College Accused of Using Exams to Bar Minorities

Entrance exams are being used to illegally exclude minorities from courses at Fullerton Community College, Latino rights groups charged Wednesday in a Superior Court lawsuit filed in Sacramento on behalf of two applicants to the college.

At issue is whether the college is using the exams to exclude students from college-level courses that are transferable to four-year institutions and restrict them instead to remedial classes, attorneys for the plaintiffs said. The attorneys added that they believe the policies under attack at the Fullerton campus also are in effect at other California community colleges, each of which does its own testing.

They also contend that scheduling of remedial classes is so restrictive that some minority students are unable to attend.

Martin R. Valdez of La Habra and Christopher Romero-Frias of Fullerton took entrance exams at the Fullerton campus in 1986, said Richard P. Fajardo, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which also is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

“One student (Valdez) was forced to take remedial English, but because the number of remedial classes offered was so limited, he couldn’t attend because of a work schedule conflict and had to drop out,” Fajardo said. “He was not allowed to take any other course until he completed the English class, which is contrary to specific provisions in the state’s Matriculation Act passed in 1986.”

Romero-Frias was in a similar position, Fajardo said. But, the attorney added, he eventually enrolled at Rancho Santiago Community College in Santa Ana and is succeeding in the same courses to which he was denied access at Fullerton Community College.

“This matriculation policy has developed a segregated system with less (Latino) students at Fullerton Community College and more students being forced or sent to attend school in Santa Ana (at Rancho Santiago Community College),” Fajardo said.

The lawsuit draws attention to what has been a hotly debated issue on many of the 106 community college campuses statewide, interim state Community College Chancellor John D. Randall said in a telephone interview from Sacramento. The issue is whether entrance test results should be only advisory in the matriculation process. “In my opinion, the Matriculation Act left that issue very vague,” Randall said.

Susan E. Brown, MALDEF’s lead attorney for educational issues, argued that the law clearly says the test results should be weighed as only “advisory tools” and never as academic barriers preventing low-scoring students from gaining access to community colleges.

“In fact,” she said, “if a student decided they wanted to take a class despite the advice or test results, they could do so under the act. This is not what is happening at Fullerton College, and I think it is very widespread throughout the state.”

Randall acknowledged that other campuses might have the same entrance exam problems as Fullerton.

Fullerton Community College Chancellor Philip W. Borst denied that the school discriminates against Latinos but indicated that the college might not be in compliance with the Matriculation Act. He added, however, that by the fall term, entrance tests will be used only for advisory purposes.

Ironically, Brown said, the Legislature’s intent in passing the Matriculation Act in 1986 was to ensure equal educational opportunity.

In addition to Valdez, Romero-Frias and MALDEF, plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Latino Alumni Assn. of North Orange County, Los Amigos of Orange County and MECHA, a statewide organization of Latino students.

Named as defendants are the Fullerton college, Borst, Randall, the North Orange County Community College District and its trustees and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges.