Leilani Downing came to UCLA in the winter of 1998, only months
after the implementation of Proposition 209, which banned the
state’s use of affirmative action in hiring and admissions
policies. She belonged to the first class of students for which
race was no longer considered in University of California
admissions. That year, the number of black students admitted to
UCLA plummeted from 470 to 272. Today, six years later ““ when
UCLA admitted 199 black students ““ and days before she
graduates, Downing is disappointed about how the racial dynamic has
changed during her time at UCLA. Downing, a fifth-year African
American studies student, is one of about 120 black students
participating in the African People’s Graduation Celebration,
the ethnic graduation that will be coordinated by the African
Student Union Sunday. Many students who will walk away with their
diplomas under the proud watch of family, friends and other members
of the black community in what has in past years been a packed
house, will also walk away knowing they belong to a group of
students whose presence is diminishing in the hallways of UCLA.
Ethnic celebrations and campus divisions The
decreasing numbers are indicated by the location of this
year’s black student graduation, Royce Hall, said
Na’Shaun Neal, outgoing chairman of the African Student
Union. In past years, the ceremony has been held in Drake Stadium
and the L.A. Tennis Center. The low number of black students no
longer warrants that much space, Neal said. This year marks the
25th anniversary of the black commencement ceremony and will
feature former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Culver City, and
Anica McKesey, this year’s Undergraduate Students Association
Council president, as speakers. The commencement is one of several
ethnic graduation celebrations being held throughout campus. Though
these ceremonies are seen as opportunities to celebrate a
community’s achievements by most participants, some view the
graduations as divisive to the student body and undermining to the
academic experience. One of the most outspoken opponents of both
ethnic-based graduations and affirmative action is Regent Ward
Connerly, who spearheaded the Proposition 209 campaign. Earlier in
the academic year, he proposed that the UC Board of Regents ban the
funding of ethnic graduations. The board rejected the proposal.
Much of the funding for the ceremonies comes from mandatory
students fees to the undergraduate student government. At last
Tuesday’s general meeting, USAC approved the allocation of
$3,500 for the Chicano Raza Graduation, coordinated by the student
group MEChA de UCLA. Connerly said in a July 2003Â regents
meeting that race-specific events do more to divide students than
unite them. “We believe that a single integrated, united
graduation ceremony is best for students,” said Diane
Schachterle, a spokeswoman for the American Civil Rights Coalition
that Connerly heads. Though he still holds the same sentiment,
Connerly’s affiliates said he has no immediate plans to
continue the effort to ban the ceremonies. Neal said opposition
comes from those who typically do not have to deal with racism on a
daily basis. And the ceremony also serves to celebrate successes of
the black community, Neal continued. “It reminds you of how
important it is that we have to give back to our community,”
Neal said. In its first year of celebration, the black student
commencement ceremony took place on the top of Janss Steps and had
about 20 students participating. Neal said he is afraid that in a
few years, “the graduation could actually look like it did 25
years ago.”
Factoring in race Downing is still dumbfounded
that race is no longer considered in the admissions process. How
can race not be used as a factor, Downing asks. “For (black)
students, race is still a factor, racism has an impact on how you
experience your life.” Sitting in the Kerckhoff Patio on a
bright day, Downing is eager to explain what she means ““ so
eager that only a couple of questions had to be asked in over an
hourlong interview. Growing up, blacks have an inherent distrust of
the police and government, she said, adding that most blacks feel
targeted by officials. Then there’s the fact that
many blacks live under the poverty line and struggle to find a
job. “If you have all these things to worry about, how are
you going to worry about college?” she said, adding that
typically the communities in which black people live are not
diverse. “If you look around in your community and you see a
mix of people, then maybe you can say race is not a factor,”
she said. Opponents of affirmative action say admissions and hiring
should be based solely on merit, and believe that it promotes
preferential treatment for some ethnicities. It is often called
“reverse discrimination” by anti-affirmative action
advocates. Downing says she was reminded of her race at every step
of her high school education. For the first two years of high
school, Downing went to a school in Thousand Oaks, where she lived
with her mother. With less than 1 percent black students in her
high school, Downing said she could not find her place on what she
calls a “lily-white” campus. There were often times
when she said she felt she was being held back by teachers and
counselors who would not let her enroll in honors or Advanced
Placement courses. Though Downing was a “B” student,
she said she still holds a grudge because “they
wouldn’t allow me to try.” She then moved in with her
father and went to Westchester High School in Los Angeles, which
presented a stark contrast from her previous school with about 65
percent black students. “It was very uplifting for me coming
from a school of being (one of) the only black (students). “¦
Seeing other black students was very good for me to see,”
Downing said. With her experiences in the two vastly
different high schools, her time spent as a teaching assistant in
the L.A. Unified School District, and as access coordinator for the
African Student Union at UCLA, Downing says she has a pretty good
idea of the disparities in education based on race and
socio-economic factors. When she worked for the outreach group
Students Heightening Academic Performance through Education,
Downing said she tutored in a high schools in which minority
students would get coloring assignments for homework. “If you
look at that difference, and then you mean to tell me that the
emphasis is on academic merit?” she said, referring to the
current admissions policy. “What we have now is not equal by
any means.”
Taking small steps Downing smirks when asked
what the possible solution is to the perceived disparities in
education. After a moment’s pause, she says it’s not
about the solution. Instead, she says, its about the
process and about taking the small steps. For Downing, the process
will be taking her struggles ““ from growing up with a sense
of isolation, from paying for her own college education, from
withdrawing from UCLA and then finding her way back seven quarters
later, and from learning the history of her community while its
numbers diminish on campus ““ and using them to uplift the
black community. Teaching youth in lower-income communities is the
first step Downing said she wants to take after graduation.
Similarly, Neal says he hopes his footsteps on campus will remind
students to continue to fight for an education. It is what
he’ll keep in mind, he says, as he takes his last steps
as a UCLA student. “We have to remind ourselves that we have
to fight for justice. Students have a lot of power in creating
access to education,” Neal said.