University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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E End of an Era B ' TRAGI BROWN AND VINCE MA very university discriminates in its entrance policies. No one wants to talk about it and few have an understanding of what this discrimination includes. Each year the Admissions Office determines who is invited to enroll based on complicated formulas of test scores , activities , and personal circumstances. When the Regents voted on July 20, 1995, in favor of endingthe Affirmative Action policy ofUC Admissions offices, which gave preferences to underrepresented minorities, a rancorous flash-fire spread through not just the nine UC campuses, but through the entire nation. There is a struggle for fairness from sides united bv the all cncompassins; teclings of sadness, frustration, and fear. Beneath the contention lies the universal human yearning for acceptance, for tolerance, and for power. We stand together, trying to detennine what is right and who will pay the emotional pricctag on affirmative action. And while we search for answers of who belongs where, we strain to find our own place in the heart of the matter. What is .hffirm. ' tive .action? Black ' s Law Dictionary, lifth Edition, 1979 defines affirmative action with the example designed to eliminate existing and continuing discrimination, to remedv lingering effects of past discrimination, and to create systems and procedures to prevent future discrimination; commonly based on population percentages of minority groups in a particular area. Factors considered are race, color, sex, creed, and age. .According to the UC Glos.sarv of Terms, published in Mav 1995, affirmative action is measures taken to ensure fair treatment to create opportunities for underrepresented appHcants. Affirmative action differs from passive non discriminaticjn in that efforts arc made to re ruit members of underrepresented groups. fgr Thousands of students, lacullv, and community members gather in Sproul Plaza to rally against the termination of afllrmative action. The October 12 forum 2a ' t hc crowd an opportunity to hear speeches, watch cultural performances, and voice their opinions on the issue [above]. Reverend Jesse Jackson speaks to students Irom the steps of Sproul. The keynote speaker was on campus for only a few hours before traveling to other California schools also involved in the protest [top left].

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y. Everybody is so alive. —William Muir, political science prof

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i BBH i 1 frm ■ o IS fiACf-P Oft M WBlW ; 1 EST Qc S - . ' K.. • ' • r. r :.Ti DflifT5 » u ir iv m .i V Where did it come from? Before the 1930s discrimination was legal. In 1933 Congress banned discrimination in the workplace with the Unemployment Relief . ' Xct and by the late forties and early fifties segregation laws were being challenged. The policies that forced blacks and whites to attend separate schools were overturned in the 1954 landmark case, Brown vs. Board of Education, making integration mandatory. In 1961 President Kennedy signed an exccutiye order and coined the phrase affirmatiye action to denote a company ' s positive steps to create a racially integrated workforce. Ten years later President Nixon wrote The Philadelphia Plan which instated timetables for integration. Soon thereafter Congress passed the Equal Righ ts .Amendment forcing equal consideration of w omen in all aspects of education and profession. The 1978 Supreme Court case, The Regents of the University of Calijornia vs. Allan Bakke, concluded that race may be one of the criteria used in the admission process so long as there arc no quotas or set-asides on the basis of race or ethnicity. Eight years ago the Regents of the University of California imple- mented a policy which mandated the enrollment of a student population that encompassed the cultural diversity of the state of California. How DOES IT AFFECT US? Since the implementation of affirmative action policies in 1988 there has been large shifts in the ethnic composition of the campus. For citizen and immigrant undergraduates, the percentage of Asians (including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, East Indian, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Southeast . ' Ksian, and Pacific Islander) has risen from 25.5% in 1988 to 39.4 ' ' o in 1994. . frican-. ' Kmerican percentages vyhich peaked in 1989 with 7.7% haye dropped to 5.5% in the eight-year period since affirmative action began. The Chicano Latino population has risen from 1 1 .1% to 1 3.8% and Caucasian percentages ha e dropped from 48.5% to 32.4%. Berkeley ' s overall graduation rates have climbed steadily over the past 15 years. Rates for .■ frican-. American and Chicano Latino students are .AFFIRM TI ' F , CTK)N 19