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By Kimberly G. Allain UCLA After Affirmative Action: Who Will Respond to the Needs of African American Students? In 1998 African Americans at UCLA will constitute 1.8% of the incoming freshman class -- down from 6% in 1997. This decline is the direct result of the elimination of affirmative action programs at UCLA. Feelings of anger and frustration overwhelmed me as I faced these grim statistics. I never fully understood the need for affirmative action and society's inability to level the playing field, particularly for the African-American community. Now, I saw the tangible effects of the elimination of affirmative action on UCLA enrollment. What can be done to counteract this trend? I asked myself this question when I attended my first meeting of the Career-Based Outreach Program (CBOP) here at UCLA. CBOP is a campus organization striving to increase the pool of competitive applicants from underrepresented high schools surrounding UCLA. In the past, I often felt that community-based organizations such as CBOP were not doing enough to increase the pool of college applicants from the African American community. Now, with the dismantling of affirmative action, I wondered what they could do to fill the gap. Can groups like CBOP effectively recruit and prepare youth from minority communities for colleges like UCLA? Obviously, these organizations cannot be expected to carry the whole load since there are many cultural and economic problems that block minority students from entering a college preparatory track. However, with the elimination of affirmative action, can community-based programs play an expanded role? To answer these questions, I examined two programs: CBOP at UCLA and A Better Chance, a national organization that has been in existence since 1963. Both groups seek to recruit and prepare minority students for university work. A Better Chance, Inc. is a national organization that has been in existence since 1963. Its goal is to substantially increase the number of well-educated people of color to assume positions of leadership and responsibility in American society. Its track record is phenomenal: 99% of its students enter college upon graduation. It has produced a better record than our public school system. However, it is important to recognize that the group works with students who have already exhibited academic promise and the organization begins working with them in the sixth grade. CBOP, on the other hand, is in its charter stage. Since it is a UCLA-based program, it cannot use race as a factor to determine its outreach efforts; instead it focuses on surrounding schools that have been poorly represented in the university's applicant pool. Like A Better Chance, CBOP targets students who are in the top percentiles academically of their respective grades beginning in junior high school. CBOP's goal is to raise these students' levels of achievement from that of being UC-eligible to being UC-competitive. Because both groups are selective in recruiting participants to their programs, the impact they have cannot always be directly measured through statistical data. In addition, these organizations face obstacles such as legislative efforts to restrict minority admissions through oppressive laws, as well as community problems, especially economic problems. To be successful, these organizations have to remain focused on their overriding goal: to get underrepresented populations into elite universities. They cannot really deal with the numerous social and economic conditions that contribute to the problem of underrepresentation. This limitation, perhaps, underlies my frustrations with these programs. Originally, I had assumed that these organizations could make massive inroads, without really realizing the tremendous obstacles that they face. Another task facing these organizations is simply getting information to prospective candidates. Many minority students have no idea what classes they need to take, where they should be in the college application process, and do not know about the importance of the SAT. CBOP seeks to overcome this challenge by developing an individualized learning plan for each student that includes a rigorous academic schedule, which helps them to prepare for the SAT. Often, African American students are encouraged to enter community colleges or the Cal State system rather than UC campuses. Thus, community-based organizations seeking to prepare youth for elite institutions have to start early in the life of the student to overcome these limiting mindsets. In other words, to be successful, these organizations have to heavily invest in the learning process of each student. This means getting started early in their academic careers and finding effective learning approaches. It also means overcoming the influence of stereotypes associated with group identity. Claude M. Steele, a Stanford University researcher, found that although Black students perform less well on standardized tests and grades when compared to White students, their global self-esteem is as high or higher than that of White students. His findings were reported in the article "A Threat in the Air" in American Psychologist, 1997). Finding effective strategies to promote academic achievement is also important. For example, CBOP's core philosophy is collaborative learning which emphasizes discussion among peers about materials being studied. The approach counteracts the competition inherent in our educational system. In their studies about the importance of collaborative learning, researchers have determined that students who teach what they have learned to other students score high on tests and other traditional academic measures. Also essential to promoting academic achievement is instituting a rigorous academic curriculum. According to Steele, giving challenging work to students conveys respect for their potential as well as overcoming any ability-demeaning stereotypes. I interviewed Ellen Herndon, a CBOP Fellow, to find out her thoughts about the impact of the group on minority college admissions. She believed that the organization can make a difference, especially by instilling collaborative learning concepts in students. "It helps to create an educational process that affects the cultural process of learning," she explained. "It also brings to the forefront alternative educational approaches." However, she emphasized that organizations like CBOP can't be expected to do it all -- we need participation from our government, political leaders, and individual crusaders within their respective institutions. Because of the time commitment and investment that is necessary for each student, groups like CBOP have to limit the number of students enrolled in their programs. They end up becoming an education system of their own without the resources of a public institution. The problem doesn't lie in their approach, but rather in their lack of resources. Thus, these groups cannot be expected to take up the slack for losses experienced as a result of the end of affirmative action. They cannot be expected to do what entire school districts have failed to do. The African-American community has pretty much been summed up by its statistics. Everybody must know at least one "black statistic" -- whether it be the number of black men in California prisons, the number of inner-city black children who grow up without their fathers, or the number of black men who will die by the age of 25. Here's one more statistic to ponder: In the fall of 1997, UCLA enrolled approximately 225 African-American freshman, but due to the elimination of affirmative action, UCLA is expected to enroll only 65 in the fall of 1998. Is it racism or is it the black community's inability to be competitive in the academic community? Well, the scores are scores, but time after time the IQ test, SAT test and the like have proven to be poor indicators of college performance, yet we still accept them without question, despite the preference that they give to the privileged few. These so-called standard measures can be seen as "race-based programs" because they serve to ensure access to higher education for white middle- and upper-class applicants. I am weary of hearing of the failures of my community. I also feel frustrated and disempowered from these discussions. The wealth and richness of intellectual perspectives that exist in my community seems to elude the mainstream because it doesn't know how to value or evaluate them. Is it only groups like CBOP and A Better Chance that recognize these qualities? The idea that only a few children are bright enough to learn is a powerful, unquestioned assumption that structures our perceptions and constrains our actions. Today, this assumption is linked to race, where it is being used to eliminate opportunities in higher education for African American youth. With the end of affirmative action, who will respond to the needs of these youth? (Kimberly G. Allain is a junior majoring in Psychology.)