Young announces support of affirmative action
Chancellor to meet with civic leaders to discuss issue,
encourages campus debate
By Phillip Carter
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Chancellor Charles Young has announced he will open a debate on
affirmative action this week, confirming his faith in the besieged
system by issuing statements to campus forums of students, faculty
and staff.
Young will kick off his campaign to rally for Bruins’ support of
affirmative action at the Academic Senate’s legislative assembly
meeting Tuesday at 2 p.m. Later that day, he will meet with his
community advisory committee, composed of Los Angeles civic
leaders, to discuss the issue. On Wednesday, Young will also answer
questions at a student press conference at 10 a.m.
In Friday’s Los Angeles Times, Young said society would be far
worse off had it not been for the system of affirmative action in
the UC system.
"I can tell you if we hadn’t done it, it wouldn’t be an
occasional uprising in South Central Los Angeles or midtown
Detroit," Young said in The Times. "If we had not been doing what
we have been doing for the last 25 years, this place would be a
shambles."
Young’s comments come as the latest in a series of UC officials’
stances on affirmative action, which was raised as an issue at the
January meeting of the UC Regents by Regent Ward Connerly.
At that meeting, Connerly gave a passionate speech decrying the
current system of preferential treatment, which he said did more
harm to young minority students than good. Connerly stressed that
he does not intend to repeal affirmative action, but rework it to
focus on economic disadvantage instead of race.
"The issue of race has become so perverse in our society Â
we cannot continue to ignore the harm that is being done by our
excessive preoccupation with it," Connerly said in an interview
Friday. "We want diversity, and I think we ought to use economic
disadvantage as the basis to achieve that."
More importantly, Connerly said, the UC system must respond to
the overwhelming number of Californians who want to re-examine
affirmative action. He cited polls which said two-thirds of the
state opposes preferences for jobs or university admissions.
"Who are we, as the UC, to say that we’re indifferent to that
kind of sentiment, and just say ‘Screw the taxpayers’?" said
Connerly, who added that these opinion polls should make it
imperative that affirmative action be brought to the discussion
table.
Campus leaders  student, faculty, and administrative
 agreed that affirmative action was a hot topic for
discussion. Several also stressed the volatility of the issue, and
the need for restraint among those discussing it.
"We have to be careful with what are the flashpoints, and what
are the ‘red flag’ words  affirmative action has become one
of those words," said Rae Lee Siporin, director of undergraduate
admissions. "Until we talk about some really concrete things, all
we do is fan the flames."
Siporin added that the administration, though supportive of the
current system, was always searching for better ways of enriching
UCLA through admissions.
"We are continually in a process of looking around for ways that
will help us to achieve the kind of diversity that we’re looking
for," she said. "Whether this is the only system or the best system
is something that we always can continue to examine."
One student leader said affirmative action will galvanize
students in a manner similar to Proposition 187, and that Young’s
actions are being taken to deal proactively with the potentially
explosive issue.
"The Chancellor is concerned this will be the next big issue to
face the campus, and he’s going to have to do something about it
before it gets ugly," said Graduate President Tim Beasley. "The
administration is concerned with the way students perceive this,
and what the UC Regents and (state) legislature may do."
Undergraduate President Rob Greenhalgh concurred with Beasley’s
assessment, adding that this issue must be handled carefully if the
discussion is to be successful.
"We want to facilitate the discussion and provide a meaningful
dialogue," Greenhalgh said. "This is too important of an issue to
let communication completely break down."
Many campus leaders applauded Young’s position in defense of the
affirmative action system which he largely developed at UCLA.
Speaking on behalf of the Academic Advancement Program, Jeff Cooper
said the system has enriched the UCLA campus during its
existence.
"UCLA has become one of the top research universities in the
country under Chancellor Young, and also has achieved an
unprecedented level of diversity," Cooper said. "With diversity has
come excellence."