PRESS RELEASE


PRESS RELEASE March 5, 1996

Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler,
Director of News and Information,
(818) 885-2130

Students Rally Over Affirmative Action Issues

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Los Angeles Councilman Richard Alarcon, and former Los Angeles Councilman Mike Woo are among the speakers taking part in an affirmative action rally organized by Cal State Northridge students on Thursday, March 14.

The rally, part of the Nation Day of Action over the issue of affirmative action, is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. on the university's Oviatt Library Lawn near the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

Presentations by speakers are expected to begin about 11:30 a.m. with Rosemary Dempsey, ACTION Vice President for the National Organization for Women. She will be followed by Abby J. Leibman, executive director of California Women's Law Center and board member of the American Jewish Congress at 11:50 a.m.; Alarcon at 12:25 p.m.; and Woo, now western states director of The Corporation for Public Service, at 12:40 p.m. Jackson is scheduled to speak at 1:10 p.m.

The event is being put together by the Coalition for Affirmative Action at California State University, Northridge. The coalition is made up of more than 23 student groups.

Student Vladimir Cerna, general secretary of the coalition, said the rally was being organized in part in response to the proposed California Civil Rights Initiative.

The CCRI would prohibit state and local governments from granting preferences based on race or gender in hiring and contracting, and in admissions to public universities. Affirmative action programs in private industry would not be affected.