UCLA Labor Center Banquet

Written by Stephanie, Book Co-author and UCLA Student

May 31st, 2008

The UCLA Labor Center banquet was a much larger event than I anticipated! When I first arrived at its venue, the gigantic cathedral in Downtown L.A., I was surprised by the massive sign-in table while about one hundred guests milled about in semi-formal attire. I stepped outside for fifteen minutes, and when I returned, the sold-out crowd had ballooned to *over seven hundred* guests (according to Kent Wong's count, but that only included tickets sold, not student guests like myself)! The lobby was so full, bodies were pressed against each other, and everywhere I looked, I recognized many VIPs -- Senator Gil Cedillo (that night's honoree), Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, and Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, not to mention the ones I wouldn't be able to immediately spot in a crowd. After Janna introduced me to an overwhelming number of labor leaders from all over the state, we were seated in the massive formal dining area, as Kent Wong gave an energetic welcome, and dinner was served.

I began to panic when I realized that -- aside from Senator Cedillo and the rest of the night's special honorees -- I would essentially be the only speaker of the night to the gigantic crowd. Janna comforted me by suggesting that I picture the audience as "a bunch of cabbage heads," and it actually did help a lot. After Tam's documentary was shown, Kent introduced me to speak, and it actually wasn't that intimidating! I'm sure it helped that everyone there was already familiar with, and friendly toward, the issue -- and everyone cheered when I mentioned how the book is the most successful of all of the Labor Center books so far. I really tried to stress the importance of the book even for those who might already be familiar/supportive, and I think we got a great amount of interest and an incredible crowd response. (Funnily enough, I think it was pretty cool that I got a standing ovation when I walked onstage -- but NOT when I walked offstage. That made it pretty clear that everyone was in enthusiastic support and celebration of "me as representative of the issue itself," not just "me as one individual who gave a good speech," so that's definitely a great thing, if that makes any sense.) In their respective speeches, the honorees of the evening dedicated a lot of attention to the DREAM Act as well while onstage.

After I sat down, Susan later pulled me into the hallway where she, Tam and Gaby were selling books, because some of the guests were asking to speak to me. We sold a ton of books very quickly, and I (and Gaby!) signed many of them (which made Susan call me "Rockstar" all evening). I was really amazed how much support we got from lots of labor leaders who I wouldn't expect to show interest -- I got tons of business cards from people who purchased to book who were members of, for instance, sound engineer unions. It really opened my eyes to how wide our support can be, not just necessarily with groups who normally focus on immigration or education issues. It made me very excited about the book's ties to the labor center, and all of the instant interest that creates. In the end, we sold every book except for 3 remaining copies (which we would have easily sold in three minutes, but we had to clear out our table right away -- even though there were still dozens of guests lingering in the dining room who didn't get to see our table, awww). I don't know how many books we started out with, but it was a LOT!

I met so many great supporters, including an L.A.-suburb councilmember's wife who is still undocumented and is just about to graduate from UCLA (and doesn't even qualify for AB540!). I also spoke with an amazing woman who related her difficult struggle working multiple jobs to attend UC Berkeley in the 60s, because she simply never *knew* about scholarships and grants even though she DID qualify for them. (She contributed a donation toward my personal tuition fund in encouragement, which was amazing.) Altogether, I was in awe of the level of excitement, interest and support we received from so many groups I had never truly considered reaching out to before.

The Raza Youth Conference at UCLA

Written by Miguel, UCLA Student

May 31, 2008

There were approximately 200 to 300 people present, coming from as close as Pico-Union, to far away Chino, Indio, and Sacramento. The first parent workshop was inspiring because the parents were eager to share the stories of their children, some of whom had given up on getting to college because they lacked the information and knowledge of others that were in their situation. After the workshop they eagerly bought books as gifts to their children in hopes that they will serve as the tool that fuels their desire for an education. The student workshop that followed gave students an insight into the lives of undocumented college students, resources they could use to contact in their respective areas to help themselves and their friends, and the motivation to not only continue, but also do something in support of access to higher education for undocumented students.

University of California, Riverside: "Crossing Borders, Crossing Movements: Immigrant Workers' Rights in Southern California and Beyond"

Written by Susan, UCLA Alumna and Community Advocate

May 22, 2008

The conference brought together scholars and representatives from unions and workers' organizations to present their work regarding immigration, immigrant workers, and their rights. Once the event began, the Underground Undergrads publication team listened to several of the panelists including representatives from Lideres Campecinas, the Garment Workers' Center, UNITE-HERE, and Laborers' International. Their stories, especially those from workers themselves, were inspirational.

After a day full of inspirational and educational words, audience members were eager to call it a day. This was before we had our chance to present on Underground Undergrads. Suddenly, when our team went up to speak, the clouds darkened, rain turned into hail and everyone who was leaving or had already left decided to come back to the room and listen to the Underground Undergrads share their stories. After speaking, everyone in the room left with a book, and our speakers were asked to autograph the books. And the student leaders from UCR's Mecha and PODER asked us to share more about the experiences that are chronicled in the book. Overall, it was a fine day to be at UCR and to see such a large support for the text and students.

