Thursday, May 21, 1998
Minority enrollment declines
ADMISSIONS: Record-size freshman class first to be admitted
under Prop. 209
By J. Sharon Yee
Daily Bruin Contributor
Next fall, the largest freshmen class ever will grace the steps
of the UCLA campus.
According to statistics released by the undergraduate admissions
office, 4,267 students have indicated their decision to attend
UCLA. Overall, 40 percent of the 10,600 students offered admission
accepted it, establishing a record in the history of the
university.
Next year’s freshman class is the first group of students to be
affected by Proposition 209, which eliminated the use of race and
ethnicity in admissions criteria.
The absolute numbers of underrepresented minorities declined by
30 percent overall from last year’s freshman enrollment. The number
of American Indians decreased by 63 percent, African Americans by
40 percent, Chicanos (students of Mexican American descent) by 27
percent, and Latinos (students descending from Spanish-surnamed
groups) by 15 percent.
"We’re concerned and disappointed that the university will be
less diverse than it is now," said Associate Vice Chancellor
Raymund Paredes.
The numbers of Asian Americans and whites who intend to enroll
increased by 10 and 5 percent, respectively.
The incoming freshmen class includes approximately 15 American
Indians, 131 African Americans, 329 Chicana/os, 129 Latina/os,
1,700 Asian Americans and 1,353 white students.
An overwhelming increase of 141 percent of incoming freshmen
declined to state their race or ethnicity.
Although the absolute numbers declined, 44 percent of the
admitted students of color agreed to enroll at UCLA, the highest
proportion ever. Extensive recruitment efforts made by the
administration, students and faculty over the past few weeks is
attributed to being the biggest reason for the increase.
"Recruitment methods put into place this year were highly
successful," said Thomas Lifka, assistant vice chancellor of
student affairs.
"The chancellor worked very hard to get a positive yield," said
Paredes.
One such effort is the Blue and Gold Scholarship program, which
offers scholarships to high-achieving students from Los Angeles
high schools which have traditionally sent few students.
Students are offered up to $5,000 annually, which is renewable
for up to four years. Of the 214 students offered the scholarships,
157 accepted admission.
"The success of this program helped to show that we can attract
low-income students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds,"
Paredes added.
Some students expressed their disappointment with the
statistics.
"This is exactly what we expected." said Chad Williams,
chairperson of the African Student Union (ASU), referring to the
decrease of African-American students enrolled for the fall.
"It’s further testimony to how this university is failing to
address the needs and concerns of our community," he added.
"The yield may be higher, but it doesn’t matter when the
absolute numbers are down," said Stacy Lee, USAC
president-elect.
Others addressed the issue of diversity on campus.
"Clearly, in the intermediate term, we will be less diverse,"
said Winston Doby, vice chancellor of student affairs. "It’s our
task to not allow that to happen in the long run."
"Without affirmative action, the problem is that we’re not in a
position to admit students from those groups we were able to admit
before," said Lifka.
Though the numbers may continue to dip for the next few years,
Paredes strongly supported the commitment to outreach and the
possibility of refining the admissions policies.
"They need to include student opinion into administration
policies," said Lee.
Doby addressed the importance of collaboration between the
administration and students to help maintain a diverse student
body.
"The students have given the chancellor concrete proposals of
what they want to be done," said Doby. "We are looking at these
proposals quite seriously."
Some student proposals offered to the chancellor included
revising admissions criteria with student input and offering
mentoring and outreach in underrepresented areas.
"The proposal (given by ASU) is just one small aspect of our
demands to the chancellor," said Williams.
"Until he takes a strong position against Prop. 209, we feel
this trend will only get worse. The numbers speak for themselves
and speak to the university’s commitment to diversity and students
of color," he added.
Bruin Republicans refused to comment.
With reports from Ann Hawkey, Daily Bruin Contributor.