when other people are trying so hard,” said Claudia Pena, the only Latina in her law school division section, who said conclusions about people’s work ethics should not be drawn from their GPA.

The speakers at the rally said they believe the repeal of Proposition 209 would allow for a more leveled admissions process.

Earlier this year, UCLA approved a holistic admissions process in which applications are considered on a more personal level.

Diversity is an important issue because the student population should reflect the population of the school’s region, especially at a public school, said fourth-year music education student Jeffery Wallace, of Alpha Phi Alpha and ASU.

“The demographics at UCLA do not parallel the demographics of California and a public institution should be serving its community,” Wallace said.

Myers said diversity is also important because in order for different perspectives to be presented.

“As an American Indian, when people talk about American Indians, they talk about them like they are extinct,” Myers said. “We need diversity in order to have other perspectives. If you all have similar backgrounds, how do you create a meaningful dialogue?”

MEChA provided student volunteer security guards to ensure the protest would stay peaceful, said Luis Hernandez, a third-year anthropology student and security guard for MEChA.

“We did accomplish some of our goals,” Sayed Shifa, a second-year student said. “It proves (the rally) was successful. We didn’t come out here just to shout. But there is still more to do. It’s a struggle; we still need to build it up.”