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(From left) Professor Belinda Tucker, Paul Cambell, Associate Vice Provost of Student Diversity C

A group of more than 100 people gathered Wednesday night to discuss the critical role black people have played at UCLA over the years, the obstacles they have undergone in the past and the challenges they face today.

Several distinguished faculty members and UCLA alumni, as well as politically active students were part of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies’ academic convocation. The focus of the event was to discuss the current state of the black community on campus and their history at UCLA.

“This is an event for networking and outreach for students, faculty and staff,” said Brenda Stevenson, professor and chair of the Interdepartmental Program in Afro-American Studies, adding that the event was also meant to give them a welcome and a hello.

Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, vice chancellor for graduate studies, dean of the UCLA Graduate Division and professor of anthropology and psychiatry at UCLA, said the event was a good place for members of the black community to interact with their peers.

“In my opinion, it also serves as an opportunity to foreground the continued struggle for equity for African Americans in this university and the broader society,” Mitchell-Kernan said.

The topics discussed included the recent criticism of UCLA for the low number of minority students who were accepted for fall 2006. Out of the 4,700 freshmen admitted to UCLA for fall 2006, only 95 black students submitted statements of intent to register.

“I cannot tell you how painful this has been,” said Janina Montero, vice chancellor for student affairs. “We’ve now hit what is clearly a crisis point; it cannot continue.”

UCLA recently announced that it will be weighing future applicants on a holistic scale, which will focus more on the applicants’ personal accomplishments and life hardships, similar to the admissions policy at UC Berkeley.

Mandla Kayise, a UCLA alumnus and master of ceremonies of the event, echoed Montero’s sentiment.

Kayise reminded the crowd that it was students who created the center, and that their potential is huge.

“None of the students I went to school with were part of that,” he said jokingly. “Take credit for (the activist reputation), hold everyone accountable. It’s what we do.”

African Student Union Officer D’Artagnan Scorza demanded that his fellow students become politically active.

“We must stand in solidarity to prevent our exclusion from this university,” he said.

One of the main points stressed was that current UCLA students have the power to enact positive change.

A documentary detailing the early years of the Bunche Center informed the audience of some of the major events that sparked black activism, including the January 1969 shooting of two Black Panthers in Campbell Hall at UCLA.

Paul Campbell, a clinical instructor in the UCLA School of Dentistry and a UCLA alumnus, told the audience about his experience at UCLA, both during his undergraduate and graduate years.

“I really fell in love with this place, that was 31 years ago. I still feel the same way at this time,” Campbell said.

He encouraged UCLA students to hang in there even when the pressures facing college students can seem overwhelming at times.

“I want them to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “I want them to understand that they’re not out here by themselves.”