THEN to
Faculty , staff and students reflect on what it means them .
“ I stayed at UC San Diego because I know another world is possible — one that reflects the ideals of humanity . Our students will shape this future , just as we did , and I want to follow in the footsteps of all those who encouraged our growth , development , analysis and audacity to create equity .”
“ The past matters .
I say this as a UC San Diego alumnus , post-doc , and now faculty member . I say this having been part of the student effort to establish the Cross-Cultural Center in 1992 , having been inspired by the student activists of 2010 ’ s Black Spring , and I say this particularly as a historian — the past matters . Not just because we want to learn about it and sort out the archives to write articles or books or class papers . Building knowledge like that is only part of it . It ’ s also about equipping ourselves with what we need to know to make sense of the time that we live in now .
— Fnann Keflezighi ’ 11 was president of the Black Student Union during the student activism of 2010 , and is now president of the Black Alumni Council and assistant director of residential life for Marshall College .
It ’ s important that our students understand their place in the longer story of how UCSD came to be , how it evolved and is evolving , and what their legacy within that evolution can , will , or should be . Knowing about the past allows us to make sense of the present and imagine a different future , ideally in a way that will be better .”
— Luis Alvarez ’ 94
Learn how this ideal drives the Race and Oral History project ( pictured above ), bringing students into community partnerships to preserve , document and engage with the diverse populations of San Diego — tritonmag . com / history
48 TRITON | SPRING 2019