Is it depressing to anyone else that the subject of minorities going to a state college is apparently so newsworthy and such a big deal that it winds up on the front page of LA Times online? And yet, here it is, because the percentage of black students who plan to attend UCLA this coming fall has skyrocketed to 4.5%, double the percentage of this year's freshman class at a measly 2.2%.

UCLA's acting chancellor, Norman Abrams, said he was pleased with the increase. He thanked alumni and current students for raising scholarship donations and sponsoring recruiting events to woo blacks, who were accepted to the school but were wavering over enrolling.

Abrams insisted that all was done without violating Proposition 209, the voter-approved state initiative that bans the use of race in university admissions.

"I think we got the message out that we are a welcoming environment and that we have this great legacy and tradition with regard to African American students," Abrams said, referring to such illustrious black alumni as former Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ralph Bunche.

I had the privilege of attending one of those "very special admit day" recruiting events as an incoming freshman at UCSD, back when they were trying to bump up their black and Latino demographic from a combined 11%; it mostly consisted of seminars on how to deflect all your relatives going "What, you think you're better than us now?!" and then a free dinner and some chill-out time in the dorms. It was kind of weird and uncomfortable, but I guess not altogether invalid and it must work on some level. I would still hazard a guess that the scholarship donations work better, because ethnic pandering does tend to turn a lot of people off.

Even with the new scholarships, UCLA obviously did not win all the accepted black students. For example, Courtney Porter, a Carson resident who attends the King/Drew Medical Magnet High School, chose UC Berkeley, she said, partly because of its northern California location and partly because she felt more genuinely welcomed there.

"I had a feeling that UCLA was desperate for African American students and recruiting me more just to get their numbers up," she said.

The tricky part of all this is that schools are trying to broaden their diversity while still falling inside the lines of Proposition 209, which is this fun thing Californians voted for a few years back that led to "blind admissions" process. You see, a lot of people like to believe that all children have equal potential and only differing motivation; this is possibly somewhat true in theory, but once you add in equal access to study guides and AP tests and outside reading and Kaplan test-prep tutoring and all the free time to devote to such when you're not out working a job to help support your family, the theory becomes a little less rooted in reality. Apparently school officials are starting to realize that a little bit, because now it seems they are scrambling to gerrymander the importance of "life experience" (i.e. socioeconomics) without getting too politically incorrect.

Asian Americans will make up the largest ethnic share of the class, as they have for several years: an expected 1,854 freshmen, or 41.2% of the U.S. students, a drop from 44.6% last year. White enrollment is expected to be 1,481, or 32.9 %, compared to 32.1% last year. The number of Latino freshmen is up slightly, to 657, representing 14.6%, compared to 13.9% last year.

Officials attributed some of those changes to a more "holistic" admissions process this year in which applicants' grades and test scores were reviewed more fully in context of their life experiences and achievements. UC leaders say that process was race-blind.

Former UC Regent Ward Connerly, the conservative architect of Proposition 209, said the new scholarship effort did not break the law. "Certainly, if people privately want to offer scholarships, that's their business and I have no problem with them using their money however they see fit."

But he said he suspected the application review process that looks at students' non-academic record was unequally applied in some cases to blacks and Latinos versus whites and Asians. "I wish I weren't suspicious," said Connerly, who is chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, based in Sacramento.

It's a tough situation all around. Nobody who goes to UC schools has any false pretenses about their ethnic make-up, and to be frank, why shouldn't life experiences be given equal weight to grades and test scores? Even Ivy League schools are finding out that numbers aren't everything.

Really though, I'm just looking forward to a day when we can look at ethnicity demographics at universities and legitimately roll eyes and say, "how is this news?" At 4.5%, I don't think it's quite there yet.

JoieW

HOPEFUL

Atlanta, GA

MAY 12, 2007 09:34 AM

Great article and I can happily say that when things like this are so common place that they are no longer news worthy I will climb on my roof and dance an extra special jig.

Charybdus

Lafayette, LA

July 2006

MAY 12, 2007 10:25 AM

Sad but true. The terrible thing is that being a rural poor person from the Applacians puts you in the same rough spot (except for having to sweat a drive-by, but maybe combine penis maulings count...) as an inner city black kid or latino/a. What can I say, I think all this is good in theory, but it amounts to quotas which I think are sad and misguided.

jbaldwin

Moscow, PA

January 2007

MAY 12, 2007 10:30 AM

I appreciate the article. I especially liked that you challenged the "equal-playing field" myth!

wottan

Vancouver, BC

July 2004

MAY 12, 2007 12:45 PM

Woah nice, I really think that holistic approach can only lead to good things when it comes to education..

unfiltrator

San Francisco, CA

April 2004

MAY 14, 2007 12:29 PM

We're just starting to try to figure out that multigenerational advantages conflict with our enforcing the "American Dream"-equal-opportunity belief system. It even conflicts with Adam Smith's invisible hand (the passage of wealth from one generation to the other hardly confirms the benefits of free competition). I don't know if there is a durable, or durably justifiable, solution.

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NEWS: UCLA Powers Up on Ethnicity

_DictionaryGirl_

NEWSWIRE

San Diego, CA

MAY 12, 2007 08:42 AM