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The University of California Office of the President announced
yesterday that UCLA’s Winston Doby will be charged with
overseeing the university’s work to level the playing field
for socio-economically disadvantaged students as the next UC vice
president of outreach. Doby, who currently serves as the vice
chancellor of student affairs at UCLA, will be sorely missed as a
strong student advocate when he takes the position on Jan. 1,
2002.
In the difficult task of replacing him, the university should
make the search process open and accountable to students,
especially given the student-orientated nature of the job. To
accomplish this, the university should set up a committee with
student representation to ensure this is accomplished. Student
government should likewise pay particular attention to ensuring the
appropriate person is selected for this job.
Doby began his time at UCLA in the late 1950s as a student and
track star. He remained with the university for the next 43 years.
His commitment to UCLA, and particularly the student community, has
been invaluable, and he will no doubt expand and use his leadership
skills to make positive change for more people in California. This
may prove difficult.
Doby is entering his new job at one of the most difficult times
in UC history. While the university is experiencing a decline in
percentages of minority enrollment at its competitive schools, it
is still trying to find ways to accommodate Tidal Wave II, an
expected increase of over 60,000 students over the next decade
““ all while expecting massive state budget cuts that could
exceed $86 million. These circumstances are far from ideal for
someone given the task of ensuring the UC has effective outreach
programs.
The current state of outreach, although it has made important
progress on a small-scale level, leaves a lot to be desired for the
long-term goals of equality of access to higher education ““
this raises many concerns for a UC program receiving more than $300
million in funding.
The UC’s core outreach programs ““ Early Academic
Outreach, Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement, Puente, and
the University of California College Prep Initiative ““ are
only moderately successful. Just 31 percent of MESA high school
seniors are UC eligible, and in Puente only 43 percent of students
attend a four-year university. The UCCP initiative aims to provide
online AP classes to students, particularly those with low-income
families and in rural areas whose schools don’t offer them.
But these two target groups are also the two groups least likely to
have access to a computer or the Internet. Only the EAOP admits
more than 50 percent of its participants (51.5 percent), while
making 63.7 of those participants eligible for four-year colleges
in general.
While the admittance of even a few students into college is a
victory, the overall success rates of these programs must be
drastically improved if disadvantaged students as a whole are to be
admitted at higher rates in the future.
One way of doing this is by concentrating outreach efforts on
“bubble” students who are close to being UC eligible
and who definitely would be eligible with help. Though assisting
lower-performing K-12 students is an admirable and important cause,
it is a job for the state and its dollars, not the UC. The UC
cannot afford to provide outreach services to students who will
likely be unqualified for the UC even after receiving these
services.
Doby says he hopes “to bring passion and complete
commitment to the education outreach mission.” He can address
these issues by making outreach more fiscally efficient and
effective.
Given the situation, we wish Doby the best of luck.