Last year, at the beginning of fall quarter, I had a hate crime/bias incident happen to one of my residents. It was definitely an eye opener for a lot of my residents and members in my community. I distinctly remember one of my residents coming up to me the next day and asking, "I thought UC Santa Cruz was a really liberal and progressive school....do things like last night happen around here a lot?"

Unfortunately, they do, and they happen a lot more frequently than people would expect. Few people know about all of the hate messages left in dorm bathroom stalls, or about how the College Republicans at UCSC held an "Illegal Immigrant Dodgeball" game at OPERS a year ago....more so, many people (on our campus) cannot relate to the everyday struggles and obstacles that ethnic/sexual/gender/class/religious/able minorities face on a day-to-day basis in a university setting. 

A perfect example would be my own experience's today.

This quarter, I was in enrolled in a certain upper-division economics class where the professor was extremely ignorant. He would make complete off-the-wall comments during his lectures, such as going up to a random Filipino student during the middle of lecture and asking him, "Hey, are you from San Francisco?" Throughout the class, we had a handful of exams (midterms and quizzes). I would always sit in class next to one of my friends, who so happens to be black. Although I am half white and half Filipino, alot of people confuse me with being latino. The class demographic is nearly 95% white or asian.

Now that the setting is established, let me highlight why my professor is an asshole and has racially profiled myself and my friend: EVERY exam, whether it be a midterm or quiz, he stares directly at both of us in a way and length that would make anyone really uncomfortable. During our midterms, he would literally walk into the aisle right next to us and stay for long periods of time (approx. 3-5 minutes) and then walk back to his seat in the front of the class to read. Once, during our first midterm, he specifically pulled my friend out of the aisle to go over his notes and make sure they were "legal" (the exams in the class are all open note). 

Today, we had our final exam, and both myself and my friend, as usual, were sitting next to each other. Both of us are working hard until, 30 minutes into the exam, the professor walks up to us, snaps his fingers, points and me, and points for me to sit on the other side of the class. 

Midway through the exam, when most of the students have left, I walked back into the classroom to talk about what happened. I went up to my professor and asked him, "Excuse me, but is there any real reason why you moved me to the other side of the class during our exam?". He then asked for my name, and I told him that I wouldn't feel safe giving him my name because I feel that he biased towards me and would mark down my score on the exam. He then seemed a little pissed off and was very reluctant to talk to me anymore.

Some may think I am overanalyzing this or that I am "making a mountain out of a mole hill"...this is straight up bullshit, since (1) There are 127 students in this class, (2) Of the 127 students, I would estimate that 14-18 would not identify as white or asian, (3) seeing how my friend is the only black male in the class and I am one of 6-7 brown males in the class, the odds of my professor singling us out on one occasion is extremely low, (4) the odds of my professor singling both of us out on MULTIPLE occasions is even lower, (5) there is no reason to suspect myself and my friend of cheating; both of our tests always have semi-drastically different scores, we both have a full set of notes that we use during the test, and we both keep our eyes on our papers, especially compared to other students in the class, and (6) my professor wouldn't tell me his reasons for switching my seat during the final.

These are things that happen on a day-to-day basis at UC Santa Cruz, one of the most liberal, progressive universities in the world. Imagine the things that go on in other university settings! Its really important for students in university settings, whether a minority, ally, or a decent human being, to become educated and have the balls to stand up to shit like what happened today. I had other shit to do, but I waited 30 minutes in the cold so I could chew my professor out and give him a piece of my mind. If shit like this, no matter how trivial it is, goes unopposed, the cycle of oppression is just going to keep going round n' round.

Worst comes to worst, he will never guess my name, since I have the least minority-sounding name in the history of the world.