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This article originally appeared in the December 2003 issue of the Irvine Review. 

At the Young Americans Foundation West Coast Leadership Conference on Oct. 25, Ward Connerly expressed support for the College Republicans at UCI in their dispute with UCI administration over an affirmative action bake sale that was shut down on Sept. 25. The administrators, who held that the bake sale breached UCI’s discrimination policies, have argued that the free speech rights of the College Republicans were not violated. 

Occurring during Welcome Week, the bake sale was an imitation of similarly executed bake sales at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and many other public and private institutions in California. The premise of the bake sale was a statement against the practices of affirmative action used in many universities. By selling the same product at reduced prices to women and minorities, the College Republicans hoped to illustrate the practice of affirmative action in a different context. 

A day after the bake sale, the College Republicans contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (��֭����) to seek legal recourse and protection. FIREresponded by sending a letter to several administrators outlining the legal precedent that they claim protects the College Republicans. The Director of Legal and Public Advocacy for ��֭����, Mr. Greg Lukianoff, argued that Hustler v. Falwell established the legal precedent for satirical protest, which encompasses the bake sale at UCI. 

However, Vice-Chancellor Manuel Gomez disagreed with ��֭����’s assessment. 

To date, the College Republicans have held meetings with both Dean of FIRESally Peterson, and Vice-Chancellor Gomez. The meetings were similar in both tone and agenda. 

The crux of Peterson’s argument was the “commercial aspect” of the bake sale. Had the bake sale been solely speech, it would have been acceptable, Peterson contends, but since it crossed the line of “discrimination” from “speech” to “action” in the form of a sale, the bake sale, and in particular the menu, was unacceptable. Gomez’s argument was similar. 

Both suggested, as possible recourse to the College Republicans, that they sponsor a symposium on free speech to discuss the issues at hand. The College Republicans have yet to respond to Peterson or Gomez on the offer. 

The bake sale has also caught the attention of several media outlets. The Orange County Register published the first news article on Sept. 27, followed by articles in Townhall.com, frontpagemag.com, the OC Weekly, and then an editorial in the Register by George Mason University professor David Bernstein that caught the attention of local radio hosts John and Ken. College Republicans President, Bryan Zuetel, was invited to appear on the popular KFI 640 show to discuss the bake sale and editorial.

“The UCI administration must affirm our free speech rights and not squelch our valid form of satirical, political protest,” said Zuetel in a statement to the Irvine Review. “We will continue to pursue administrative remedies for these unconstitutional actions taken by Peterson.” 

Connerly, speaking at the West Coast Leadership Conference in Santa Barbara, announced that he has started an inquiry into the matter of the bake sale within the UC Board of Regents. The results of this action are pending. 

The College Republicans at UCI are not the first to have undergone similar treatment at the hands of an administration. On Sept. 24, Young Conservatives of Texas at Southern Methodist University in Dallas held a bake sale that was shut down after 45 minutes as a potentially unsafe situation. An October 8th bake sale held by the University of Washington College Republicans was also shut down at the request of several minority student groups.