Race relations still hot topic on campus

  AMY HABER/Daily Bruin

By Karen Matsuoka
For the Daily Bruin

For the first time in recent California history, the 2000 census
revealed that white people are no longer the majority in the
state.

Diversity, in all its colors, shapes and forms, remains a touchy
and widely discussed subject in and out of UCLA.

Part of the ongoing debate is the use of term
“balkanization” in reference to the perceived lack of
social interaction among college students of different races and
ethnicities.

Coined more than 80 years ago, the word then referred to
societies breaking down into ethnic subunits, according to
sociology professor David Lopez. But many students and educators
disagree with its current use.

“Balkanization of races tends to be more of a perception
than a reality,” said Lori Vogelgesand, Director of the
Center for Service Learning Research and Dissemination at UCLA.
“What happens is that white students may only see black
students when they are hanging out with other black students, which
creates the impression that black students only socialize with each
other.

“White students also don’t understand the extent
they are hanging out with other white students,” she
added.

Since the loss of affirmative action in admissions in 1995 due
to the UC Regents’ SP-1 and SP-2 decisions, and Proposition
209 a year later, the number of underrepresented minority students
admitted to UCLA has decreased. Students, faculty and
administrators have been looking at ways to enhance campus
diversity.

“I think it’s the truly big issue that faces
us,” said Executive Vice Chancellor Rory Hume.
“It’s important to our faculty, our faculty profile,
it’s important to the future of California that we continue
to work together to do the best we possibly can in areas of
diversity.”

In the last academic year, 39.5 percent of the UCLA student body
was white, 34.3 percent Asian, 4.8 percent was African American,
and 13.6 percent was Latino. Although the statements of intent to
register students sent in for this fall showed an increase in the
number of underrepresented minorities planning to attend UCLA, the
numbers still don’t reach those before 1997, the last year
affirmative action was used in admissions.

Of the 1,544 students admitted as freshmen from underrepresented
minority groups, 723 are planning to come to UCLA this fall.

“UCLA puts out the leaders in this community, and the
leaders should look like their constituency,” said Celia
Lacayo, President of the Latin American Students Association.

But Vogelgesand said while having a diverse campus is important,
it is not sufficient.

“The campus needs to promote meaningful cross-racial
interactions by creating an environment, where students don’t
feel threatened and where someone is facilitating the discussion
and can step in when things get tense or the conversation breaks
down,” she said.

“Meaningful cross-racial interaction can happen in the
classroom if professors are willing to take it on and not pretend
that race isn’t an issue,” Vogelgesand continued.

Lacayo, a fifth-year political science student, said such
discussions on race do not occur often enough in her classes.

“You would expect a department like political science in a
multiethnic city like Los Angeles to devote some class content to
race,” she said. “But race is not discussed here. And I
know it’s even worse in other majors.”

Other students, like Aldriena Rico, chief of staff for
Undergraduate Students Association Council President Elizabeth
Houston don’t necessarily agree that diversity alone is the
most important issue on campus.

“So many of us like to celebrate diversity, but we
don’t celebrate university and what we have in common,”
she said. “Since I’ve come to UCLA, I’ve found
lots of things in common with people I never thought I
would,” she said, adding that while she is Latina most of her
friends are not.

Citing a study by Anthony Antonio on friendship groups among
students, Vogelgesand said minority students report having friends
from many different races.

Of the balkanization idea, Lopez said “we both see it and
it is also a myth.”

The rate of mixed marriages, for example, has never been as high
as they are in Southern California today, according to Lopez.

“We often miss the degree to which people cross boundaries
because we don’t understand the extent of the
boundaries,” he said.

With reports from Dharshani Dharmawardena and Barbara Ortutay,
Daily Bruin Senior Staff.