OAKLAND: University of California Chancellor Ira Michael Heyman apologized for admissions Policies that led to a decline in the Asian undergraduate enrollment,
He was speaking at a press conference here with Asian community leaders on April 6. He pledged to help in changing the entrance requirements but said he could not determine whether officials who made and implemented these policies were intentionally trying to put a ceiling on the enrollment of Asians.
Harvard University and University of California at Los Angeles have also been investigated by the US. Department of Education regarding allegations of such discrimination.
Asian leaders led by a San Francisco Municipal Court judge Lillian Sing, had formed a task force in 1984 to study the effects of admission policies on Asian enrollment.
Community leaders charged that admission policies were intentionally trying to set a ceiling on Asian enrollment. At the press conference, however, they said they were optimistic about putting the issue behind them.
In recent years the number of Asian undergraduates has surged up. They now constitute 26% of all campus enrollments.
The white are said to fear academic competition from Asians, who civil rights activists say, are stereotyped as overachievers.
The UCB Chancellor has also apologized for what he called his administrations insensitive response to concerns raised over the decline in enrollment of Asian students.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 14, 1989
