UCLA Denies Any Policy of Limiting Asian Admissions

UCLA officials denied Friday that the university sets limits on Asian enrollment, but some members of the faculty and the Asian community said long-standing concerns remain about UCLA’s treatment of Asian applicants.

On Thursday it was disclosed that the U.S. Department of Education is investigating possible anti-Asian bias in UCLA’s admissions policies.

The Education Department ordered a review of UCLA admission practices and policies last January to determine whether the university was complying with federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity or national origin.

UCLA Vice Chancellor Thomas Lifka said Friday that the university has “absolutely no (admissions) quotas for any group.”

Federal Review

Lifka would not discuss details of the federal review. But he said the university, while “not alarmed” by it, was “taking it very seriously.”

Asian-American faculty at UCLA, as well as community members, have suspected for some time that the university employs at least informal ceilings on Asian-American enrollment. Asian enrollment in the UC system has surged in recent years because Asians apply to and qualify for admission to UC at higher rates than other groups.

Asians, unlike blacks and Latinos, are not considered an under-represented minority and therefore compete with Anglos for regular admission to UC.

The Education Department, through its Office of Civil Rights, conducts about 250 “compliance reviews” a year. Department spokesman Mahlon Anderson said they are of a routine nature and do not mean that the department has reason to believe violations are occurring.

“This is so routine and so mundane. It is really amazing to see it get this kind of attention,” Anderson said from Washington Friday.

Intensifying Competition

Asian-American educators and advocacy groups, however, said the federal review is needed because of intensifying competition for admission to the UC system’s most sought-after campuses--UCLA and UC Berkeley.

“If nothing else,” said Henry Der, executive director of the San Francisco-based Chinese for Affirmative Action, “what we as Asians hope is for UCLA and UC Berkeley to have an accountable admissions process and policies that are fair and open and well-publicized, so that freshman applicants--Asians and non-Asians alike--know what they are facing when they are seeking admission.”

Don Nakanishi, an assistant professor in the UCLA School of Education, who has a grant to conduct a five-year study of Asian-Americans and admissions at colleges nationwide, said figures showing a drop in the Asian admissions rate three years ago stirred concerns in the local Asian-American community about the possibility of informal quotas to contain Asian-American enrollment. Although the Asian admissions rate has begun to stabilize, he said concerns continue about possible anti-Asian bias.

Until recently, controversy over possible discrimination against-Asians in admissions has been an issue chiefly at UC Berkeley, where more than 25% of the undergraduates are Asian. The Education Department has received specific complaints about UC Berkeley admission policies over the last few years, some of which remain unresolved.

At UCLA, Asians and Filipinos make up 24.7% of the freshman enrollment. Total Asian enrollment has grown over the last five years by 3%.

What “raised the red flag” for Asians about possible admissions limits, however, was an examination three years ago of the Asian admission rate, derived by dividing the number admitted by the number who applied. Nakanishi said the pattern had been that Asians were admitted at the same or higher rate than whites. But he found that the Asian admission rate slipped markedly in the mid-1980s. While the white admission rate also fell, the decline was steeper among Asians, even though Asian high school graduates qualify for UC admission at a rate higher than any other group.

Figures from the UCLA planning office provided by Nakanishi show that the Asian admission rate is at its lowest point this decade--38.2% in 1987, compared to 82.4% in 1980. However, he noted that the slippage has slowed the last two years for several reasons.

For example, Asian-American faculty members now serve on the admissions committee, he said. In addition, the university has renewed a practice of admitting low-income Asian-Americans on an affirmative-action basis.