Young’s Affirmative Action Drive Begins

Seeking to encourage what he called a thoughtful and civil discussion of race- and gender-based preferences on campus, UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that the university’s affirmative action policies are discriminatory, pronouncing them fair and still much-needed.

“I believe we’ve succeeded in developing practices on this campus that meet our obligation to produce leaders for a multicultural society while not engaging in reverse discrimination,” Young said in a speech before the UCLA Academic Senate that kicked off his campaign to win support for affirmative action among students, faculty, alumni and staff.

“I further believe that not all groups have an equal opportunity to compete and advance in our society today, and our efforts are still needed. . . . In my view, the evidence is quite compelling: We have not achieved a level playing field, and our work is not done.”

Young’s speech, delivered just days after his comments on affirmative action prompted a heated exchange between him and UC Board of Regents member Ward Connerly, was serious in tone and carefully worded. At one point, Young emphasized that “despite comments sometimes to the contrary,” he recognizes that many do not share his views and he is eager to hear the thoughts of others.

But he vigorously disputed the suggestion that UCLA has compromised quality in order to gain diversity. And he warned of what would happen if affirmative action policies are dismantled.

“It is not an overstatement to say that if we were unable to consider race and ethnicity in admissions in the way we do . . . the representation of Latinos and African Americans on our campus would severely erode,” he said.

Connerly has called for an end to race-based preferences in UC admissions, contending that race has become a dominant factor in enrollment decisions.

But Young said that every student who qualifies academically--meaning those in the top 12.5% of the state’s high school graduates--can gain admission to one of the nine UC campuses without regard to race, ethnicity or gender.

Some campuses, such as UCLA and UC Berkeley, are more in demand than others. To select a diverse class of freshmen from the pool of qualified students, these schools use more than grades and test scores.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien has also expressed a personal commitment to affirmative action, forged by his experiences as an Asian immigrant attending the university years ago. “I have been the victim of bigotry in the past,” he said last week. “It is hurtful and unfair. . . . We must not allow this (debate) to pull our community apart.”

Young said about 60% of UCLA’s freshman class of 4,000 are chosen based on academic criteria alone. “But we’ve learned that these measures alone don’t tell the whole story of a student’s potential.”

The other 40% are admitted based on both scholastic and supplemental factors--including ethnicity, income status and educational disadvantage--but “academic criteria remain the overriding consideration,” Young said.

“The result is that UCLA enrolls the highest qualified students from all ethnic groups, all income levels, all family backgrounds, all life experiences,” he said. “And all of them are qualified to be here.”

After Young spoke, faculty members greeted him with warm applause and several rose to express their gratitude for what one professor called Young’s leadership role.

* LOBBYING CLINTON: Black academics and ministers urge the White House to hold firm on affirmative action. A5