The exhibit celebrates thirty years of UCSC student expression and includes poster
art, t-shirts, research papers, books, journals, arm bands, newspapers, and more.
We are proud to present "Student Voices: Three Decades Strong," an exhibit featuring
the works of UCSC students. While compiling matrials for this exhibit, we defined
"works" in as broad a manner as possible. Students have put a great effort into
making this campus what it is today and those efforts can't always be tangibly
measured. Consider those who volunteer to tutor kids in Beach Flats, those who
mentor in Seaside, countless who tell stories carrying campus events around the
globe.
The past thirty years have witnessed enormous social and cultural change. Founded
in 1965, UCSC was conceived and born into the quiet and relative affluence of
the early Sixties. No one could have imagined the tremendous social and political
shifts that were to shake the world within a few short years. The tumultuous Sixties
and early Seventies soon arrived in a wave which transformed the campus community.
The impassioned spirit of the Anti-Vietnam War Movement during that era filtered
into every aspect of campus social life, altering everything from hair to curriculum.
By October 1970 The Black Flag Bulletin #1, published by the anarchist revolutionary
movement would editorialize, "We know the problems that concern us: racism, imperialism,
ecology. What do we do about them here? We sit in our seminars and intellectualize
(impress each other with our command of vocabulary) about Mesopotamian culture
or the 19th century French novel."
The activism of the Anti-War movement helped give birth to the early Feminist
movement on campus in the mid-to-late Seventies. This movement fought for the
establishment of Women's Studies, the tenure of Nancy Shaw, and organized one
of the first Take Back the Night marches against violence against women to take
place on any college campus in the United States. The Seventies and Eighties also
saw the rise of the Lesbian and Gay movement, a movement which has been particularly
strong at UC Santa Cruz. The Anti-Apartheid and Anti-Nuclear movements have also
been potent forces at UCSC. Teach-ins, rallies, sit-ins, and marches have long
been a vital part of the UCSC student community. This activism and involvement
also carried over into students' concern for community issues such as farmworker
rights, housing and health conditions for Beach Flats residents, and preserving
the natural environment of Santa Cruz County. Even the endearing efforts to preserve
the Banana Slug as UCSC's beloved mascot in the late 1980s are a testament to
the strength of the UCSC student voice. When UC Santa Cruz opened its doors in
September 1965 there were no students of color on campus. The efforts in the past
thirty years by students of color and their allies to diversify this campus and
its curriculum are reflected in this exhibit. That activism continues in the Nineties
with the struggle to preserve affirmative action and ethnic studies programs,
and prevent budget and program cuts.
But not all is politics at UCSC. Flourishing alongside this tremendous activism
is a plethora of literary journals and newspapers. Over the years UCSC, students
have published an astonishing number of diverse literary journals. From the sublime,
to the ridiculous, to the educationalÜall these publications have one thing in
common: a commitment to the free expression of the student voice in all its tenors
and variations. These literary journals produced finely crafted, elegant, and
honest prose and poetry by UCSC students. From the fine printing of the austere
Observations, to the edgy computer graphic zine Waffle, students have uniformly
articulated their passion for expressive literature. Books like Between the Lines:
a Pacific/Asian Lesbian anthology have made groundbreaking contributions to world
literature. Newspapers such as City on a Hill Press, Leviathan and Twanas continue
to publish high-quality journalism. And not to be overlooked are the musical,
theatrical, and artistic creative achievements of UCSC students represented here.
The journey the three of us took through the archives of Special Collections here
at McHenry Library to put this exhibit together was a journey through time, through
thirty years of activism and expression, folders upon folders of posters, flyers,
newsletters, journals, and photographs. What you see represented in this exhibit
is only a small sampling of that journey and we invite those of you with specific
interests in this material to pursue those interests more in depth in the Library's
collection.
The students who began their education here on that opening day in September 1965
are now turning fifty. The world is not the same. UC Santa Cruz has evolved from
a few trailers and many dreams to a full-fledged research university with many
accomplished graduates. But many of those graduates treasure their years at UCSC
and the environment which both nourished and altered their intellect and spirit.
This exhibit is a tribute to that spirit. May it endure.
--Deborah Turner, Rob Guillen, Irene Reti
A Gallery of Images from the Student Voices Exhibit
This site is maintained by Wendy Lees McMullen (wlees@ucsc.edu). It was last updated on 2/10/03.
