"It Could Be Disastrous for the Long-Term Viability of the System"

"But UC San Diego history professor Daniel Widener, who heads that campus' African American studies program, is among those who oppose any significant increase in non-resident enrollment at UC. Widener says the plan could spark political controversy and result in lower state funding and alumni support for the university.
"In addition, the professor said, UC's recruiting effort would be better aimed at trying to find talented Californians, especially from low-income households and minority families."

Larry Gordon in the Los Angeles Times reports on the University of California's efforts to recruit out-of-state students.

"Speed, in Everything We Do, Is Not Always a Sign of Progress"

"'I always felt as if I had to retain my connection to the empirical record, even as I retained my admiration for the participants. My attitude toward the people shifted from a more uncritical admiration to one of great respect.'"

Robert L. Pincus in The San Diego Union-Tribune interviews Daniel Widener, UC San Diego history professor and author of the new book Black Arts West: Culture and Struggle in Postwar Los Angeles. (And The Late Adopter's long-ago roommate.)

Stay Classy, UC San Diego

"History professor Danny Widener, who directs the university's African American studies program, said he was outraged but not surprised by the party. He said African American students comprise less than 2% of undergraduates at UC San Diego, which he described as inhospitable to them.
"'The campus climate is one in which you are constantly regarded as a statistical anomaly at best,' he said."

Larry Gordon in the Los Angeles Times reports on anger over a racist party near the University of California, San Diego.

Addendum:
Two years later, Tony Perry in the Los Angeles Times discusses the end of a federal investigation at the university.

Seeing the Promised Land

"Editorial choices perhaps explain the short shrift given the black power period. More than half of Branch's nearly 800-page text deals with 1965. Of course, 1965 was a momentous year, and the centennial of Lee's surrender at Appomattox witnessed the Selma campaign, the Voting Rights Act, the first commitment of large numbers of American servicemen to Southeast Asia and the Watts riots. Yet the following years were important as well, and one wonders if the decision to avoid more substantive discussions of the final two years of King's life implies that, by 1967, Americans were no longer living 'in the King years.'"

Historian Daniel Widener of the University of California, San Diego, reviews Taylor Branch's At Canaan's Edge in The San Diego Union-Tribune.