CAA Announcements

Omar Ramirez ’06 hadn’t thought he would attend college—much less graduate from UC Berkeley and remain on campus as a full-time staff member for the next 12 years. Growing up in a low-income neighborhood in Lynwood, California, in a family of immigrants with mixed citizenship statuses, Omar was more familiar with interviewing for minimum-wage jobs at fast food restaurants than applying to colleges. In fact, he didn’t make plans to go to college until the summer after his senior year of high school, when he figured, “Maybe I’ll give community college a shot.”

Members of the LGBTQ+ community have been part of UC Berkeley’s campus community since its inception, but their physical and social environment has changed dramatically. No longer do they have to live in isolation. No longer do they have to risk getting arrested for being who they are.

In a six-part series, we highlight a few of the moments, movements, and people that made their mark on Cal’s LGBTQ+ history. We move through the decades, beginning in an era of secrecy and continuing through today.

On August 19, about 30 alumni volunteers across California helped send off and welcome 140 incoming students to UC Berkeley.

In 2018, the San Francisco Foundation funded the first set of African American Initiative Scholarships. Administered by the Cal Alumni Association, these scholarships were awarded to 28 deserving undergraduate students in support of the university’s commitment to Black and African American student success at Cal. The African American Initiative (AAI) is UC Berkeley’s effort to address the underrepresentation of and campus climate for African American students, faculty, and staff, and includes steps to improve recruitment, yield, retention, and graduation rates of African American students. The scholarship grants $8,000 annually for up to five years of undergraduate study, or a maximum of $40,000 total.

Growing up in Carson, California, Liliana “Lili” Iglesias ’12 remembered her mom saying often to her, “When you go to college….” This message ingrained in Lili the thought that she would go to college someday. Then, in middle school, her mom admitted to her, “I don’t know what [going to college] means, so try and ask your teachers and counselors how you can get there.”

The Wongs recognize that affording and navigating UC Berkeley is a much greater challenge now than when they met on campus fifty years ago.