SCHOLARS AND CITIZENS
VOICES FROM THIRD TO MARSHALL
“ The assassination of Martin Luther King , Jr . in April 1968 changed everything . Before his death , UCSD wasn ’ t really at the forefront of social change . There was a general attitude of respect , to advance things in a way that was cooperative and polite . We were expected not to push too strongly , to wait , and be patient . With the assassination , attitudes transformed dramatically .” — Joe Watson , former provost
“ We had to think more deeply about what the university should be , and we needed a college to set the example — not only a major or department , but a series of majors and courses of study that address the condition of Black people worldwide . It evolved further to include more of a Third World approach , allying with MEChA and the Mexican-American students .” — Ed Spriggs ’ 70 , founding chair of the Black Student Council
“ If you look at the Lumumba-Zapata demands created by Black and Mexican-American students in 1969 , it ' s similar to what you hear today from young people , about how universities should be transformed to address communities that have been excluded for the last 50 years . Everything from the undergraduate population , to faculty and highranking administrators of color , to curriculum and access .”— Jorge Mariscal , literature professor and former DOC director
“ It became a requirement for rising leaders to learn the college ' s history . It is important to know where you came from , just as it ’ s important to understand how things began to look like everything else , and what was done to prevent that .” — Ashanti Houston Hands ’ 93 , former dean of student affairs
“ The students who were behind the founding of Marshall College proposed 1 / 3 Black and 1 / 3 Chicanx students in the college , and we ’ re nowhere near that . It ’ s frustrating to me , and it ' s why it remains important to keep the message out about what the college stands for . Until we can increase representation at UC San Diego overall , we ’ re not going to be able to increase representation at Marshall .” — Leslie Carver , current provost
“ Our college was founded through student empowerment , through students fighting for something they believed in and they thought UC San Diego needed . That message carried through my work as a student leader on campus , inspired by the fact that change can happen , and oftentimes the change that ’ s most impactful is what is driven by students .” — Recent graduate Melina Reynoso ’ 20
“ Angela Davis has a quote that my team and I read every single week —‘ The most important thing is to ensure whoever becomes involved in the college , students and faculty alike , carry on the legacy of struggle by which the idea of Lumumba-Zapata College was born .’ We are the inheritors , and what we do with that inheritance matters . I have a responsibility to keep that vision alive .” — Fnann Keflezighi ’ 11 , interim assistant dean of student affairs
“ Marshall definitely opened my eyes to new things , issues that I had thought about before , but couldn ’ t put the words to .” — Recent graduate Jacob Sutherland ’ 20
( L-R ) Top : Ashanti Houston Hands ’ 93 , Joe Watson , Leslie Carver , Cecil Lytle . Bottom : Ed Spriggs ’ 70 , Melina Reynoso ’ 20 , Fnann Keflezighi ’ 11 , Jacob Sutherland ’ 20 .
“ I hope students feel like they could go out and change the world , or at least , their world . Because they ' ll have had support and space to try things and not be perfect , but keep trying , keep showing up for others .” — Hands
“ Because the issues don ’ t disappear once you ’ ve turned in your blue book . I hope we have made our graduates comfortable with having difficult conversations . So often people shy away from difficult topics , or they run to extremes . But we ’ d be better off as a society to get comfortable with difficult conversations and working our way forward .” — Cecil Lytle , former provost
“ We have a lot of alumni who are incredibly engaged . We ’ re proud of our graduates taking the perspectives they learned here and putting them into practice . We encourage our alumni to stay engaged with the college , get involved with our 50 th anniversary and attend events virtually or in-person , eventually . We want to hear from our alumni — what you ’ re doing and see how you are using what you ’ ve learned .” — Carver
This year marks Marshall College ’ s 50th Anniversary
Join us for a year-long series of special events and programs to commemorate this milestone . Learn more at marshall . ucsd . edu
TRITONMAG . COM 33