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Problems the University of California has had in enrolling black students may be aggravated by a “reverse migration” trend that is drawing many black families out of places such as California and bringing them to the South.

A study undertaken by the Brookings Institute last week found that an increased number of black professionals are moving away from Western, Northern and Eastern states and are moving into Southern states.

Brookings researchers have called this move a “reverse migration” because in the early 20th century, many black families decided to move out of Southern states and settle in other areas, a trend known as the Great Migration.

The Brookings Institute is an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to research analysis.

“The South is really being viewed by many as a kind of a new Mecca, a land of opportunity,” said Charles Christian, professor of urban and social population geography at the University of Maryland, College Park.

“They see the South as a place where their children can grow up in safer communities and attend better schools,” he added.

This emphasis on Southern schools makes some scholars express concern over the projected decline in the number of black students in colleges and universities in states such as California.

The amount of black students in many public universities around the country, including the UC, is already considered alarmingly low.

According to a study conducted last month by the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, the number of black freshmen admitted to UCLA has been declining.

The study found that UCLA admitted 470 in-state black freshmen in 1997, but by fall 2004, these admissions declined by 58 percent to 199 admits.

UC-wide enrollment figures show a slightly more positive trend, with enrollment for black students increasing by 5 percent in 2003.

But this increase translates to a little above 4,500 students, a relatively low number when compared to the over 159,000 undergraduates who attend the UC and the over 2 million black residents in California.

This low number of black students may continue to decline partially due to reverse migration.

“A lot of state universities recruit students from inside the state, which would mean less students if some of them move away,” said William Fry, author of the Brookings Institute study and a fellow at the Institute.

Former UCLA Professor Jim Johnson, an expert on reverse migration, counts himself as part of the reverse migration trend.

He moved to North Carolina from California a few years ago to take care of his grandmother.

Johnson, who is currently a business professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said the quality of public education in non-Southern states plays a big role in the decision of many blacks to move.

“As the public school system deteriorates, people will begin to move with their feet,” Johnson said.

A combination of factors, including the perceived deterioration of public education in non-Southern states, the tendency of students to attend educational institutions close to their home states, and the increasing appeal of traditionally black universities in the South, may lead to fewer black students attending higher education institutions in non-Southern states.

“I think it is a mixed bag there. African American students have traditionally gone to schools mostly within the areas in which they live, and this trend will continue,” Christian said.

“But I also think that in the South a lot of schools are getting better, and the black college-age students who are moving there are surely taking it into consideration,” he added.

Traditional black colleges in the South have also been gaining in appeal to black students, attracting them away from schools outside the South.

“A lot of black kids matriculate to traditionally black colleges, especially in the South,” Johnson said.

The Brookings Institute study also found that while the black migration to the South consists of people from all income levels, professionals are moving away at slightly higher numbers.

“Clearly the North and the Midwest have to be concerned. What is happening is very similar to a brain-drain,” Christian said.

Christian defined the brain-drain phenomenon in the migration context as “the depletion of a relatively wealthy population that continues to move out of non-Southern areas.”

Because research has indicated that a child of college-educated parents would most likely also pursue higher education, this migration by college-educated, upper- and middle-class blacks is another possible indicator for the projected reduction in black college students in non-Southern states.

“Colleges will clearly have to be more competitive to retain students,” Christian said. “After all, as the large wealthy African American populations will continue to move to the South, I suspect they will start to look at Southern higher education.”

While education plays an important role in the reasons for black reverse migration, the Brookings study indicated some other factors as well.

“Except for economic and education reasons, the South has an additional appeal for African Americans,” Fry said. “Because of the history of the black population, the South is a more familiar territory.”

He added that while non-Southern states will be heavily impacted by the migration trends, the South will ultimately be the most changed.

“It will change the social fabric and politics in the South,” Fry said.