Minority and White EnrollmentUp at University of California

BERKELEY, Calif. — The number of Black and Hispanic students admitted to the University of California (UC) rebounded in the second year without affirmative action, an increase credited to strong recruitment and a more comprehensive application review.
Figures released earlier this month show the number of underrepresented minorities — Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians — admitted to all eight undergraduate campuses this fall is only 27 students short of the number admitted in fall 1997, the last year race could be considered. (See charts)
"The gloom and doom that was being preached by the proponents of preferences was grossly premature," says Ward Connerly, the UC regent who led the fight to stop considering race in admissions.
The university hasn't made a complete recovery. Underrepresented minorities haven't regained their 1997 class share because the numbers of Whites and Asians also went up, and the flagship Berkeley campus is still well below 1997 underrepresented minority totals. But the overall picture was cheered as a positive step.
"We have to focus on progressing from what might be considered a low point in 1998 and moving forward, hopefully going higher and reverting back to what we had in the past," says Carla Ferri, UC director of admissions.
But despite the improvement, affirmative action supporter Dr. Pedro Noguera, an ethnic studies professor at Berkeley, says the figures don't come close to reflecting California's racial makeup. Hispanics, for example, comprise 29 percent of the state population but only 12 percent of the university's fall 1999 admissions.
"We have a long way to go," Noguera says.

MINNEAPOLIS — A key figure in the investigation into alleged academic fraud in the University of Minnesota men's basketball program has been granted disability leave from his job as the team's academic counselor.
Alonzo Newby's attorney, Ron Rosenbaum, says Newby is suffering from stress-related problems over allegations that he played a role in helping players cheat on tests, term papers, and other assignments.
In a message on his office voice mail, Newby tells callers he will be out of the office for at least two weeks.
Rosenbaum says Newby asked for time off "pursuant to a doctor's recommendation." He would not say whether Newby had consulted a psychiatrist, psychologist, or medical doctor.
"He's been having a difficult time coping, as you might guess," Rosenbaum says. "This has probably been the most difficult time in Alonzo's life."
University spokespeople withheld comment on Newby's status pending guidance from the institution's lawyers, who were unavailable.
The university has hired outside attorneys to investigate allegations of NCAA rules violations that initially came from Jan Gangelhoff, the former men's athletic department office manager who has said she did papers and other course work for at least 19 Gopher players over a five-year period. Gangelhoff's sister, Jeanne Payer, later said Newby delivered $3,000 in cash for Gangelhoff last summer, allegedly as payment for her tutoring. And late last month, graduate student Alexandra Goulding said that on her first day tutoring basketball players in 1995, Newby watched as she wrote a paper for former player Courtney James. (See Black Issues, April 1, and April 15, 1999) 
Brian Berube, a former academic counselor who once worked with basketball players, has met with investigators and told them about an incident in which men's basketball coach Clem Haskins and an assistant berated him in a letter after he forwarded suspicions about academic cheating by a basketball player in 1995.