Enrollment of 3 Minorities at UC Declined Last Fall

After a decade of steady increases, the numbers of African-Americans, Latinos and Native Americans enrolling as freshman at University of California campuses dipped last fall, a UC report has found.

The decrease--from 4,383 freshmen from these groups in the fall of 1989 to 3,884 in the fall of 1990--is the first since UC began special minority recruitment efforts more than 25 years ago, the report said. The largest enrollment declines were among blacks, down 322 from the year before, and Latinos, down 229.

The university study did not include Asian-Americans because they are not considered an under-represented group.

The report on undergraduate students is one of three affirmative-action reports compiled annually. It will be presented to the Board of Regents at its meeting at UCLA on Thursday, along with reports on admissions policies and on graduate students and academic employees.

The three minority groups were targeted because their eligibility and enrollment rates are substantially below the rate for students overall, UC officials said.

Overall, the report found continued academic progress for the under-represented minorities. Their numbers within the ranks of UC’s undergraduates swelled from 8,145 in 1976 to 21,129 in 1990.

“We are generally pleased because (the report shows) under-represented minorities have made significant gains overall at the undergraduate level,” UC spokesman Mike Alva said Friday.

“However, the university is concerned about a decline in the number (of students from these groups) among new freshmen,” Alva added.

The decline mirrors nationwide trends found in several recent studies. For example, an April, 1990, report by the American Council on Education found a decline in the proportion of minority high school graduates who went on to college, particularly for blacks and Latinos.

The UC report does not provide campus-by-campus information.

Alva said the university is trying to determine causes for the decline, including a drop in the number of high school graduates throughout California. The drop can be attributed to demographic shifts, and the trend is expected to be reversed soon as the young students now crowding the state’s elementary and secondary schools reach college age, he said.