Diversity groups advise in absence of affirmative action
October 30, 2002
For students on campus and across the nation, Oct. 30 will be a day to teach about racial inequality in American education.
On National Take Affirmative Action Day, college students and organizations will campaign for increased effort in recruiting and retaining minority students.
Iowa State has an extensive policy concerning diversity and equality within its programs, said President Gregory Geoffroy.
Geoffroy appointed the President’s Committee on Diversity Matters, which advises him on aspects of diversity.
“While I believe we have a good record in issues of diversity, I know that we can and should do more,” he said. “I am counting on this committee to represent our university as well as the community in which we live and to provide good advice to me and my leadership team on a variety of diversity issues.”
Iowa State’s Equal Opportunity and Diversity program was established on July 1, 2002, to handle discrimination issues and conduct investigations.
There are more than 60 multicultural campus organizations that provide and promote an environment of diversity on campus, said Jason Smolka, president of the Mexican-American Youth Achievers Society.
Nicholas Centino, program director for the Student of Color Campus Diversity Project in Washington, said enrollment of black students decreased dramatically in universities where affirmative action was eliminated.
At UCLA, African-American enrollment dropped 42 percent between 1995 and 2000, he said.
In 2000, UCLA admitted only two African-Americans out of a class of 300, and at UC Berkeley, Latino enrollment dropped 40 percent between 1995 and 2000, Centino said.
Affirmative action places emphasis on more than race alone, he said.
“The reality is that modern affirmative action programs take race, gender or ability as one factor in many,” Centino said. “Affirmative action also means recruiting students from communities that are unlikely to send students to higher education and provide services to help retain students from communities that are in the most danger of dropping out.”
