Lack Of Diversity At UC Berkeley Creates Angry White Males

Activists call for new chancellor who will boost lagging minority representation

Michelle Maitre, San Mateo County Times Online, May 6

BERKELEY — A new group has emerged to further the fight for diversity at University of California, Berkeley, and they’ve got the snazzy white T-shirts and the bold new slogan to prove it.

Admittedly, though, these aren’t your usual suspects.

One is a former Marine and others are athletes, fraternity brothers, engineering students and economists. At least one is a Republican, another claims Independent status and says both major political parties are “crazy,” and many say they aren’t particularly fans of affirmative action.

Plus, they’re all white. And male.

They are also united in the belief that the campus isn’t doing enough to attract a diverse pool of qualified students, and they want to lean on UC administrators to hire a new chancellor who has a proven track record for fostering campus diversity. It’s a timely message, since officials are conducting a national search for someone to replace Chancellor Robert Berdahl, who retires in June.

The students also want to monkey with traditional stereotypes holding that only rabid liberals and minority groups care about campus diversity.

“When the recent admissions data was released, we all realized it was a pretty big travesty,” said Adam Borelli, a political economy major and, as it turns out, a member of California Young Democrats. “We just couldn’t understand why the admission rates for minorities would go down. It seems counter-intuitive to me.”

The students came together a couple of weeks ago after UC Berkeley released its fall 2004 admissions data, which showed a marked decline in the number of underrepresented minorities, especially black students, who gained admittance.

UC Berkeley admitted only 211 black students in the fall, out of a class of 8,887. It was a 29 percent decrease from the 298 black students admitted last year. In fall 1997, UC Berkeley admitted 562 black students.

Admission numbers for Latino and American Indian students also declined.

Borelli and other like-minded young white men began talking about the numbers they called “dismal” and “startling.” They met through classes and campus organizations and formed a loose coalition that numbers about 20.

They ordered T-shirts: “Overrepresented,” was printed on the front; “White male for diversity,” was splashed across the back.

On Wednesday, a dozen of them gathered outside Kroeber Hall to share their concerns.

“When we were freshmen, it was a much different environment,” said Michael Minkus, a political economy major who says he doesn’t see as many black faces around campus as he did when he started five years ago. “We’ve seen the change.”

Minkus said students benefit from meeting people from different backgrounds.

Student Marc Salomon says the group’s effort isn’t about bringing back affirmative action programs, which have been barred by a state voter initiative. Rather, he said, the campus needs new ideas to attract the qualified students he knows are out there.

“I want the university to be as diverse as the world,” Salomon said. “I feel there are a lot of qualified applicants who got overlooked.”

The group has a list of ideas for improving Berkeley’s diversity, including restoring funding to campus outreach programs that help prepare disadvantaged students. Other ideas include getting rid of the SAT in admissions decisions, citing data that show that poor students tend to score lower on the test, regardless of academic prowess, and refining the comprehensive review admissions policy to try to draw a more diverse pool.

They also want to join forces with other student groups.

So far, the students said response to their efforts has been overwhelmingly positive.

“I don’t think anyone should be surprised that we’re out here,” said Jason Siegel, who spent four years as an infantryman in the Marine Corps before enrolling at Berkeley five years ago. “I think increasing diversity is something that a lot of people believe in, and it’s something that’s even patriotic.”