Sandy Vasquez leads the tour.
The UCLA campus is history in itself. On Sunday, January 26, The Cultural Affairs Commission held their annual Students of Color Tour. The tour led by Sandy Vasquez unveils the hidden history of various students of color, but particularly the history of UCLA’s Black community.
On the tour, Vazquez revealed some important facts about the University in relations to diversity. She said, “UCLA is the only UC within the whole system who does not have a diversity requirement.” For many of the tourists, this was new information.
During the tour the attendees had a common question: Why aren’t these facts a part of the usual campus tours?
If you take a regular campus tour and then take a Students of Color Tour, it is easy to identify the differences.
For example, certain events such as the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speech given in front of Janss Steps on April 27, 1965, and the Days of Defiance protest held in front of Royce in 1998, are left out of the traditional campus tours. Also, details on events involving the Black Power Movement such as the murder of John Huggins and Bunchy Carter, two former UCLA students, and Black Panther members in Campbell Hall in the late 1960s, are too often left out on the “regular” campus tours. Ironically, diversity is the most important factor of UCLA’s mission statement, “In all of our pursuits, we strive at once for excellence and diversity, recognizing that openness and inclusion produce true quality,” but many UCLA students lack awareness of the history of diverse groups on campus.
UCLA Janss Steps
In attempt to diversify student and parent knowledge, the Students of Color Tour aims to highlight cultural history and uphold UCLA to its most important factor, diversity.
If you are interested in taking a tour you can find out more information at the Cultural Affairs Commission’s office located in 311 Kerckhoff Hall.