Monday, 7/21/97 Regents increase funding for outreach programs
OUTREACH: Report, task force pose plans to improve enrollment
By Hannah Miller Daily Bruin Senior Staff Trying to make
outreach programs an effective way of ensuring diversity, the
regents have approved $60.5 million for outreach on top of the $59
million already being spent. Outreach to underrepresented
minorities is seen as a viable way to counter the drop in those
groups’ admissions rates. Since the anti-affirmative action
measures were passed two years ago, minority admissions into the
most competitive UCs have fallen. The UCs have used outreach since
the 1960s, currently supporting over 800 programs. As a report on
the subject admits, there is very little evidence that these
programs actually work. "These 800 programs have not produced what
we needed," said Regent Judith Levin. To change this, the regents
are proposing some new approaches. Outreach programs, historically
"student-oriented," will be more effective if they target the
entire school environment, the regent-appointed task force
recommended. One plan is to target 50 of California’s academically
weakest high schools. One goal of the program is to double the
number of UC-eligible students at those targeted schools by the
year 2002. The goal goes hand in hand with another goal suggested
by the report: educational reform within the state’s K-12 system.
"The university cannot reach all the corners of the state," said
State Superintendent of Education Delaine Eastin, attending the
meeting to show her support. "We must go to the parts of the state
where the less-represented students are." The task force report did
show a pattern of inequality. The top one-fifth of the state’s
schools are 83 percent white and Asian American; the bottom
one-fifth are 79 percent Black, Latino and Native American. The
plan proposed some additional changes, including improvements to
teacher education, evaluation of the success of outreach programs
and a new emphasis on reaching California community colleges. One
short-term goal of the programs is "informational outreach,"
educating students and families about what is required to get into
college. This addresses a predominant problem facing the worst
schools: a lack of college-prep classes and counseling. There was
dispute, however, about whether the plan was extensive enough.
"This addresses only 50 of the 151 schools in the bottom quintile,"
Levin said. "Are we going far enough, fast enough?" While
expressing support for the programs, the regents guaranteed no
specific source of funding. The task force is hopeful that the
extra $60.5 million will come from state, business, federal and
private sources, and the state’s beleaguered K-12 schools
themselves. The reaction to the plan at the regents’ meeting in San
Francisco was cool. Phrases like "this is the best we can do," were
repeated often, as the regents faced the aftermath of SP1 and SP2
(their measures eradicating affirmative action.) Addressing the
already-evident drop in minority enrollment, Regent Ward Connerly
stood his ground against "special preferences." "There are painful
side affects when addictions are terminated," said Connerly, who
had initiated the outreach expansion by forming the task force two
years ago. "When I retire as a regent in 2005, I want to see
students of every color attending the UCs. We must mount a massive
attempt to get our (public) schools competitive," he continued.
Previous Daily Bruin Story: Number of LAUSD grads enrolling at UCs
declines, 4/30/97