UC San Diego hosts segregated orientation

Families of white students have been prohibited from participating in numerous college welcome programs at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) during the Fall 2022 welcome week, according to a Triton Weeks of Welcome (TWOW) advertisement.

On Sept. 9-11, for example, UCSD is hosting a “Black, Latinx, and Native American Family Orientation.” Later in the week, between Sept. 12-17, the university will have a “Black Surf Week.” 

On July 26, Christopher Rufo, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, posted a tweet offering his perspective on “Black Surf Week.” 

According to Rufo, these actions are clear violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which states, “All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods [and] services…of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race…” 

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“It appears that Asian families are also prohibited from attending,” Rufo tweeted, “as many universities consider Asians ‘white adjacent,’ ‘privileged,’ and ‘over-represented.’”

Excluding white families from participating in welcome programs also appears inconsistent with UC San Diego’s Nondiscrimination Policy Statement.

UCSD “does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, [or] religion,” the statement reads.

Relatedly, California Education Code Section 201 states that “[i]t is the policy of the State of California to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity [etc.]…equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state.”

In a letter to UC San Diego, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) suggested that the university can meet its goal of fostering the needs of minority students without barring students of different races. 

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FIRE then called for the university to confirm that no student will be excluded on the basis of race. 

Sabrina Conza, a program officer for FIRE, told Campus Reform, “It is clear that the University of California, San Diego’s orientation program is limited to certain races, which is segregation in its purest form.”

“Excluding students from educational programming based on their race is illegal, regardless of those students’ race,” she continued. “UCSD must immediately open up the program to all students.”

Every university and individual named in this article has been contacted for comment by Campus Reform. This article will be updated accordingly.