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.