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Two years ago, the summer before my first year at UCLA, I had a million different thoughts and emotions running amok inside my head. I felt nervous, inspired, ambitious, hopeful, worried, happy and sure about only one thing: my undying hatred for USC.

Since that chaotic time, I have come to realize that this campus is an amazing place where you can step outside yourself and grow, change and learn. But it is not always an easy process: my first two quarters at UCLA, I was often torn among feelings of enthusiastic excitement and feelings of loneliness, displacement, and a nagging fear that I would never figure out what I was supposed to be doing in college. It wasn’t until after I became involved that I realized my feelings were normal. More importantly, my involvement helped convince me that I had a real purpose here on this campus.

Of course, going to parties and football games helped too. Meeting friends in the dorms and in classes, taking courses that would never have been offered in high school, and trying to figure out my major occupied a great deal of my time during my first months here. There were days when I felt like the only person that had not yet declared a major, the only student struggling to find Hershey Hall, and the only girl without a date for Saturday night.

In spite of all these feelings, or perhaps because of them, I decided to really get involved in the spring of my freshman year. That decision has been the single most influential factor in my college career and has helped me to realize that I was never alone on this campus. As you prepare to enter this university, I am here asking you to make the same decision, for your own sake.

But UCLA is full of paradoxes. On the one hand, it is an enormous university, with over 30,000 students, 500 student clubs and organizations, countless majors, and a million different opportunities for involvement. Yet somehow, when you look for a place to start your UCLA career, it seems as if there is nothing for you to do and nowhere to go for guidance.

As someone who has felt all of these things, I am going to try to make life easier for you and reveal the secrets of involvement at UCLA. First of all, start listening. In your time here at this university, listening to the students around you will be your greatest tool, teaching you more than you could ever learn by taking a test or reading a textbook. Students here are motivated, outspoken and dedicated, and by listening to your peers you will begin to understand some of the most pressing issues on our campus.

Secondly, look around you with a critical eye. What do I mean? Here’s an assignment: as you sit in your orientation sessions, look around and ask yourselves how many underrepresented students of color (including African Americans, Latino/as, Chicano/as and Pilipinos) you see at UCLA. If you can’t find many, don’t be surprised. Despite its claims of being one of the most diverse universities in the world, UCLA’s entering class of 2000 includes a minuscule number of underrepresented students. For example, of a total admitted population of over 3,000 students, this fall’s entering class includes fewer than 30 African American men.

I must be kidding, right? Wrong. On the contrary, the number of underrepresented students of color at UCLA has dropped by over 50 percent over the past 5 years. How can this be? In 1995, the UC Board of Regents, the governing body of the University of California system, passed Standing Policies 1 and 2 (SP-1 and SP-2), which eradicated the use of affirmative action in university admissions and hirings. The following year, Californian voters passed ballot measure Proposition 209, and eliminated the use of affirmative action in California’s public sector. Since then, diversity at UCLA has plummeted, and tensions and misunderstandings on campus have skyrocketed.

When I first came to UCLA, I had only a minimal understanding of how affirmative action affected college admissions and demographics. I did not understand then that affirmative action was originally intended to be a partial solution to help bridge the gap between the opportunities available to underprivileged students and the capacity of these students to excel. Not all students are given the same opportunities in their communities to take Advanced Placement or honors courses, pay for expensive SAT preparation classes, or receive college-track counseling in high school. These disadvantages directly affect a student’s ability to enter competitive universities like UCLA, and are not in any way a reflection of individual intelligence or capacity.

How did I figure all this out? By asking questions. When I entered UCLA I thought I was continuing my education. When I started asking questions, I slowly came to realize that I was starting from square one. As a university student, there are two broad types of knowledge available to you. The first is the information you will receive in your classes through lectures, notes, readings and assignments. The second is the awareness you can gain by asking questions, listening to your peers, and looking critically at your surroundings.

As an entering freshman, you have deep reserves of information. College is our chance to begin increasing our awareness. This is our opportunity to push ourselves beyond what we think we know, to learn to act in solidarity with the struggles of others, and to use our privileges as college students to better the communities surrounding us. It is our opportunity to put the diversity of Los Angeles back into UCLA.

As you read this, I ask you to remember that many of the issues on this campus are painful and difficult. If, however, we push ourselves to become aware and arm ourselves with the truth no matter how hurtful or disappointing it may be, we can empower ourselves to take action and to alter reality to reflect our ideals. Our actions may manifest in hundreds of different ways, from protests to tutoring to art exhibits to teach-ins to writing. The important thing is that we do whatever we can to learn about and change UCLA’s existing injustices.

Margaret Mead once wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” As you enter the college experience, look around, take a deep breath, and allow yourself to grow. Give yourself the space to ask questions about what you don’t understand. Most importantly, get involved. Contact student organizations or one of the many offices of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, such as the External Vice President’s office, the Cultural Affairs Commission, or the Academic Affairs Commission. Attend teach-ins and rallies. Take interesting classes that you don’t “need” to get a degree. Engage in conversations with people different from yourself. In these ways, we can change the world. Welcome to UCLA.