CYPRESS : Racist Materials Spur Student Protest

About 100 Cypress College students gathered Wednesday to protest the presence of Nazi-style hate literature and graffiti on campus.

The students demanded to speak with Cypress College President and North Orange County Community College District Chancellor Tom K. Harris about the racist materials and also to ask for implementation of a program that would help Latino students transfer to a University of California campus.

“We had to jump up and down and scream to get (Harris) to come out and listen to us,” said Xochitl Palomino, 21, a student who helped organize the peaceful protest.

The event included a march around the campus perimeter and a 20-minute sit-in outside Harris’ office. “I think we got our message across, but we have a long way to go,” Palomino said.

Harris told the students he sent a memo to faculty and student organizations Wednesday morning, denouncing the hate materials that have been turning up in books and elsewhere in the library, as well as in restrooms, for the past year.

Students said they have been asking for such action since the racist flyers and swastikas appeared on campus last April. They said they were pleased by Harris’ denunciation of the racist materials. But they expressed dissatisfaction when Harris told them that he would not do anything to try to adopt the Puente program, which is designed to help Latino students prepare for the UC system with special counseling and courses. It is in use at 26 community colleges statewide.

“I’m not so sure (the Puente program) is appropriate for Cypress College,” Harris said.

Because the program focuses mainly on writing skills, the English department must decide whether to recommend it to the district’s trustees for implementation, he said.

But the students said they have had no success in dealings with the English department. So they vowed to attend the next board meeting on Oct. 26 to try to bring the Puente program to the college.

“We are not going to let the administration ignore our pleas,” student Cassee Cortez, 24, said. “It’s time for change to be made and we’re going to fight for it. All we’re asking for is an education without racism.”

Harris’ memo denouncing the hate materials was prepared after Tuesday night’s board meeting, during which two students told trustees that they wanted the administration to denounce the racist propaganda found in library books last week.

Police said the materials were produced by the National Socialist German Workers Party Overseas Organization, based in Lincoln, Neb. The same group apparently published a four-page neo-Nazi pamphlet that was found tucked into a city newsletter two months ago, police Sgt. Ray Peterson said.