This is why we needed a recount for the ASUCD elections

Reading things like this makes me worried about graduating and leaving Davis. I remember during the last ASUCD elections, the online voting program was OFFLINE for about 3 hours, and despite this offline state hindering voters, there was no re-vote initiated. 3 hours is a ridiculously long time in terms of any election, and people were just too lazy to instigate a re-vote. Talk about democracy in action....

But that's in the past--this time it's just ridiculous. The ASUCD Senate voted unanimously to support funding to the varous UCD ethnic graduations: Black Grad, Chican@/Latin@ Grad, Filipin@ Grad, Lavender Grad, Native Grad, SAME Grad, and SEA Grad. Despite the all of Senate voting in support of these graduations, the ASUCD president, President Joe Chatham has VETOED the bill to fund to these graduations. In short, he has pissed of A LOT of people in the community.

These more personal graduation ceremonies are a gem to the UC Davis community. They give graduating seniors a chance to celebrate with their community in a more family-like way. A great contrast to the 3+ hour ceremony where they read your name from a card and you pray to God that they pronounce your surname correctly. Some people don't see the point of having a special graduation. They see it as a form of reverse racism and just a way for ethnic and other groups on campus to separate themselves from the community at large. To this I say these graduations are the complete opposite. They celebrate the many different types of people who make up UC Davis. These graduations give minority groups a chance to show that yes, they DO exist, and yes, they DO have a VOICE. The commencement forgets the many groups that make up UC Davis, relegating all of us to wear the same colored gowns and hats. Our name is just another murmur in a marathon of hundreds of names that just end up melding to sound like Charlie Brown's teacher. These special graduations give a face to the graduate. It gives recognition to the individual. And, it gives her/him a story.

Just because you're not Filipino doesn't mean you're not allowed to attend or take part in Fil-Grad--the same thing goes for any of the graduations. Many non South East Asians walk on SEA Grad. It's just a way of supporting that particular group. And the people who walk those graduations are often the first people in their families to graduate from college, so they do deserve something special, don't you think?