Editorial: Admit numbers don’t reflect state population

The University of California 2003 admissions figures are in,
showing low admit numbers for underrepresented minority students.
The data shows that minorities make up a smaller proportion of the
admitted class for both UCLA and UC Berkeley, the UC’s
flagship campuses, compared to 2002. At UCLA, the actual number of
minority students admitted declined for the first time since
1998.

The latest figures show that current UC admissions policies fail
to address the need for a diverse student body. This is highly
problematic for UCLA and UCB’s learning environment. People
from diverse backgrounds provide different life perspectives and
can challenge their classmates’ and professors’
preconceptions in their approach to social, political, literary and
scientific issues in the classroom. While a racially homogenous
student body can still provide different ideas, having an entirely
different perspective of the world ““ one afforded by
belonging to a minority race ““ is something others simply
cannot do. Financial hardship and other life challenges provide
similar diversity of thought, but the university already considers
such factors. Unfortunately, the compelling case for racial
diversity as an essential component of education does not seem to
be a top priority for university and state officials.

Minority enrollment dropped when Proposition 209 went into
effect. Despite increases in the last few years, certain groups are
still severely underrepresented on campuses even though the
state’s minority population has steadily increased. According
to a 1998 UC Regents databook, California will be more than
one-third Latino by 2005. Yet, for the 2003 admissions group, only
15.7 percent were Latino.

Certainly, not everyone can be promised a spot at a top tier
university, but the disparity in the numbers admitted as a
proportion to population clearly shows minority students face an
access problem. This inequality cannot be fixed merely by changing
admissions policies. Even pre-Proposition 209 affirmative action
policies did not translate into equal representation for minorities
in the UC system. In 1997, when 15 percent of UCLA students were
Latino, Latinos made up over a quarter of the state’s
population.

California K-12 education shoulders much of the blame for the
state’s long-term education problems. Per-student funding for
students ranks forty-third in the nation. Perhaps it is no
coincidence, then, that the state also ranks forty-eighth in the
nation in terms of high school students who go on to college,
according to the California Postsecondary Education Commission.

The situation is complex, but fixing the K-12 system’s
problems and adding diversity-increasing measures to UC admissions
should occur simultaneously ““ many have the erroneous mindset
that it’s either one or the other. Though the overall
education system obviously needs more funding, subtle admissions
changes can cause significant improvements in the areas of student
diversity and university access. The university has been doing this
with the four percent plan, which makes the top four percent of
each high school eligible for admission to the UC. The product of
this change as far as diversity is concerned, though, has not been
entirely satisfactory.

The dual admissions plan, which guarantees UC placement so long
as students undergo community college, has high potential for
increasing diversity, but hasn’t been launched. It faces two
now very familiar foes: uncommitted politicians and a lack of
funds.