Irvine : Students Plan Protests Over Killings in China

Students at UC Irvine plan two demonstrations today to protest the killing of Chinese students in Beijing.

At noon in UCI’s Gateway Plaza, the Republic of China Student Assn. has scheduled a protest gathering, according to Colleen Bentley-Adler, a university spokeswoman.

At 8 p.m., also in Gateway Plaza, a candlelight vigil sponsored by several groups will mourn the deaths of the Chinese students.

UCI has one of the largest Asian-American enrollments in the nation. About 30% of UCI’s 15,800 students this academic year are Asian-Americans, according to enrollment figures.

The university also has many visiting Chinese professors and students, Bentley-Adler said. Some of the visitors worried initially about having to return to mainland China, now reportedly near civil war. But President Bush has extended the length of time that the Chinese students may stay in this country.

“Still, there are going to be quite a few who feel their situation is in limbo,” Bentley-Adler said. “I think the biggest agony for these visitors from China is wondering about friends and relatives back there.”

She said that some UCI professors who had planned to go to China this summer as exchange scholars have canceled their plans.

“We also have some professors who planned to go there and would still be going there, but now they are not being allowed entry by China,” Bentley-Adler explained.