Pillar 2: UCSC Students' Commitment to Justice
Throughout college, many UCSC students demonstrate their commitment to justice through their academics, clubs, employment, and more. After becoming alumni, these same slugs will often continue their commitment to justice in a number of ways. Below, we're going to highlight a few recent UCSC alumni and how they're continuing their commitment to justice.
Terisa Siagatonu
Terisa Siagatonu Links to an external site. — award-winning poet, teaching artist, mental health educator, and community leader — graduated from UCSC as a first-generation College Ten/John R. Lewis College affiliate with a B.A. in community studies and a minor in education in 2011. Terisa wrote her first poem in her dorm room in House 6/Angela Davis, after being introduced to spoken word poetry.
Her presence in the poetry world as a queer Samoan woman and activist has granted her opportunities to perform and speak in places ranging from the White House (during the Obama administration) to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris, France. Terisa cites the most memorable moment in her career to be when she received President Obama’s Champion of Change Award in 2012 for her activism as a spoken word poet/organizer in her Pacific Islander community.
Terisa's writing blends the personal, cultural, and political in a way that calls for healing, courage, justice, and truth. Watch Terisa read one of her poems below (and then check out this KQED article Links to an external site. where Terisa reflects on "Atlas") or read some of her writing here Links to an external site.:
Wisdom Cole
Wisdom Cole Links to an external site. — civil rights advocate and national organizer — graduated from UCSC as an Oakes College affiliate with a B.A. in chemistry and a minor in STEM education in 2015. As the National Director of the NAACP Youth & College Division, Wisdom serves more than 700 youth councils, high school chapters, and college chapters actively involved in the fight for civil rights and works to train and mobilize young people across the country in effective local, state, and national organizing tactics and tools to build political power.
As an undergraduate student, Wisdom was an RA, member of the African Student Union, served as a field and state conference organizer for the Afrikan Black Coalition (the largest Black collegiate organization in California), participated in multiple SOMeCA leadership courses, and was part of the African American Theater Arts Troupe (AATAT). In 2014, he collaboratively organized the Afrikan Black Coalition conference that featured keynote speakers such as Marc Lamont Hill, Angela Davis, Bobby Seale, and Attallah Shabazz. For this effort, he received the Chancellor's Achievement Award for Diversity in recognition of outstanding contributions to furthering diversity, inclusion, and excellence at UCSC.
In his time at the NAACP, Wisdom has worked on campaigns around the cancelation of student debt, removing police from schools, as well as increasing voter access for young Black people. He has been featured on Politico, NPR, VICE, NBC Washington News, Brooking Institute, and The Economist as an advocate for Black youth voter turnout through issue-based campaign organizing. In 2023, he was recognized in Politico's Recast Power List 2023, honoring those who are changing the world through race and politics.
Learn More!
- Alumni Voices Links to an external site. — a YouTube series that dives into the stories of four UCSC alumni
- Shenomenal — a celebration of 35 phenomenal UCSC-affiliated women and their achievements
- List of Alumni Achievement Award winners — an award that honors UCSC alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their field or have brought distinction to the university
- CHP article on Alumni of Color Links to an external site. who were excluded from a campus "Year of the Alumni" marketing campaign; including Huey P. Newton of the Black Panther Party and bell hooks
Moving Forward
Time to wrap up this Pillar! When you apply for the GTA Completion Certificate (prior to Graduation), you will complete a final reflection addressing each of the Five Pillars and linking the values and commitments in each pillar to some of the leadership and learning experiences you have had at JRLC and UCSC.