Cuts leave diversity out of reach for UC
As students get back into the swing of things for their spring quarter classes, a battle over the heart and soul of the future of the University of California is taking place in Sacramento right now. On one side is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose 2004-2005 budget proposes to eliminate funding for UC outreach programs, a policy change which would drastically affect minority and low-income students. On the other side are various groups and individuals, from state politicians and UC administrators to pro-outreach students, who are working hard to save as much funding for the programs as possible.
While these actions will probably prevent outreach from being completely eliminated, it is becoming clear that whatever remains of this vital education program will be a shadow of what it used to be. Budget negotiations have not been going well for outreach supporters. In the words of Carol Liu, chairwoman of the State Assembly Higher Education Committee, “It’s tough to fight a movie star.”
In times like these, I wonder what happened to the once-pro-education candidate Schwarzenegger was during the recall election last fall. During the campaign he specifically stated, “Now, does this mean that we’re going to make cuts? Yes. does this mean education’s on the table? No.” The governor’s campaign focused on rooting out government waste and inefficiency to solve our state’s budget woes.
In reality, over the past few months, the governor’s specific plans have become clear – the Terminator is terminating vital education programs, not government waste. Even worse, he is specifically targeting the cuts to programs he is ideologically opposed to instead of evenly dispersing them. On top of his 2004-2005 budget plan that calls for complete elimination of student outreach programs, he completely wiped out funding for the UC Institute of Labor and Employment.
More importantly, the governor’s apparent anti-diversity platform is going to hang minority and low-income students out to dry and reverse all of the progress made by outreach programs at reversing the declining numbers of minority students in the UC.
When the voter-approved ban on race-based admissions policies went into effect for the entering class of 1998, admissions percentages for underrepresented minorities (Native American, African American and Latino) to the UC experienced a precipitous decline, especially at the flagship campuses of UC Berkeley and UCLA. As a percent of total admissions, underrepresented minorities went from highs of 26.1 percent and 26.7 percent in 1995 at UC Berkeley and UCLA, respectively, all the way down to 11.2 percent and 12.7 percent in 1998, the first year the ban went into effect.
In response, the UC implemented intense outreach programs to recruit and motivate underrepresented minorities to choose UCs. The program has been largely successful and the percent of underrepresented minorities has increased slightly each of the last few years. At UC Berkeley and UCLA, underrepresented minorities constituted 16.5 percent and 16.8 percent of students admitted in 2002.
However, these levels are still low, and Schwarzenegger’s proposed elimination of outreach would reverse this progress and have catastrophic effects on student body diversity. The levels of underrepresented minority students admitted to the UC will likely drop significantly – perhaps even to the 1998 lows seen in the immediate aftermath of the ban on affirmative action.
Without outreach, the California education system will move down the path of resegregation, with affluent white and Asian students making an even greater majority of UC students while everyone else is banished to lower tier schools.
As a result of these effects, everyone is going to suffer. White and Asian students will suffer from going to universities that are racially homogeneous and unreflective of the real world diversity of backgrounds and opinions among Americans. There is only so much that a school full of prep students will have to offer.
Low-income students and other minorities will suffer because outreach programs are often the key stimuli that motivate these high school students to go to college. Additionally, as a publicly-funded institution, the UC ought to serve the entire population, not just select students.
In the end, it is insulting to have the governor, who promised to help California, cut this critical education program for disadvantaged students with the stroke of a pen. In the end, the governor’s cut has nothing to do with cutting government waste or inefficiency and everything to do with politically expedient but thoughtless policies.
Bitondo is a third-year political science and history student. E-mail him at mbitondo@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.
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