(09-28) 12:54 PDT BERKELEY -- A face-off on the UC Berkeley campus Tuesday pitted Democrats versus Republicans, pro-affirmative-action students versus those favoring race-blind policies and, ultimately, cupcakes versus brownies.

None other than former UC Regent and affirmative-action opponent Ward Connerly showed up at Sproul Plaza to help campus Republicans sell frosted cupcakes priced according to the race of the buyer - a stunt intended to mock legislation before the governor that would allow universities to consider race and ethnicity in admissions decisions.

"The point is, the people of California have said we don't want to see race and color in admissions," Connerly told angry students and faculty who crowded around the table.

"Go to hell!" yelled Ann Callegari, an African American student. "Are you the overseer?"

Connerly, a multiracial Republican who wrote Proposition 209, the state's voter-approved ban on race preferences in government programs, replied that he had plenty of experience with real racism growing up in Louisiana.

Many students denounced the group's bake sale as racist, and student government leaders unanimously approved a resolution condemning discrimination "in satire or seriousness" in response to the event. UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and two vice chancellors sent out a campus-wide letter strongly supporting that position, while acknowledging that the administration "can urge, but not mandate, a person to behave with civility."

Protesting a pending law

More for you News UC Berkeley abuzz over race-based bake sale

Campus Republicans touted their bake sale as a protest against SB185, which Gov. Jerry Brown has until Oct. 9 to sign or veto. Under the bill, universities could not admit a student based on ethnicity but could consider it among several factors, such as extracurricular activities.

The Republican students said their idea to charge white students $2 for pastries and less money to students of other ethnicities illustrated the injustice of any division by race. And though their sign featured the race-based prices, they told the crowd surrounding their table to pay whatever they wanted.

Brad Bitler, a white rhetoric student, pushed through the crush and paid $5 for an M&M cookie and an oatmeal one. "Good luck on the fundraiser," he said.

"I'm Hispanic, so I'll pay a dollar," said Chris Maldonado, a chemical engineering student who took a green-frosted cupcake.

He explained his support for the bake sale, saying, "I'm the son of two poor immigrants from Guatemala. Yes, there exists a disadvantage, but if you put the emphasis on education, you will get an education. Me and my two brothers are proof of that."

A few feet away was the table that prompted the whole brouhaha. There, Berkeley's student government, the Associated Students of the University of California, were encouraging students to call Brown to express support for three bills on his desk, including SB185 by state Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina (Los Angeles County).

Compared with the crowd around the Republicans' bake sale, which sold 30 cookies and 48 cupcakes in the first hour, the student government table looked a bit forlorn.

"It's actually upsetting that a controversial event is getting all the attention while our phone bank is approaching this issue in a constructive way," said Joey Freeman, a student leader at the table.

He and many other students in favor of SB185 say affirmative action is an essential tool in bringing equality to the university's selection process.

Calling the governor

Heidi Jimenez, an industrial engineering student, approached the call-in table holding a frosted pink "conscious cupcake" she got at one of the other tables offering opposition pastries. She studied the pro-SB185 script she was expected to read to the governor, then tapped Brown's number into her phone.

"OK, I'm on hold," she said.

"Good!" said Devonte Jackson, a student helping to lead the effort. "That means the lines are busy."

At midday, hundreds of students dressed in black lay down in Sproul Plaza, silently demonstrating support for SB185.

Since 1996, Prop. 209 has constitutionally prevented California's public universities from using race, ethnicity or gender in enrollment decisions. If SB185 becomes law, universities would still be prevented from admitting students based on those factors alone, "but as (part) of a number of different criteria," said Tim Valderrama, an aide to Hernandez.

The bill's author has said he wants more students of diverse backgrounds to have a chance to attend a university and help their communities as he does. In addition to his Senate job, Hernandez is a practicing optometrist in La Puente, the tiny Los Angeles-area town he grew up in.

At UC Berkeley, underrepresented minorities - Latino, black and Native American students - represent 16 percent of students, down from 20 percent in 1995 before Prop. 209 became law. The percent of white students has held steady at 30 percent at Berkeley, while Chinese American students have grown slightly from 19 to 20 percent of enrollment.

On Tuesday, Connerly predicted that Brown would veto the bill: "I don't think this is the time California can afford to be embroiled in a lawsuit."

Meanwhile, a new campus group calling itself the Coalition - the same students who lay down in Sproul Plaza - announced that its protest was not just in response to the bake sale, "but to larger, systemic problems in the UC system," student Ruben Canedo said during a news conference.

He and another student representative, Naomi Wilson, then read off a long list of demands, including that Brown immediately sign SB185. But they refused to take questions.