Students formed a human link and wore signs around their necks saying, “Ask me,” to spark dialogue. They followed this by a rally with the participation of a number of student organizations, including the African Student Union, Asian Pacific Coalition, and the Chicano student organization MeChA. A popular chant was, “What do we want? Diversity. When do we want it? Now.”

The event was organized by the Admissions Coalition, which is made up of different student groups. The coalition’s aim is to reverse the low numbers of students of oppressed nationalities admitted at this campus.

Of the 4,852 students admitted this fall only 96, or 2 percent, are Black—that is out of a pool of 1,900 African American applicants this year. This is the smallest enrollment of African American students since at least 1973, according to a research report by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.

Over the past decade, since the implementation of Proposition 209 in 1996 that banned affirmative action in hiring and admissions at state institutions, the number of African American undergraduates at UCLA has plummeted by 65 percent. Admissions of students who are Black at UC Berkeley, the other major University of California campus, have dropped by 50 percent in the same period.

Admission of Chicano, Latino, and Native American students has also declined in the last decade. Students of underrepresented nationalities—Black, Chicano, Latino, and Native American—make up 14.3 percent of this year’s freshman class at the 10 University of California campuses.

“UCLA prides itself on being a diverse university but I don’t see it as reflective of California or Los Angeles,” said Rhommel Canare, a UCLA student. “When they say that UCLA is a diverse campus, it’s not.”

The Bruin Republicans set up an anti-affirmative action bake sale near today’s event. Their action received front-page coverage in the Daily Bruin, the student newspaper at UCLA, the next day, while the rally supporting affirmative action was not covered.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home