Special Latina Math Program Adds to Debate : Education: Rancho Santiago College’s vice chancellor thinks uproar about classes is tied to ‘hubbub over affirmative action.’

As part of an experimental program to boost the mathematics skills of Latinas, Rancho Santiago College tried to restrict two algebra courses to the women this semester--but backed off after other students also enrolled in the classes.

The courses--elementary and intermediate algebra--were designed solely for Latinas to explore the controversial idea that female and minority students can boost their achievement in segregated learning environments.

When several black, white and male Latino students who accidentally enrolled in one of the courses were told it was intended for Latinas and required extra work, their complaints touched off debate in the college’s faculty governance body, the Academic Senate. Several of them chose to remain in the intermediate algebra class.

Under state regulations governing community colleges, all courses must be open to enrollment for any student who has been admitted to the college. Tom Nussbaum, the community college system’s vice chancellor and general counsel, said the college can design courses for specific student populations to help them succeed academically, but must allow other students in.

Rancho Santiago officials said the program has suffered initial problems that are being worked out, but has not broken any regulations or laws.

“Programs like this are not illegal. They are not segregated,” said Rancho Santiago’s executive vice chancellor, Edward Hernandez. “The Latina Math Project is an experiment . . . looking at groups of students having the most difficulty.”

The courses were an attempt to provide a supportive learning environment for Latinas, many of whom need help in math and science, instructors say. In the fall of 1993, 53% of Rancho Santiago’s Latina students in elementary algebra withdrew, received grades of D or F or did not complete the course.

But others say segregated courses amount to special treatment, and that intense courses should be offered according to a student’s skills--not race or gender.

“Special courses for students who need special attention are OK, as long as people qualify for them by need,” said George Wright, a criminal justice professor and president of the Academic Senate. “But qualifying by race and gender just isn’t fair.”

Added biology teacher Dan Goldman: “If someone is weak in an area, they should be eligible for the same treatment. It shouldn’t be limited by race.”

Faculty members are now developing guidelines to provide services to needy minority students without violating state law.

Last week, Jane Camarena, a student at San Bernardino Valley College, sued that school, contending she was denied entrance into a course because she was not African American. The case unleashed a flurry of phone calls from other students and teachers to the Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative legal group that supports Camarena.

“These courses are motivated by the incorrect attitude that students learn best when they’re around students of their own kind,” said Robert J. Corry, Camarena’s attorney.

The Pacific Legal Foundation’s lawsuit names the Bridge program, a project for black students widely available in California community colleges, and the Puente program for Latino students, contending they are discriminatory.

Puente, which is offered at 31 California community colleges and is state-funded, provides counseling, English courses and activities to promote Latino students’ advancement to four-year colleges.

The program is open to anyone, but because of its nature, the vast majority of participants are Latino, according to University of California spokesman Mike Alva. Puente was the inspiration for Rancho Santiago’s math program, college officials said.

At Rancho Santiago’s Latina math program, “the instructors have some background in understanding the historical perspective of Latinas,” Hernandez explained. “We’ll monitor their success. A lot of people say you’ve got to try some (different) things to make a difference in helping students.”

Hernandez believes the uproar over the class is tied to the “hubbub over affirmative action.”

Cheryl Ooten, one of two teachers in the Latina intermediate algebra class, said the program offers self-esteem training, opportunities for teamwork and role models for Latinas. It is in development, Ooten said, and “we’re very aware there are things we can and cannot do.”

Ooten said the class is clearly meant for Latinas, but others can enroll. She said she distributed letters to non-Latina students at the beginning of the semester suggesting they take other courses unless they were willing to tackle Latina-themed course work.

In December, students registered for the intermediate algebra course in person and by telephone. Students registering in person spoke to a counselor, who told them the class was reserved for Latina students, Ooten said. Students registering by telephone did not know the class was for Latinas, she said.

Soon afterward, Ooten said, staff members telephoned most of the non-Latina students to tell them the course was for Latinas and that they would be required to sign up for an extra study session. But several students who could not be reached by telephone showed up to the course when it began in mid-January.

Four of them decided to stay in the class, Ooten said; several others went to other classes and some complained to staff and faculty members.

In the future, the class will be marked as a “course of special interest to Latinas” in the course schedule, administrators said.

But Goldman and some other faculty members still have doubts about the program.

“There’s a big push to favor one group,” Goldman said. “You want to prepare them for a four-year school. But once they leave here, what do you do then?

“I have some very bright Latinos, Vietnamese and white students, and others of the same groups that need help,” Goldman said. “But every time you raise a question about (the value of race- or gender-specific programs), people label you a racist. . . . It stops being an academic argument and becomes an emotional one.”

Students could not be reached for comment.

Little research has been done on the value of teaching students separately by gender or race, according to academics.

“In the past when schools were segregated, they were segregated because whether you were black, Latino, Chinese or female, it was a lower status,” said Cheryl Valdez, assistant professor of education at Chapman University. “Now, people are asking, are there valid reasons to segregate based on different learning styles?”