Pilipino Student-Initiated Responses to Exclusion from Institutional Support: A Counterstory

• In Event: Narratives of Resistance within Education, Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

Overview and Purpose
Pilipino students were one of the last Asian ethnic groups to be included in affirmative action efforts within the University of California (UC) system. Unfortunately, Pilipinos were no longer considered a special target group for affirmative action at UCLA in 1986 due to reaching parity (Almazan, 2004). Parity is reached when the number of entering freshman and graduating students within the UC resembles the number of students graduating from California high schools (Almeria et al., 1989). Consequently, parity perpetuated the assumption that Pilipinos could seamlessly access and navigate UCLA even if this was not their reality. Therefore, this paper centers the education history of Pilipino students engaged in student-initiated outreach work at UCLA from the 1970s-1990s. Specifically, this work details the origins of student-initiated outreach amongst the Pilipino community due to their removal from affirmative action resulting from reaching numeric measurements of parity. Additionally, this piece discusses practices initiated to ensure postsecondary educational access despite institutional exclusion from culturally responsive support.

Theoretical Perspectives
Drawing from Asian American Critical Race Theory (Buenavista, Cariaga, & Curammeng, 2017) and Racial Microaffirmations (Solórzano, Pérez Huber, & Huber Verjan, 2020), this educational history examines the impact of racialization on the educational trajectories of Pilipino students. More particularly, Asian American Critical Race Theory is used to elucidate the contexts associated with the liminality Pilipino students possess due to racism and the consequences of this within their educational trajectories. Meanwhile, racial microaffirmations allowed for the recognition of ways in which Pilipino students during this time affirmed their own humanity within an educational institution that did not inherently acknowledge the nuances of their experiences resulting from their racialization.



Methods & Data Sources
This piece utilizes ethnic studies department, student organization, and college newspaper archives to illustrate the context that shaped Pilipino students removal from affirmative action efforts at UCLA and how they chose to respond. Particularly, Chicano/a Studies Department and African American Studies department archives illustrate the university level affirmative action efforts that Pilipino students were removed from due to parity. Meanwhile, the student-organization and college newspaper archives demonstrate how Pilipino students enacted community responsive support in lieu of institutional support.

Findings & Significance
This educational history illustrates examples of community driven efforts by the Pilipino community to negate educational hurdles perpetuated by institutional exclusion. Particularly, Pilipino students facilitated their own college application workshops, financial aid workshops, peer advising, and yield events due to lack of university-based support. Accordingly, the Pilipino community created sustainable pipelines towards ensuring the influx of Pilipino students into this university despite the lack of institutional support. Ultimately, this piece invites us to reexamine how universities can be more responsive towards local communities. Specifically, it implores us to reflect on how we can use past and contemporary student experiences to shape administration of institutional support for marginalized communities. Consequently, the sense of belonging for Pilipino students (and students of color at large) will increase as a result of practices that inherently affirm students belonging in a climate where these efforts are under attack.

Author

• Michelle Velasco, University of California - Los Angeles