Here is a link to the UCR Labor Studies Department: http://www.laborstudies.ucr.edu/

'The only thing that we have the power to do is speak out'

'Underground Undergrads' tells plight of undocumented students at UCLA.

By R. W. Dellinger

Friday, May 9th, 2008

When Stephanie Solis turned 18, she learned from her parents something she could hardly fathom: She was an undocumented immigrant. That meant she couldn't vote or get a driver's license. But, most of all, she probably wouldn't be able to go to UCLA, where she had been accepted after working hard in high school to earn stellar grades.

Instead of feeling a sense of elation and independence, she felt isolated with all her future plans seemingly down the drain. As a result, her budding sense of identity suffered a deep psychic blow. The teenager couldn't help thinking that instead of entering adulthood, she would remain a permanent child never realizing her career goals and life dreams.

"When most teenagers have their 18th birthday, they think about how they're an adult now," recalled Solis, who is now 22. "But instead of having a sense of adulthood, I usually had a feeling of permanent childhood because, well, 'I can't drive, I can't vote, I can't travel, I can't work.' I didn't have an ID, so I couldn't even prove my age."

But the driven coed from a low-income family decided to go ahead and try UCLA anyway, even though she wasn't eligible for financial aid, student loans or most scholarships. And once there, she met other undocumented students in the same boat. It was going to be harder - a lot harder - but at least she wasn't the only struggling student in Westwood.

Solis took on multiple jobs, cleaning houses, making cardboard boxes - whatever she could physically do to earn money. Another coping strategy was taking quarters off school to work fulltime. Today she's a senior with a major in creative writing, and one of the 11 student and faulty editors of "Underground Undergrads," a new UCLA-produced publication unveiled at an April 30 press conference.

"I wish that I had this book as a resource on my 18th birthday, knowing about the possibilities and that I wasn't alone," she said. "This book is so important. This is the only real way that we can bring about change on this issue. Because we are afraid to speak out. We feel powerless.
"Also, we can't vote, so we can't really speak for ourselves politically," she added. "So the only thing that we have the power to do is speak out."

First class on undocumented

"Underground Undergrads," an 84-page glossy paperback, is the product of UCLA's first class on undocumented students: Immigrant Rights, Labor and Higher Education. Through in-depth interviews, firsthand accounts, personal histories, testimonies, poems and newspaper articles, "Underground Undergrads" puts a human face on the lives of undocumented high school and college students.

The student publication of the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education features a timeline of immigration legislation plus a breakdown of Assembly Bill 540, the 2001 California law granting in-state tuition fees for community college, state university and UC campuses. It profiles the proposed California Dream Act, which would allow undocumented students to apply for state and institutional financial aid, as well as the federal Dream Act, which would provide a path to legalization for certain undocumented students.

In addition, the publication also features "action" strategies plus a resource guide for undocumented students.

Ken Wong, director of the labor center, co-taught the first course at UCLA on undocumented students with Janna Shadduck-Hernández in the winter quarter of 2007. He called it a "huge issue" facing the nation today, with 65,000 undocumented students graduating from high school every year.

"I've taught at UCLA for the past 20 years, and the undocumented students in my classes have been among the most exemplary, the hardest-working, the most brilliant and talented students in my teaching career," he reported. "For not only have they gone against all odds and gotten admitted to one of the finest public institutions of higher education in the country, but they've also done it with even more barriers and difficulties than other students."

Wong pointed out that most undocumented students don't live on campus because of the prohibitive cost of staying in dorms. Many commute two hours and longer to Westwood. During finals week some even stay overnight in the library and shower in the gym to have more hours to cram.

"And in spite of their hard work and perseverance, even upon graduation from UCLA they are not legally eligible to work," he declared. "So most of them instead are forced to take jobs in the underground economy."

The purpose of "Underground Undergrads" is to highlight the stories of these local students, who represent thousands of others like themselves across the United States, and to bring greater awareness to the public about their plight, Wong said. He stressed this was a crucial time with California's Dream Act pending in Sacramento along with members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, pledging to support the reintroduction of the federal Dream Act.

"It takes tremendous courage for these undocumented students to step forward because they do not have legal status in this country," he said. "And it's also painful because we are punishing these students for something that they had absolutely no control over. They were brought here as young children by their parents, by relatives. It was not their decision to be here in this country.

"Yet, for many of them this is the only country they know," he noted. "Many who were brought here as young children only speak English. Many only know this society and this culture. So this is their country as well."

From Long Beach to Westwood

Ernesto Rocha, a junior political science-Chicano studies major, was a member of the Immigrant Rights, Labor and Higher Education class and also helped bring the book to completion as a summer intern at the UCLA Labor Center. He told his story of being an eight-year-old boy who crossed the border with his mom and two brothers.

"I knew that my job, my task as a student, was to get an education and just to continue to work as hard as possible in order for me to graduate," he said at the UCLA Downtown Center press conference.

His mother never wanted to discuss the whole issue of immigration because she thought it would affect him negatively and discourage him from going to college. So when he arrived at UCLA, Rocha was "truly excited" that he was attending one of the best universities in California.

