The State : UC Chief Hit, Urged to Quit

A Hispanic coalition says the University of California has a lackluster record of hiring minorities and called for the resignation of UC President David Gardner. The Hispanic Coalition on Higher Education, representing 83 statewide educational and civil rights organizations, gave Gardner’s affirmative-action record an “F” grade and released a “letter of no confidence” by a UC staff group. The letter sent to Gardner by the University of California Chicano-Latino Consortium complained that the UC administration has demonstrated only a “mechanical interest” in reversing a “serious underrepresentation” of Latinos and other minorities among students, faculty and management. A UC spokesman, Ron Kolb, said Gardner remains committed to recruiting more minority students, faculty and administrators, and has no intention of resigning.