800 Black, Latino students with 4.0 grades and 1200-plus SATs denied admissions

Berkeley, Calif.--The dreary, still weeping sky of El Nino set a somber scene here as the University of California-Berkeley announced that it has admitted 1,079 fewer under-represented minority students for the incoming fall class, with the most substantial decline occurring among African American applicants.

Moreover, among the 4,514 Black, Chicano/Latino, and Native American applicants denied admission for fall 1998, some 800 had grade point averages of at least 4.0 and SAT scores of 1200 or better.

Overall, the university admitted 400 fewer students than it did in 1997, but admission of under-represented students fell precipitously, from 23.1 percent last year to 10.4 percent. The nearly 13 percent decline occurred despite an overall increase in applications, including those from under-represented students.

"I can tell you that, personally, I am very disappointed that our entering class will not better represent the impressive diversity that distinguishes this state," said UC-Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl at a news conference.

Among the 8,034 students whom Berkeley admitted from among nearly 30,000 applicants, 191 are African American, 434 are Chicano, 166 are Latino, and 27 are Native American. Last year, when affirmative action policies were still in place, the institution admitted 562 Blacks, 1,045 Chicanos, 221 Latinos, and 69 Native Americans. University officials blame the decline on the restrictions placed on them by the new affirmative action ban.

"The students to whom we could not offer admission will go to other excellent universities, including other UC campuses, and to prestigious private institutions. This is especially true of high-performing minority students," Berdahl continued. "I believe this will be a loss for Berkeley and, if they leave the state, for the future leadership of California."

Dr. William Banks, a professor of African American Studies here, said the true "horror story is yet to come."