A New Take On Affirmative Action

(CBS)  UCLA has good reason to cheer - for a victory off the field: A modest, but hard-won battle to reverse a slide in African American enrollment.

Brittany Carraby is the face of change.

"I always dreamt of being here, but when you're finally here in the moment it sort of feels surreal" she told CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.

Black enrollment at UCLA and other elite California universities went into freefall a decade ago after the culture clash over Proposition 209, which made California the first state to outlaw affirmative action and made a household name of its controversial sponsor, Ward Connerly.

When the number of black freshmen dropped below 100 last year - out of a class of almost 5,000 - UCLA went into crisis mode.

"I was shocked beyond belief that it could get this bad" said alumnus Peter Taylor.

Taylor, a stock broker, led the charge. He got other black alums to donate more than $1 million for scholarships. UCLA student mentors fanned out to inner city schools; the university actively pursued qualified black applicants, like Brittany, who graduated first in her high school class.

As a result, twice as many African Americans entered this year's freshman class.

"If you really believe in diversity, if you really believe in opportunity for all people, you need to figure out a process, a method by which to make that happen," Taylor said.

The controversy over race and education that's been plaguing UCLA for 10 years may have started in California, but it's not stopping there.

In Oklahoma before a football game, volunteers got signatures for an anti-affirmative action bill - part of Ward Connerly's latest drive to make it law in five more states and eventually the whole country.

"You'd have to be living on another planet not to realize that an era is ending here," Connerly said.

While at UCLA another is beginning, holding onto a tradition of excellence and diversity in a post-affirmative action world.

[fiteit1]

Who sold the whites slaves to begin with? We may recall learning about the arrival of twenty "Negars" at Jamestown, Virginia in 1619, where they were put to work growing tobacco. The whites don''t owe the blacks for what happen over 200 years ago any more than the US owes the Japanese for internment camps or the Indians for stealing there land. Retribution has been paid and time has passed, GET OVER IT. Time to move on. All programs should be gender, religious, color neutral. But I still think we shouldn''t have fat flight attendants, I just don''t want it in my face when they turn around.

[cyd602]

When are we going to get rid of ''legacy points'' for admission. You know... one of the Affirmative Action vehicles for ''white folks''.

[xzavierbrown]

I beleive that a person has to work hard to earn a privilage..
the drop in african american enrollment is largely due that they cannot pass the necessary collegiate requirements..

so lets lower the standard..hell lets take the standard out..and all you have to be is non-white.

asians are not dependent on hand outs like afirmative action, they understand that from the begginning you have to work hard. you go out in the world..you are ready..

I prefer that any merits are earned and not handed out...

[hey_denise1]

If whites feel their is a hypocrisy in programs designed to help African Americans, but ignore White Americans then why don''t they organize and start their on programs. Exactly who is stopping them .........???? The government backs these programs for blacks because the government owes it to us because they are the same government that at one time supported and fostered our forced servitude that explains many of reasons we were and and continue to fall behind whites in many areas. After the abolition slavery the government continuted to support a systems that unfairly denied us access to opportunities many whites had and casually allowed discrimination to take place. If whites have a problem with the fact that there are no programs to help them, then whites need to do something about it!

[oorfenegro]

If merit and test scores are the only factors that should determine college admission, should admissions be on a first come, first admitted basis with grades and test scores the only admission factors? Here in California it''s been estimated that if grades and test scores were the only admission factors, nearly all the freshmen at the 10 University of California campuses would be Asian American. How does a meritocracy only admission policy impact recruitment of top football & basketball players at Michigan, Oklahoma and the other top rated public football and basketball schools. Most public schools reserve spots for athletes and to be admitted all they have to do is to meet the university''s minimum admission requirements. Most athletes would not be admitted if they had to compete with applicants with much higher test scores and GPAs. This would put state schools at a disadvantage because USC, Notre Dame and other private schools can admit students regardless of grades and test scores, and they only have to meet NCAA minimum academic admission requirement. Sports fans in Oklahoma, Arizona, Indiana and other sports crazy states would not be happy if top recruits were subjected to a strict meritocracy admission policy. Studies show that the increased violence in society is linked to the lack of male teachers. What%u2019s wrong with an affirmative action program to recruit more males, including Black males, into the teaching profession?

[fiteit1]

I want to see an organization for the Disadvantaged White Male, maybe a AAWP, White Panthers, a group of white alumni pool money together for a White kids scholarships, does anyone see the hypocrisy here?

cmp271, makes good point, merit and intelligence and I would include financial necessity. Hard work at obtaining a scholarship shows drive in wanting to advance their education and maybe become a valuable asset to an employer or start their own business. After all even the stupid and lazy know not to pass up a free ride.

[cmp271]

Affirmative Action is no longer needed. It is the responsibility of the person anymore to have the initiative to go to school. Pell Grants are available to everyone-as long as you qualify. Or do like the rest of us do, use student loans. Affirmative Action has given the idea to blacks everything should be handed to you. You have to work for what you have. It should be on merit and intelligence why someone is hired,and accepted in to any college or University, not because they fill a quota.
This idea has hurt alot of technology based industry as they hire unqualified blacks to fill a quota. Even Xerox dumbed down its entry test, as have other companies and even necessary civil service positions such as for firemen and police.

I agree Affirmative Action has to go. It is equal now. This only gives more of an advantage to unqualified applicants companies are forced to hire.

[flreason]

Actually, Pell grants and loans are not available to everyone. The number of grants are limited, and students have to be credit-worthy to receive low interest loans--not easy for many from low-income families.

The selfish rich often justify their stinginess by citing cases of unworthy people who have conned the system. They don''t see the hypocracy that many of them have circumvented or broken the law and reaped financial rewards. Think of Haliburton, companies that hire illegal aliens, Enron, etc. The leaders of those companies are many of the same people who support tax cuts that favor their class at the expense of public education and public health funding. They don''t have the wisdom to see that neglecting the common good destroys the upward mobility that fuels our economy and our democracy. The concept of enlightened self-interest is beyond their profit-sheet focused mentality.

Kudos to people like Taylor, Gates, and Buffett, who recognize that privilege also demands responsibility...and humanity.

[drtexas1]

Hooray for Mr. Taylor! This is the way traditional scholarships have always been created.
The young lady profiled is not a good example; as she would have qualified for many academic scholarships already.
Pell grants, and loans are available to everyone. There are many grants out there that are not claimed each year. It just takes a little work to find, and apply for them. Affirmative action was a nice little start, but now, all should be equal.

[cfcrta]

no set asides make it on your own merits period /anti affirmitive action here unless same and equal policies for whites