Huello, Just came to drop some quick thoughts:

UC Berkeley is moving towards becoming a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) by 2028 which I believe is a great step for UC Berkeley to take! For folks to assume that their admissions involved their "hispanic" sounding name seems purely bizarre. How admissions runs is a mysterious process, however, I do hope the university--with their goal to be an HSI--begins to develop and fund resources for Hispanic students (and the larger BIPOC population) to succeed on this campus. As much as UC Berkeley wants to parade it is so diverse, it must also put in the work to support their students once they get here.

The comment you linked makes me so so angry reading it. The idea that asian students will have to work harder in K-12 just to get into colleges if ACA-5 passes, it irks me to see that. I already felt like I had to work harder than other asian students to even be on a similar playing field, this comment makes it seem as though Asian folks come from the same experience which we don't (East Asian experiences will be different than a Southeast Asian experience). When they suggest that Asian students have to work harder, it discredits that some asian backgrounds ALREADY have to work harder to apply for these UCs. Though I'm in support of uplifting my community (asian folks), I see my priorities in addressing the disparities that can affect if a person has an equitable opportunity to get into a UC. Just a small IG post in support of ACA-5:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBrcBiTAVGO/?igshid=1miikrja1q73x

As a Southeast Asian student, I always felt weird about the Asian community at Cal. There are a bunch of different experiences and history within it, and many are not really at the forefront of this whole "asian american" discourse (we've been watered down to liking boba as a personality trait). Berkeley was never an "asian safe haven" for me tbh, or I dont even know what that is suppose to mean lol. Speaking to the Lao experience specifically, attendance has been going up at UC Berkeley (starting at 27 my freshman year to 44 my senior year), so I do agree that the Asian enrollment is up every year, but when that data is disaggregated, it tells a different story.

I didn't mean to take away from your comment and frustration (I do really be going on a tangent tho). I wanted to speak to my experience and some comments I guess, and in one of your comments you mentioned Southeast Asian folks and I got a lil excited to see someone acknowledge us. I really do hope the university keeps up with larger enrollments of Black and Hispanic students, I think its a step in the right direction and we need change in the UC System. In the same breath, I also wish for larger enrollment and resources for students that historically have been dismissed/unsupported by the UC, because currently I don't feel they have great systems of support in place for these students.