Aaronette White. Photo Courtesy of Marla Wyche-Hall

At sunset, over 70 students and faculty gathered around the central rock of UC Santa Cruz’s Quarry Plaza. The stone was turned into an altar, next to which stood a picture, biography and flowers. Fifty-one candles encircled the front of the rock to honor the unexpected passing of Aaronette M. White on Aug.14.

White was an associate dean of the Division of Social Sciences and an associate professor of psychology at UCSC. While White was a professor and faculty member, she was also a researcher and beloved campus figure. Jocqui Smollett, co-chair of the African/Black Student Alliance, helped organize the memorial on Aug. 16 and said it was a testament to White’s character how quickly people came together to honor her passing.

“It was really powerful to have undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty all in the same place,” Smollett said. “The fact that Dr. White passed and could bring all of us together in unison, within a week of her passing … Everyone was there for just one cause and that really just speaks to how powerful the impact she had on people’s lives.”

The service included speeches of remembrance from students and faculty. Carolyn Dunn, director of the American Indian Resource Center, sang a combination of Native American songs to honor White.

“The function of these songs is to honor our beloved fallen by singing a Flag Song, to honor the land they fought for, and then to honor them specifically with an Honor Song,” Dunn said in an email. “I chose those two for Dr. White because she truly is a warrior.”

Smollett read messages of students and faculty who were unable to attend, which was followed by a song from Ebony Lewis, associate director of admissions.

In July, White was appointed associate dean of equity and social responsibility at the Division of Social Sciences, to help maintain and increase the diversity of the division. If successful, the plan might have spread to the rest of campus.

As a social psychologist, White did research on gender, feminism and women’s studies, among other subjects.

Smollett said White was a role model for the students and faculty around her.

“Being a black person of color, you are part of 2.7 percent of black students [at UCSC], so whenever you have a profound, prominent professor such as Dr. White — these are professors who we look up to, these are professors who we aspire to be. These are black individuals who were once in our position — they have made it to this level and are making such a great impact on people’s lives,” Smollett said. “Unfortunately, there are not many classes available to black Americans about black American life, the black American struggle, or black American history. Dr. White was able to take that black struggle, that black history, and implement it into her classes.”

DT Amajoyi, a former mentee of White, said she was in awe of White’s powerful dialogue on race in her African-American psychology class.

“Being able to see someone in action relaying the message of things as heavy as slavery, oppression and white privilege, to a class of mostly white students … to be able to do that on our campus, which doesn’t have ethnic studies or isn’t necessarily open to talking about topics like that, was amazing,” she said. “Everyone was open because she was very tactful in the way that she did it. You could tell it was well-intentioned.”

Smollett said even though he never had the opportunity to personally meet White, like others at the service, he was greatly impacted by her passing.

“It was incredible,” he said. “The love, the passion — you could just feel it within the whole circle. Everyone was so emotional. People who didn’t even know about her beforehand found out about her life and were crying … I didn’t even know her, but I felt as if my aunt had died.”

Marla Wyche-Hall, director of the African American Resource & Cultural Center, worked with White and said in an email that her passing was a great tragedy to the UCSC community.

“[She was] someone who cared deeply on issues of feminism, someone who wasn’t afraid to push the envelope and engage in “tough” topics of racial inequities and disenfranchised communities,” Wyche-Hall said. “[She was] a person who invested countless hours, time and mentorship in her students, both at the undergraduate and at the graduate level.”

The Student Union Assembly, A/BSA and UCSC’s Ethnic Resource Centers will hold a second memorial on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at the Quarry Plaza at 8 p.m.

In 2011 protesters shut down Wall Street, on March 1 protesters will shut down the university, and on March 5 they will shut down the capitol. It is no surprise to the UC Santa Cruz student body that we are in a class struggle for social and economic equality.

Van Jones spoke on campus on Feb. 21 about the economic crisis and his reformation of the American dream.

Jones is a Yale Law School graduate, former advisor to the Obama administration, bestselling author of “The Green Collar Economy,” award-winning pioneer in human rights and clean energy economy, and was dubbed one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2009 by TIME magazine.

Charismatic and humorous, Jones described the center of America’s struggle as an economic and cultural task. The notion of the American Dream, he said, is a confused and misinterpreted one that should be transformed to better reflect today’s society.

“There is a thing they call the American Dream,” he said. “This is the notion that everyone in American is going to get as rich as they possibly can. This is not the American dream, but it is the American dance. This dream is a dying dream. This dream is dying, and it should be dying.”

Jones is currently working on an organization called Rebuild the Dream, which focuses on community reformation through traditional techniques, like teach-ins and rallies, as well as digital services like online petitions and viral digital projects. The plan is to reestablish the American dream as something that protects and expands jobs for the middle and lower classes.

UCSC students are part of the new generation in this plan, Jones said.

“The diversity you have in your generation is a miracle in history,” he said. “You have every class, every faith, every race, every gender, and you’re even making new genders. You have all of these things, and you get along pretty well. This diversity, through your generation’s social and political movements, can and will restore prosperity.”

First-year Leilani Salvador is a member of the Cultural Arts and Diversity Program board of directors. Salvador helped organize and sponsor the event.

“One of our goals [with bringing Jones to speak] was to get a more politically diverse community,” Salvador said. “The majority of the politically active communities on campus are ethnically white students. For us to have Jones, who is a politically prominent figure, represented by so many ethnically-based groups really encourages ethnic students to participate in the campus’ political opportunities.”

Dr. Marla Wyche-Hall, director of the African American Resource and Cultural Center, one of the event’s sponsors, said Jones spoke well about the challenges and promises facing our diverse, multicultural generation.

“I think one of the purposes of his speech was to cross boundaries,” she said. “We have to acknowledge the differences between our social and ethnic groups, but, despite this ‘rainbow generation,’ we can still come together and make change.”

Read City on a Hill Press’ exclusive Q&A with Van Jones