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In a move that triggered immediate backlash from the UC Berkeley student community, the Berkeley College Republicans announced plans Thursday night to host an “Increase Diversity Bake Sale” in opposition to Affirmative Action-like legislation awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature.
The original post announcing the bake sale — which created a tiered structure for the pricing of baked goods based on race — incensed students across campus, who decried the event on Facebook, calling it “racist,” “stupid” and “pathetic,” among other things.
A special meeting of the ASUC Senate has been called for Sunday at 6 p.m. to discuss the bill and the surrounding controversy, ASUC Executive Vice President Chris Alabastro said Friday afternoon.
Negative responses to the event flooded the Facebook event page, which the organization soon changed to a less inflammatory post — a move Berkeley College Republican President Shawn Lewis said in a Facebook comment “in no way means to ‘cover up’ the previous description.”
“The pricing structure of the baked goods is meant to be satirical, while urging students to think more critically about the implications of this policy,” the modified event page reads.
From the original post:
Most students feel that their voices aren’t heard in the baked goods distribution process controversy. They also believe that our UCs and CSUs need to be more diverse. YOU have the OPPORTUNITY to increase DIVERSITY and student VOICES by buying some PASTRIES and helping redistribute wealth for SOCIAL JUSTICE through BAKED GOODS on Sproul Plaza (9/27/11).
Berkeley College Republicans will be SELLING BAKED GOODS from 10 AM – 2PM across from the Affirmative Action Phonebank on Upper Sproul, and just like the CA Senate Bills 185 and 387 the phonebank supports, we will be considering RACE, GENDER, ETHNICITY, NATIONAL/GEOGRAPHIC ORIGIN and other relevant factors to ensure the EQUITABLE distribution of BAKED GOODS to our DIVERSE! student body.To ensure the fairest distribution, and make sure that there are a DIVERSE population of RACES of students getting BCR’s delicious baked goods, the pricing structure will be as follows:
White/Caucasian: $2.00
Asian/Asian American: $1.50
Latino/Hispanic: $1.00
Black/ African American: $0.75
Native American: $0.25
$0.25 OFF FOR ALL WOMEN!
Hope to see you all there! If you don’t come, you’re a racist!
The bake sale is in protest of SB 185, which, if signed by Brown, would allow California public universities to consider a number of non-academic factors such as race, gender and nationality in the admissions process in order to increase campus diversity.
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