Uphill Fight Against Barriers of Race, Gender

It had been a long journey from the rat-infested apartment in Harlem where Ron Wilson spent his boyhood to the manicured campus of UC Irvine, but he was filled with optimism 17 years ago on his first day as the university’s first ombudsman.

As a 27-year-old associate dean of students and director of community service projects, Wilson looked forward to working with the enlightened minds of the academic world to help untangle the problems and prejudices of students, staff and faculty.

But on his second day, Wilson’s optimism was tested. He had forgotten where he parked and was searching for his car in a campus parking lot.

“A cop pulled over, one of our campus police, and told me to assume the position. I’m wearing a suit and tie and I’m saying, ‘I beg your pardon?’ And he says, ‘Just assume the position’ and he puts his hand on his gun. After I tell him who I am and where I work, he apologized and said there had been a lot of car radios stolen,” Wilson said.

The next day, 15 African American students met with the vice chancellor of student affairs and demanded that Wilson be fired.

“I had done the most unconscionable thing. I had taken a photograph of my wife and my son and put it on my desk. They were upset because the university had hired a black man who was married to somebody who was white. They demanded that I be fired because of that. From their viewpoint, I had sold out and I couldn’t possibly understand them.”

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Their demands were refused and Wilson met with them on the following day.

“I sat there and I let them ask me any question they wanted. And they did. This one woman asked me why I married a white woman. My answer was, ‘Because I love her.’ After the end of their questions, everybody applauded and they thanked me for having the courtesy to be there. And I said, ‘Wait a minute. Don’t I get to ask some questions?’ And they said, ‘Sure.’ So I turned to that black woman and asked, ‘Why are you prejudiced? Why are you racist?’ We had a debate over it. Racism works both ways.”

During the last 24 years, Wilson has worked to eliminate barriers of race and gender for students at five universities. Currently an assistant vice chancellor and university ombudsman, the 44-year-old Tustin resident has created and developed programs to encourage minority students to pursue higher education and to help them succeed after admission. It is a job made tougher by the University of California regents’ decision last July to roll back affirmative action, Wilson says.

“This is one of the major topics that people are now talking about: the University of California’s leadership in the move to rid society of affirmative action. But is that what the University of California really wants to be known for? As a leader in getting rid of opportunity? Of hope? Institutions of higher education should be the conscience of society.

“We should be embracing programs for people to obtain knowledge. We should be working aggressively to support and develop these programs, not working aggressively to exclude people from opportunities. Unfortunately, we don’t have a history of embracing openness to people of color in this country. It’s sad to say, but we don’t.

“Every step of the way, every gain that has been attained by people of color and women has been hard-fought. It’s not too long ago that women obtained the right to vote; it’s not too long ago that minorities got the Voting Rights Act. None of this came about because people opened up their hearts and said, ‘Let’s just do it.’ People had to work hard and aggressively to obtain it.”

As the attacks on affirmative action grow, Wilson is reminded of his childhood, a time when poor children were not encouraged to dream of larger ambitions. Growing up in Harlem and Washington Heights in a family of six children, he was repeatedly advised against trying to attend college. He dropped out of Washington High School in his junior year.

“Friends of mine were dying because of gang wars; there were constant turf battles going on. Drugs were all over the place. I was being advised by counselors that I could never go to college, that I should think about becoming a plumber or a bus driver. I remember clearly people telling me how expensive college was and how there was no way I could afford it, so why put my family through this.”

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After working his way up from the mail room to a copy-writing position at a New York advertising agency, Wilson passed a high school equivalency exam. He enrolled in a college-preparatory program at City University and was accepted by Bard College in Upstate New York. He was one of only 15 minority students at the 750-student campus.

Wilson says Bard College’s program for disadvantaged students, similar to those he has administered over the years, helped him become one of the six minority students who graduated. He earned his bachelor’s degree in three years.

“If it were not for the opportunities created by these support programs, many of our students would not make it. And that’s the key word: ‘opportunity,’ not ‘entitlement.’ These are programs that give people the opportunity to better themselves and to contribute to the communities in which they live.

“It’s still not a level playing field in this society. Affirmative action not only levels the playing field, but it provides two-way access, for people of color to meet with people who are not of color. We cannot not understand one another if we don’t have access to one another in all walks of life--in elective office, in the workplace or in the classroom--we need to have that access.”

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Profile: Ron Wilson

Age: 44

Hometown: New York City (Harlem)

Residence: Tustin

Family: Married, three school-age children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in English literature from Bard College, New York; master’s degree in public policy and administration, Cal State Long Beach

Current position: Assistant vice chancellor and university ombudsman at UC Irvine

Background: Counselor at a juvenile and adult prison, New York; education/career counselor at City University of New York; director of Higher Education Opportunity Program at Bard College, New York; education and career counselor at All Peoples’ Christian Center, Los Angeles; director of admissions and coordinator of recruitment at the former Immaculate Heart College, Los Angeles; director of student affirmative action, UC Riverside

On affirmative action: “The demise of affirmative action is being used as a political football, to help promote the political careers and personal agendas of certain individuals. Academics who are trained in these areas are being completely ignored.”

Source: Ron Wilson; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times