A group of 15 University of California, Irvine alumni — who graduated in 1976 — donated $17,000 in total recently to spend one nostalgic night in their old, co-ed college dormitory, Sierra Hall.
“The best things I learned at UCI, I learned at Sierra Hall,” attorney Bridgette Berry-Smith, 57, told the Orange County Register after spending the night on campus 40 years after graduating.
The Register notes that the 1970s alumni beat out the other decades to win the contest, and raised a total of $28,000. The funds will reportedly be given to future students who live in the Sierra Hall dorm.
Attorney and UCI alumni Bridgette Berry-Smith told the Register, “A lot of guys had less hair.” However, as fellow alumnus and police officer Lamont Jerrett, 57, pointed out to the Register, “the souls are the same.”
The alumni reportedly recalled watching “Roots,” which, as the Register recalls, “exposed the horrors of slavery to a huge television audience for seven nights Jan.23-30, 1977.” Berry-Smith reportedly remembered: “There was some anger. But we talked it out. We were able to sit and discuss. It was judgment-free.”
Those discussions have changed as campuses have become more diverse, in every way — especially geographically. As California universities grapple with rising costs and tuition, which have seemingly turned education into a long-term financial problem for state and students alike, out-of-state and international students provide greater appeal because they are required to pay much more than California residents.
Last year, Breitbart News broke a national story in which some members of UCI’s Associated Students (ASUCI) had voted to ban the American flag from their building in order to avoid “triggering” hurt feelings among illegal immigrants. Leftist students and faculty members had rallied behind the six students in their decision to ban “Old Glory.”
UCI’s official newspaper, New University, confirmed original reporting by Breitbart News. The ban was subsequently vetoed by executive cabinet members of the ASUCI, who called the ban “misguided.”
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz
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