Students put paper bags with the phrases “erasing
diversity” and “person of color access denied”
over their heads during a rally Thursday afternoon in protest of
what they see as the ineffective “color blind” UC
admissions policy.
According to UCLA admissions statistics, 15.6 percent of
underrepresented minority students who applied for fall 2005 were
admitted, while this year the percentage of underrepresented
minority admits dropped to 14.3.
The paper bags were a symbol for the current “color
blind” admissions process that has become ineffective in
preventing discrimination by accepting too few underrepresented
minorities, said Lucero Chavez, a third-year American literature
and culture and Chicano/a studies student.
Student leaders spoke from a microphone in the corner of
Meyerhoff park, and other students blocked Bruin Walk with a sign,
forcing passersby to step around them as they moved through
campus.
One of the main complaints of protestors was the restrictive
nature of Proposition 209, a measure passed by California voters in
1996 which eliminated race as a factor in university
admissions.
Janina Montero, vice chancellor of student affairs who attended
the rally, said administrators empathize with student concerns over
the law.
“The constraints of Proposition 209 are excruciatingly
rigid … and that makes it hard to back good faith statements by
the administration,” Montero said in reference to stated
goals from administrators and University of California officials to
increase underrepresented minority admissions.
In an event in Kerckhoff Grand Salon earlier Thursday afternoon,
student leaders and campus administrators outlined their
perspective on the problem and what they want to see improve.
“This is a troubling and complex situation. …
Underrepresented minorities at UCLA have had declining admissions
for the past several years and UCLA needs to change its admission
practices,” said Darnell Hunt, the director of the Ralph J.
Bunch Center for African American Studies at UCLA.
Underrepresented minorities are groups of students whose
representation at UCLA is smaller than their corresponding
percentage in the state population, and include Native American,
black, Latino and Chicano students at UCLA.
Student groups represented in Kerckhoff Grand Salon included the
USAC president office, the Muslim Student Association, the African
Student Union, the American Indian Student Association, the Asian
Pacific Coalition, Samahang Pilipino, Queer Alliance and the
Vietnamese Student Union.
Students also showed a trailer for a documentary they will be
releasing next year, which was sponsored by USAC and the Student
Initiated Access Committee, a committee that does peer advising and
tutoring in urban areas.
The documentary takes some well-known slogans from the UCLA
Happenings campaign and then uses them to criticize the admissions
process, such as “UCLA is owned by the people of California.
All 38 million of them.”
Students in the video said since California residents own UCLA,
the university’s admissions numbers should represent the
population of California accurately.
During the fall of this year students worked to form a committee
of students and faculty that could research and address admissions
diversity on campus, said USAC President Jenny Wood.
Though the committee met initial resistance from the
administration, it was established in an advisory role to the
Academic Senate Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Relations
with Schools, Wood said.
The committee, called the Undergraduate Admission Workgroup,
will be voting on a series of recommendations to make to the
Academic Senate to improve the application process to admit more
underrepresented students, Wood said.
Montero agrees that declining admission for underrepresented
students is a problem.
“We share the students’ concerns, and there is no
doubt in our minds that this is a painful moment,” Montero
said.