CCRI CONTROVERSY ENERGIZES STUDENTS.

Byline: Jenifer Hanrahan Daily News Staff Writer

Anika Toussant, Alicia Harris and Cynthia Rangel walked their first picket line and wrote their first editorials this summer.

The San Fernando Valley students are three of more than 250 students from 75 universities nationwide who are playing a major role in the campaign against the state ballot measure known as Proposition 209, which would end most government-run affirmative action programs if approved by voters Nov. 5.

The full-time internship is called Freedom Summer '96, and another 2,000 students are volunteering part time in a movement opposing the measure known as the California Civil Rights Initiative.

Sponsored by a coalition of groups, including the Feminist Majority and the NAACP, the students have been dispatched by the AFL-CIO and Californians for Justice, a group dedicated to defeating the initiative.

Young people will be key to whether the proposition passes or not - both as campaign volunteers like these interns or as voters, according to Joselito Laudencia. He said he learned that lesson during the failed campaign against Proposition 187, which passed in 1994 and aimed to deny most medical, social and educational benefits to illegal immigrants.

``With Proposition 187, we saw young people who walked out of high schools and colleges. We saw rallies and teach-ins,'' said Laudencia, Southern California field director for Californians Against Justice.

``They gave us visibility, but the numbers that went out to rally didn't translate into numbers at the polls. By targeting young people, we are giving them the opportunity to get out the vote so their numbers can be used to defeat the initiative.''

Once a week, Toussant, 22, Harris, 19, and Rangel, 21, join other interns to picket the downtown offices of Gov. Pete Wilson, who supports the initiative. They took part in anti-Proposition 209 rallies during the Republican National Convention in San Diego earlier this month.

Although the internships are unpaid, students say this firsthand lesson in community activism and the chance to help defeat an initiative they believe will hurt women and minorities are worth the financial strain.

``I figured if I'm going to do something, this is more than worthwhile,'' said Michelle Obermeier, 21, of Queens, N.Y., who is staying with a Valley host family until November and may get college credit for participating.

``There's so much work to do out there. It's important we reach as many people as possible. We feel the 18-to-24 age group doesn't vote enough. We feel they aren't being represented. We want to change that.''

Supporters of Proposition 209 questioned the opposition campaign's using interns from other states.

``It reflects on the proposition's support in-state that they have to go out of state to import people to campaign for them,'' said Jennifer Nelson, spokeswoman for the Yes on Proposition 209 campaign.

And Glenn Spencer, president of Voices of Citizens Together, a Sherman Oaks-based group that supports the initiative, predicted the measure would pass despite the students' efforts.

``There are just so few of them, and they have no money,'' Spencer said. ``It will become clear to people that they don't know what is happening in California and they don't understand the politics here.''

But the ``Valley squad'' opposing the proposition isn't deterred. One hot afternoon at California State University, Northridge, four of its members tried to demonstrate they do understand California politics. While registering voters, the interns answered questions about the initiative and handed out fliers.

Toussant said she wasted little time trying to change the minds of people who are dead set against affirmative action. Instead, a better strategy is to convince young people, minorities and women - those she believes are most likely to support affirmative action - that they need to vote.

``I was astonished by how many people didn't even know about thAis initiative, even people that are going to be directly affected by it, like women and minorities,'' Toussant said. ``But it was really inspirational, because we were able to enlighten people.''

Toussant, a senior at CSUN, said she was ``like everyone else, kind of apathetic,'' before getting involved in the campaign against Proposition 209. When she first heard about the initiative in a political science class, it made her angry.

``I kind of got in a rut,'' Toussant said. ``As an African-American woman, I was feeling like everyone was against me.''

Toussant attended a National Organization for Women rally, where she saw men and women and ethnicities working toward the same goal.

``My whole world opened up,'' the Canoga Park resident said. ``It showed me that a lot of people have the same beliefs as I do. It's put me on a new path. I can never go back.''

The students chosen for the internship ``demonstrated leadership and a commitment to women's rights and civil rights'' through their studies and involvement in campus groups or politics, said Justine Andronici, 24-year-old director of Freedom Summer.

Students who want to get involved in the fall can attend daylong training sessions that will be held at several Los Angeles colleges and universities, including Pierce College and CSUN.

MEMO: For information about Freedom Summer '96, call [phone]. Other groups opposed to CCRI are Californians for Justice, [phone]; and the No on CCRI Campaign, [phone].

Supporters of CCRI include Voice of Citizens Together, [phone]; and the Yes on Proposition 209 Campaign, [phone].

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Photo

Photo: Students Michelle Obermeier, center, and Cynthia Ran gel protest Proposition 209 in Sherman Oaks. They are two of the 250 unpaid interns with Freedom Summer '96 who are working to defeat the measure.

Dusty Locke/Special to the Daily News