Promise to Minorities a Positive Step for UCI

UC Irvine does not have an admirable record in enrolling and retaining black and Latino students or tenured faculty, and that extends to the number of minority firms that are awarded contracts for work on campus.

As of last autumn, the record shows, of the 637 tenured faculty members at the Irvine campus, only 5 were black and 22 Latino, amounting to less than 5% of the total. The black and Latino enrollment of undergraduate students was a bit better, but not good enough, totaling only 10.5% of the student body, contrasted with an average of 13.8% for the UC system.

The bright spot in the otherwise bleak and disappointing picture is that the administration, faculty and students not only seem aware of the ethnic imbalance on campus and the social and educational problems that it produces, but finally seem determined to take aggressive steps to bring about the better minority mix that UCI ought to have.

Less than 2 weeks ago, protesting students met with UCI Chancellor Jack W. Peltason, who assured them that recruiting more minority faculty members and students was “very high” on his list of priorities. Peltason told students that more than half of the offers made to prospective faculty members for the new school year went to women and minorities and that almost 20% of next year’s admissions will be under-represented minorities.

Just 3 days later the UC Irvine Academic Senate, without the controversy that has accompanied discussions of “multicultural” course requirements at other UC campuses, voted unanimously to require all undergraduates to take a course exploring the history, society and politics of minorities in California or the United States and another on international or global issues to qualify for graduation. With that vote, Irvine became the first UC campus with the dual requirement.

And on Tuesday Latino students, faculty and staff members presented to the administration a 43-point program designed to diversify the campus and recruit and retain more minorities.

More Latino and black students must be recruited and kept in college long enough to graduate; more of those graduates also must be persuaded to stay on campus as faculty.

More minority enrollment, more minority professors, more courses in ethnic study that promote a greater sensitivity and understanding all combine to create a climate that can enrich the students’ real-life experiences--on campus and in the community.