U.S. Probing Possible Asian Bias at UCLA, UC Berkeley

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating allegations that UCLA and UC Berkeley discriminate against Asian-American students in their admissions practices or policies, it was disclosed Thursday.

Gary L. Curran, an official in the department’s civil rights office, who is coordinating the investigation, said in an interview Thursday from Washington that the UCLA probe was prompted by news reports and complaints by civil rights advocacy groups that the university may be limiting Asian-American enrollment through informal quotas.

Curran said UCLA was notified last January that the department would open a “compliance review” to determine if the institution was violating federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin or sex. The review will also encompass other aspects of admissions policies, he said.

Curran said the Berkeley investigation, by contrast, resulted from specific complaints about admission practices. He said there have been a number of complaints, some of which have been resolved but others of which are still being examined.

Last year, California’s auditor general’s office examined charges against UC Berkeley, but it did not find a clear-cut pattern of discrimination against Asian-American students.

In June, the federal Education Department also informed officials of Harvard University that its admissions policies will be reviewed for fairness toward Asian-American students and other groups.

Withdraw Funds

If a violation is found, the Education Department could take away department funds that have been awarded to the universities but not other federal monies. Curran said he did not know how much the schools receive from the department.

Curran said about half a dozen colleges have lost Education Department funds in the last 10 years for failing to comply with federal anti-discrimination laws.

Education Department officials are in the process of gathering information on admissions at the universities and will schedule visits to each campus.

UCLA spokesman Harlan Lebo said: “We are certainly aware of the review. We consider it a review. We are working with the (Education Department’s) office of civil rights on the issue.”

A spokesman for UC Berkeley, Ray Colvig, said he was not aware of an investigation by the Education Department into the institution’s admissions policies. But he said that because of previous allegations by Asian-American groups, the university has initiated a series of internal reviews to ensure that its admissions practices and policies do not result in discrimination against any group.

Last January, UC Berkeley Chancellor Ira Michael Heyman apologized for the university’s handling of allegations of anti-Asian discrimination in freshman admissions procedures. Heyman stressed that he was not conceding that campus officials try to limit the number of Asian freshmen but said he and his staff should have reacted to allegations in a quicker and more sensitive manner.

The controversy over UC admissions has been simmering for several years and has been confronted on several fronts within the Legislature and the university.

The situation is complicated by intensified competition for UC admission among all ethnic groups, which have flooded the system with applications, in part because of its relatively low cost compared to private institutions.

Competition is so stiff that UC Berkeley rejected 2,150 Asian and white students with perfect 4.0 high school grade-point averages last year. About 26% of UC Berkeley undergraduates are Asian, more than four times their state population percentage. Asian activists contend that even more Asians would be enrolled if whites did not fear academic competition from Asians, who they say are stereotyped as overachieving bookworms.

In October, a report by the state auditor general found that Anglo students appear to have a slightly easier time than Asians in being admitted to UC Berkeley, but it found no evidence of overt anti-Asian bias.

Asian-Americans make up 20.7% of the current freshman class at UCLA, an increase of 4.5% over 1985.

Blacks and Latinos are considered under-represented and remain eligible for affirmative-action admissions outside the stiffest of competition. Because of the high rate at which Asian-American high school students qualify for college, Asian-Americans are not considered an “under-represented minority” and thus compete with Anglo students for regular admissions.

Some Asian-American educators, angered by reports of Asian-American high school graduates with perfect grade-point averages who were rejected by UC Berkeley or UCLA, have been concerned that admissions practices or guidelines may be unfair to Asian-American students, resulting in the denial of admission to highly qualified applicants.