Editorial: Diversity crisis still unresolved at UCLA

UCLA receives more applications than any university in the
country and lies in a city celebrated for its diversity.

But the school accepted only 199 black high school seniors who
applied from within the state. At a campus constrained by
anti-affirmative action laws and rapidly depleting outreach funds,
just 2.3 percent of accepted students identified themselves as
African American.

Throughout the University of California system, the percentage
of accepted students belonging to an underrepresented minority
group rose slightly. But at UCLA and

UC Berkeley, it declined.

This decline shows that concerns of “comprehensive
review” just being a synonym for “affirmative
action” are probably bunk. It also reveals the necessity for
outreach programs to recruit top students from less privileged
areas in the state.

And it signals the need for action.

At UC Berkeley, the looming decline in black, Latino and
American Indian enrollment caused real concern for

Robert Berdahl, the campus’ outgoing chancellor. According
to the Los Angeles Times, Berdahl called the figures
“flat-out unacceptable” and vowed to use the remainder
of his term trying to find ways to bring in underrepresented
students without violating state law.

UCLA deserves the same effort ““ from its
administration, the UC Board of Regents, the governor and state
Legislature.

In a Feb. 5 submission to the Daily Bruin Viewpoint page, a
student wrote, “As people of African descent become less and
less a part of UCLA’s student body, I honestly fear that one
day there will be more buildings named after African people than
actual African students and faculty.”

The statement is less hyperbolic than most people realize. What
the university is experiencing is a diversity crisis.