Board of Regent’s decision will racially segregate UC

By Tiqula Bledsoe, George Andrew Turner, J. Alfred
Smith, Jr. and Aubry Stone

Last month, the University of California’s millionaire
Board of Regents approved an amendment which is projected to reduce
the number of African American students by 340 a year starting in
2007. Citing budget problems, the regents increased the minimum GPA
from a B- to a B.

What the regents ignored is a recently published study by the
Greenlining Institute showing that our once-democratic and
integrated public university has become a de facto segregated
institution.

This has occurred as a result of Ward Connerly’s infamous
anti-affirmative action Proposition 209. This proposition prevents
the UC from effectively addressing and outreaching to African
Americans forced into marginal inner-city public schools that have
been compared unfavorably to those in Mississippi.

The study, based on data provided by all of the UC’s
campuses, documents that the typical UC campus freshman class this
year will consist of an almost invisible 0.5 to 2 percent African
American males.

Located in a county with almost a million African Americans,
UCLA’s incoming freshman class will have only 22 African
American males not on athletic scholarships out of roughly
4,289.

The regents’ recent decision will eliminate an estimated
340 African American men and women UC-wide beginning in 2007. This
would turn the UC into an institution even more segregated than the
once legally segregated University of Mississippi. The recent
admissions record of the Mississippi is a slap in the face to our
flagship university’s recruitment of African Americans.

The University of Mississippi, with an entering freshman class
less than half the size of UCLA, will be admitting 135 African
American males, versus 22 at UCLA. On a percentage basis, then,
Mississippi has more than seven times more African American males.
Similarly, UC Berkeley, which will be admitting almost twice as
many freshman as the University of Mississippi, will only enroll
about 20 percent as many African American males as the University
of Mississippi.

That is, Mississippi’s admissions is about five times
better than the record at our nation’s most progressive
public university, UC Berkeley.

Some would likely contend that it’s unfair to contrast
UCLA with the less-prestigious University of Mississippi. But
UCLA’s contention that there are virtually no qualified
African Americans is repudiated by its far more prestigious
academic rival, Stanford University.

Approximately 12.3 percent of Stanford’s freshman class
consists of African Americans. This is about four times the
percentage of African Americans at UCLA.

By two simple acts, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could end the
exclusion of African Americans in the UC. First, the governor could
restore the state’s tax on higher-income residents to the
level under Governor Pete Wilson. This would raise an additional
$2.3 billion a year and allow the UC to once again accept all
qualified students.

Second, the governor could lead an initiative to reverse
Proposition 209. This would allow the UC to once again effectively
recruit African Americans, much as private schools such as Stanford
and Harvard do.

Our six state legislators will have an opportunity to call upon
the many white millionaire members of the Board of Regents to
address this problem. At this meeting on the UCLA campus, our
African American legislators should strongly urge the Board of
Regents to end de facto segregation at the UC.

Scores of African Americans and other students will be at this
regents meeting, and with legislative support we will stop any
further efforts to make the UC another University of
Mississippi.

Turner is a current UCLA law school student, Bledsoe is a UC
Davis alum who is currently a Greenlining Institute Fellow, Smith,
Jr. is a senior pastor at Antioch Baptist Church and Stone is the
president and CEO of California Black Chamber of Commerce.