Daily Titan
February 15, 2021
By Michelle Ibañez

Efforts to allow students to identify as Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA), instead of identifying as white on the Cal State application continue.

A Cal State Fullerton student presented the possible passing of the resolution to the Cal State Student Association (CSSA) on Saturday.

“Since our last plenary, they have been able to get in contact with the chancellor’s office to discuss this,” said Lauren Loeb, Associated Students’ chief governmental officer at Cal State Fullerton, on behalf of the students representing the SWANA resolution.

Loeb said SWANA received positive feedback from the chancellor’s office and that they were interested. There would be a potential agreement on including the SWANA identity on Cal State Apply, she added.

SWANA students have had to identify themselves as white through Cal State Apply. As students struggle with feelings of invisibility, activists have confronted the administration and urged them to recognize their ethnicity.

“Some of the things we have adjusted to the resolution would be no longer asking that the Cal State Apply application be changed because the chancellor’s office already said that that would happen,” Loeb said.

Loeb asked for support from CSSA representatives instead, as they continue their efforts to make the resolution a reality.

“Now, as this resolution has kind of evolved, we are dedicated to still passing this resolution as a show of the hard work and dedication and advocacy of our students, and also a tool for future CSSA students to use,” Loeb said.

Aside from CSUF, Cal State East Bay is currently the only CSU to have passed a resolution in support of the SWANA community.

CSSA member Ethan Quaranta from Cal State Monterey Bay, who said he supports the resolution, asked why the resolution was still necessary, since Loeb had informed the student association about the response from the chancellor’s office.

Loeb reminded the committee that while supposed support from the chancellor’s office had been disclosed, there were still things to consider.

“While the chancellor’s office did give us like an oral support, they haven’t given us support in writing,” Loeb said. “With the pandemic going on, there are things that are of utmost priority with getting the students the resources that they need during this time, so we don’t really want to be put on the back burner.”

Social Justice and Equity Officer Pamela Sanchez-Martinez from Cal State East Bay said she also supported Loeb’s efforts to continue to keep the resolution.

“I do think that since they haven’t given us or the students an actual, real proof that they’re going to commit to this, I think we should still leave in the line that we want it to be part of Cal State Apply, just to have that level of accountability,” Sanchez-Martinez said.

CSSA President Zahraa Khuraibet said that she would follow up with the chancellor’s office to get a written confirmation of support.

The resolution has been updated to acknowledge that the chancellor has verbally supported the proposal, but it currently asks for CSSA to continue to support and advocate for the use of the SWANA category in Cal State Apply, so it can obtain accurate demographics.

“I still continuously feel like we’re often left out in a lot of situations and places, so I really appreciate working with the authors,” Khuraibet said. “And updating so the resolution really reflects a support of the entire SWANA community beyond the scope of just including us in demographic decisions.”