Study to Revisit Proposition 209

SAN FRANCISCO-The university is set to examine the impact of Proposition 209 on minority enrollment after the UC Board of Regents endorsed a study of diversity at its meeting yesterday.

Nearly ten years ago, Proposition 209 struck down the practice of affirmative action in UC admissions and banned public institutions in the state from discriminating based on race or gender. Shortly after, UC enrollment of black, Hispanic and American Indian students declined sharply.

"This is not intended to take issue with 209, but to evaluate and better understand the state of UC admissions and enrollment in the context of 209," said UC President Robert Dynes.

Unlike a 2003 task force report that focused on undergraduate admissions and eligibility, the new study will look at graduate students as well as undergraduates, and it will also survey retainment, retention and campus climates.

Student Regent Maria Ledesma, who introduced the study, said she hopes to uncover "better practices" in admissions and eligibility.

"I think we've made some gains trying to address the immediate drop in enrollment that happened shortly after the proposition (passed), but I think that there are opportunities out there and that's what I hope to learn in the study," she said.

After the proposition's enactment, systemwide enrollment of black students fell from 888 in 1996 to 739 in 1998, according to UC data. Latino enrollment dropped from 870 to 737, and American Indian enrollment from 237 to 168.

Those figures have risen in recent years, but as a proportion of total enrollment, minority enrollment is still well below levels from before 1996.

Ledesma, 35, a UCLA graduate student of education, said she plans to make the study a top priority in her one-year term as student regent.

"It dawned on me serendipitously that the year that I would sit as a voting student regent would be the same year as (the ten-year anniversary of) 209, so I started to try to have conversations ... to see if this was in fact of something of interest," she said.

A former UC Berkeley undergraduate, Ledesma called herself a "byproduct" of academic outreach programs. which she said encouraged her to apply to college.

Several UC regents voiced support for the study.

"We have reached a critical point of the disappearing critical mass," said Regent Eddie Island. "Young African Americans are not enthusiastic about attending certain of our campuses ... they tell me they feel a palpable degree of hostility, and they don't feel welcome there."

But others were critical of the study.

"If there's going to be a study, it ought to be serious," said Regent John Moores. "It ought to be done outside (the university)."

A correction to this article can be found here.

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