Cal activists: Can the ban Cal activists: Can the ban
* Student recruiters say the affirmative action standard sends a mixed message to potential minority enrollees
By Carrie Sturrock Contra Costa TIMES STAFF WRITER
News Published Friday, March 2, 2001
BERKELEY -- UC Berkeley students who help recruit minorities to the school threatened Thursday to actively discourage them from enrolling if regents don't repeal their ban against affirmative action this month. Saying they're tired of trying to diversify the campus without the university's support, students who staff campus recruitment and retention centers told a crowd of more than 200 that prospective minority students should know the "truth" -- that the university doesn't welcome them.
Since the regents' 1995 ban, the percentage of African-Americans, Latinos and American Indians on Berkeley's campus has dropped. "We're tired," said student Alma Hern‡ndez, who characterized the decision as drastic but necessary. "We want to send a message to the regents: we're not going to play this game anymore."
Students packed a fifth floor room of the Martin Luther King Jr. student union building to hear from a series of speakers representing the various student-run recruitment and retention centers. Workers at the center encourage minorities from low-income backgrounds to seek a higher education and they advocate attending UC Berkeley.
"It must be made clear: we won't at any time discourage students from pursuing higher education," said Monique Lim—n from RAZA, a center that works to recruit Latinos, as students cheered. "Rather, we'll encourage applicants to explore other options." If carried out, the students' threat would be counterproductive, university officials said. "This technique will not encourage underrepresented students to enroll at the university," said Richard Black, assistant vice chancellor for admissions and enrollment. "It's very poorly conceived."
The regents' 1995 decision barred the university from using racial preferences in admissions. In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 209, which prohibited the state from using race-based affirmative action. Since then, Berkeley's recruitment and retention centers, some of which have been in existence since the 1980s, became even more active in persuading minorities who are accepted to enroll.
"They're very important to us," Black said. In the past, center members have hosted students and called them. This year, members will have at least three opportunities to meet with prospective minorities on campus, Black said. The regents, the students argue, need to repeal the ban at their March 14 meeting -- before prospective students receive their acceptance letters. Although Prop. 209 would still prohibit affirmative action, advocates say rescinding the ban would send an important symbolic message.
Several regents who also advocate repealing the ban say they're close to garnering a significant majority on the board. But March may be too soon, Regent Bill Bagley said. "If it were taken up in May or July , the majority will be much more substantial. Obviously we should wait for a substantial majority."
Since the ban, the percentage of underrepresented minorities in the entire freshman class at Berkeley dropped from 24 percent in 1995 to 13 percent in 2000. Believing the regents are closer than ever to reversing themselves, affirmative action advocates on Berkeley's campus are ratcheting up their campaign. Students are planning a large demonstration Thursday -- the "Day of Action to Reverse the Ban Now."
No groups opposing affirmative action have launched similar campaigns. But quiet ambivalence over the issue exists. "I think it's all well and good for white kids to be supportive of affirmative action now that they got in," senior Jackie Festa said outside of Sproul Hall. "It's another thing altogether when your (admissions) space is jeopardized by someone else. I don't think these kids would fight as hard."
Others described the vocal affirmative action supporters as a minority on a campus of roughly 31,000 and that many students don't seem tuned into the issue. "My dorm friends don't know what's going on," said freshman Josh Sperling with the Berkeley campus chapter of the ACLU. "When you come home, people are watching 'Temptation Island'."
Rob Ness, a graduate student, doesn't think affirmative action is necessarily the best way to ensure diversity. The heart of the problem lies with the inequities between rich and poor school districts, he said. But he applauds any student effort that encourages dialogue. "The pressure is good."
News and Announcements | AAD Home Page