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Students and community members joined a state senator on campus Wednesday to support his campaign to make UCLA more representative of the Los Angeles area. The event garnered some response from university administrators but likely will not yield an immediate change in admissions policies.

A contingent of about 80 students, community members and reporters gathered at Meyerhoff Park at 11 a.m. to hear state Sen. Richard Alarcón, D-San Fernando Valley, introduce his plan to get UCLA to accept more minority students from the L.A. area.

Alarcón’s “4/15+” plan calls for UCLA to accept automatically all graduating high school students within at least 15 miles of campus who finish in the top 4 percent of their respective classes.

The plan, he said, is “an investment in local talent.”

Alarcón said the university strongly should consider life experience when making admission decisions. Though students in area high schools may not have the highest grades, they often face difficult nonacademic pressures, including gang violence and drugs.

Instead of recognizing local students and reflecting local diversity, the university is taking steps – including a proposed increase in the minimum required GPA for undergraduate admission – that would decrease further the proportion of minority students from the L.A. area, said Allende Palma/Saracho, president of the Undergraduate Students Association Council.

“The university as a whole is continuing to move in an elitist direction,” Palma/Saracho said, adding that student leaders plan on collecting letters of support and meeting with the chancellor in upcoming weeks.

Alarcón said he has not introduced legislation specific to this issue but hopes to by January. For now, he wants to persuade Chancellor Albert Carnesale to make what Alarcón sees as necessary changes to admissions procedures.

After the plan was endorsed briefly by Lakesha Harrison, president of the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Anica McKesey, the former president of USAC, and several others, the rally moved to the chancellor’s office in Murphy Hall.

Executive Vice Chancellor Daniel Neuman greeted the caravan with a prepared statement, expressing disappointment at the low levels of minority students at UCLA. The university, he said, was conducting an analysis with the eventual goal of ensuring that “students, particularly underrepresented students, are able to compete” equally to gain admission to UCLA.

The chancellor will keep Alarcón updated on the proceedings, Neuman said. Neuman declined to answer questions after reading the statement.

Alarcón, who said he came to Carnesale with these same issues several years ago, was not satisfied with the response from the chancellor’s office.

“I think (Carnesale) is trying to dodge a bullet,” Alarcón said.