Q: What student clubs and organizations are active at Santa Cruz?
A: UC Santa Cruz has over 100 registered student organizations and associations based on academic, ethnic, religious, political, and cultural interests. The Student Organizations Advising and Resources (SOAR) office provides administrative, advisory, and fiscal assistance to all student organizations, governments, committees, and media. The following organizations are currently active on campus:

• Acquire (a cappella)
• Acts 2 Christian Fellowship
• Advocates for Congolese Women (ACW)
• African American Recognition Ceremony
• African American Theatre Arts Troupe
• African/Black Student Alliance
• Alpha Epsilon Pi
• Alpha Kappa Delta Phi
• Alpha Phi Omega
• Alpha Psi
• American Medical Student Association
• American Red Cross
• Armenian Student Union
• Art of Living
• Asian/Pacific Islander Student Alliance
• Association for Computing Machinery
• Baha’i Campus Association
• Banana Slugs for Animals 
• Black Men's Alliance
• Black Science Network (BSN)
• Black Sistas United
• Blenders
• California College Republicans
• Californians for Solar and Clean Energy
• CalPIRG Students
• Cantonese Student Association (CASA)
• Centro Americanos Unidos
• Chabad Student Club (CSC)
• ChALE - Chicanos and Latinos Educandose
• Chicano/Latino Yearend Ceremony
• Chicanos in Health Education
• Chinese Student and Scholar Association (CSSA)
• Chinese Student Association
• Chinese Taiwanese Union (CTU)
• CineMaiZ: Latin American Film Fest Committee
• Cloud 9 A Cappella
• College Democrats at UCSC
• College Panhellenic Association at UCSC
• Colleges Against Cancer
• Committee for Justice in Palestine
• Committee for the Continuation of College Bowl (CCCB)
• Community Unified Student Network (CUSN)
• Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. (DST)
• Disability Alliance
• Dungeon Association
• Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP)
• Emerge
• Ethnic Student Organization Council (ESOC)
• Filipino Student Association
• Financial Management Association (FMA)
• Friends of the Kresge Co-Op
• Future Health Professionals at UCSC/Health Slugs
• Gamma Phi Beta
• Geology Club at UCSC
• Global Brigades
• Grupo Folklorico Los Mejicas
• Haluan Hip-Hop Dance Troupe
• Hmong Student Association
• Hong Kong Student Association
• Indian Student Organization
• Information Systems Management Association
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Inter Greek Council
• International Relief Program (IRP)
• International Socialist Organization Santa Cruz (ISOSC)
• Invisible Children Club
• Iranian Student Network
• Isang Himig (IH)
• Japanese Student Association
• Kappa Gamma Delta
• Kappa Kappa Gamma
• Kappa Zeta Sorority
• Kasama Ballroom Dance Troupe
• Kinetic Poetics Project (KPP)
• Korean American Student Union
• Kuya Ate Mentorship Program
• Lambda Phi Epsilon
• Latino Business Student Association
• LIPZ
• Mathematics Diversity Alliance (MaD)
• Mixed Ethnicities Student Headquarters
• Mock Trial
• Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan (MEChA)
• Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP)
• Multi-Cultural Festival Planning Committee
• Muslim Student Alliance
• National Academic Quiz Team (NAQT)
• National Association of Black Accountants
• National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) – Scientists and Engineers of the African Legacy
• National Society of Collegiate Scholars
• Network, The
• Newman Catholic Club
• Pagkakaisa Dance Troupe
• Phi Delta Xi
• Philosophy Club
• Pi Alpha Phi
• Politicalization of Queers of Color (PQOC)
• Pre-Dental Society
• Pre-Law Society
• Public Health Alliance at UCSC
• Queer Geeks
• Rainbow Theater
• Sabrosura Dance Troupe
• Santa Cruz Israel Action Committee
• Santa Cruz Linux Users’ Group
• Santa Cruz Pre-Medical Society (SCPMS)
• Secular Student Alliance (SSA)
• Sierra Institute Student Coalition
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi
• Sigma Lambda Beta
• Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority, Inc.
• Sigma Phi Zeta
• Sigma Pi Alpha Sorority
• Sigma Pi Fraternity International
• Slug Anime and Manga Association
• Slugs in Fishnets
• Socialist Organizers (SO), Fourth International (FI)
• Society of Automotive Engineers at UCSC
• Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) – Latino Engineers Determined to Succeed
• Society of Physics Students at UCSC
• Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
• Student Alliance of North American Indians (SANAI)
• Student Environmental Center
• Students for Barack Obama
• Students for Health Equity
• Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)
• Students for the Encouragement of Athletics, Community, and Spirit (SEACS)
• Students Together Opposing Poverty (STOP)
• SVA@UCSC (Student Veterans of America @ UCSC)
• Take Back the Night
• Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
• The Center for Transformative Action
• Theta Chi
• Tri Chi Sorority, Chi Chi Chi
• Umoja
• University Economics Association
• VietNamese Student Association
• Young Entrepreneurs at Santa Cruz (YESC)

Q: What kinds of arts and entertainment does the campus offer?
A: Two art galleries, the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery and the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, show works by students, faculty, and outside artists.

The Music Center, completed in 2000, includes a 396-seat Recital Hall with recording facilities, specially equipped classrooms, individual practice and teaching studios, rehearsal space for ensembles, a gamelan studio, and studios for electronic and computer music.

The Theater Arts Center includes theaters and acting and directing studios.

For fine arts students, the Elena Baskin Visual Arts Center provides modern, well-lit, spacious studios.

UC Santa Cruz is also home to the nationally acclaimed professional theater company Shakespeare Santa Cruz.

In addition, UC Santa Cruz sponsors many student instrumental and vocal groups, including its own student orchestra.

For further information, please see the following links:

Calendar of Events
Arts and Lectures
Shakespeare Santa Cruz (only in the summer)
Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery
Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery
Porter Faculty Gallery

Q: What kinds of arts and entertainment does the city of Santa Cruz offer?
A: There is always something happening in Santa Cruz in the arts, from street fairs, to world music festivals, to avant-garde theater. The Santa Cruz art world presents a lively showcase year-round, daytime and evening, weekends and weekdays. For a complete list of events and activities, search the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council Calendar of Events.

Q: How safe is the campus?
A: Because the campus is the size of a small town--providing housing to faculty and approximately 6,700 students--the UCSC Police Department supports a proactive crime prevention program that works closely with members of the community to make the campus a safe place to work, live, and learn.

In the evening, access to the campus is limited to members of the campus community and their guests. Security guards are stationed at both campus entrances, and a night proctor is on duty at each college to maintain a safe and secure environment.

Officers assigned to the Crime Prevention Program give presentations on topics such as personal safety and vehicle and residential security. Brochures and workshops are also available.

CruzAlert is UC Santa Cruz's emergency notification system, which is intended to provide critical information rapidly to UCSC students, faculty, and staff during an emergency on campus. In the event of an emergency, CruzAlert delivers important messages to campus web sites via RSS feed, to cell phones via text messages, and to landline phones via voice messages.

The campus produces Crime Awareness and Campus Security, a handbook available upon request by calling (831) 459-2231.

Q: What is the ethnic breakdown of the campus?
A: UC Santa Cruz seeks to enroll and graduate a student body that is not only academically exceptional but reflects California’s broad diversity of cultural, racial, geographical, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The ethnic breakdown for fall 2008 was as follows:

For further statistics on the student body at UCSC, please see UC Santa Cruz Facts.