But he didn't know what to do or who to talk to about his status until he found the group IDEAS (Improving Dreams, Equality, Access, and Success), which showed him step by step how to apply for a private scholarship for undocumented students.

Every weekday he took buses back and forth from Long Beach to Westwood, studied hours in the evening and slowly began to feel that he was progressing at UCLA. "With the determination that I have and the support of my family, I was able to do it," he said.

Rocha also began to realize, from talking to other undocumented students and watching May Day marches on TV, that the whole immigration issue was much bigger than his own particular story. So he took the new class at the labor center and worked as a summer intern to research and put together stories that make up "Underground Undergrads."

"I think that the subtitle is extremely clever: 'UCLA Undocumented Immigrant Students Speak Out,'" he said. "That's something that I've wanted to do my whole life was to speak out about the issue. But I never really found the strength to do it.

"And now at least I have something that I can rely on and say, 'This is a human rights issue.' And it's something that I would fight for until I can become legal."

Source: http://www.the-tidings.com/2008/050908/undoc.htm

Cal Poly Pomona Presentation

Written by Tam, UCLA Alumna and Community Advocate

May 2, 2008



On May 2, myself and four other students drove to Cal Poly Pomona to talk about the book. Cal Poly Pomona's administration has been very supportive of undocumented students and even has an assigned AB540 counselor that works only with undocumented students. We were invited to come and speak about the formation of the student support group for undocumented students, IDEAS at UCLA, after they found out about the new book. The administrator of the Asian American student club and an Asian American Studies professor at Cal Poly had heard the story of how IDEAS was formed and wanted to do the same at their university.

IDEAS was formed by a UCLA administrator who invited all the AB540 students to his office and from there they formed a group and have gone on to fundraise, organize conferences and workshops, organize politically, and also to support each other socially and emotionally. Because of this, the administrators at Cal Poly, in turn, invited the AB540 students they knew to this meeting. After sharing our stories, one of the professors actually bought a book for each Cal Poly students there. The students were really inspired and we even connected on a level where we have gone on to work on other events together. I even met another undocumented Asian student. He is majoring in Construction/Engineering and immigrated with his parents to Mexico from China. When he was about eight years old, he moved to the US with his uncle but has been unable to legalize his status. He said he was really happy to see non-Latino immigrants being represented in the book.

Book tells tough stories

Undocumented UCLA students publish a new collection of narratives detailing their struggles

By Bethany Powers

Thursday, May 1, 2008

To mark the official release of their student-produced book “Underground Undergrads,” the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education hosted a book publishing event Wednesday night in Campbell Hall.

Nearly a year and a half after students undertook the project, supporters – including fellow students, parents and professors – came together to celebrate their work and talk about the struggles facing undocumented students.

The book includes eight stories, each unique but similar in the struggles the students shared. The undocumented students featured in the book have immigrated from a variety of countries, including Vietnam and Romania. Many of them came to the United States as children.

The event highlighted some of the stories featured in the book, and several authors and editors talked about how they brought their ideas to publication.

Fabiola Inzunza, a fourth-year international development studies student, is the co-chairman of Improving Dreams, Equality, Access, and Success (IDEAS), a student group that supported and helped in the writing and publication of the book.

“Working together with the labor department, we got this idea,” Inzunza said. “Out of the course, we recorded oral histories, and then turned it into this powerful project.”

The project began with the first class offered by the labor center, called “Immigration, Labor, and Higher Education” during the winter quarter of 2007.

After the interviews were conducted and the stories were written by students, a team of editors picked the eight they wanted to highlight in the book. Students also took and collected the pictures featured in the book.

But besides being full of very revealing and personal stories, “Underground Undergrads” also includes background information on federal and state legislation that affects the lives of undocumented students.

Tam Tran, a UCLA alumna, had her story featured in the book, and she said the collection legitimizes the student’s stories.

“It can become part of the curriculum for a class or for research,” Tran said. “We were underground and now we’ve come out to inform the campus about the issues of undocumented students.”

Professor Janna Shadduck-Hernandez was one of the faculty members involved in the project. She talked about undocumented students’ challenges and the importance of sharing their stories. She also said the book was a way for students to do participatory research by organizing the publication of the book themselves.

Stephanie Solis, a fourth-year English student, is undocumented. She is a member of IDEAS and worked on the publication of “Underground Undergrads” as a copy editor and writer. She said she believes the book can be a valuable resource.

“It’s important as an education tool to undocumented students,” Solis said. “Someone can pick up this book and know there are others like me.”

She said the book takes a more personal angle that many people do not consider as part of the immigration debate.

“It’s not really just black and white; so many of us came as kids,” Solis said.

“It’s probably the only thing I can think of where kids are held accountable for their parents’ crimes.”

Inzunza said she hopes the book’s publication will push legislation that can help undocumented students receive financial aid and assistance in pursuing a higher education.

“Once you have it published, it grabs attention,” Inzunza said. “I think it can also play a really empowering role when students read it for themselves.”

Source: http://www.usstudents.org/press-room/articles/may-2008/book-tells-tough-stories