UCLA SEES DROP IN BLACKS, LATINOS; MINORITIES FEEL UNWANTED, ADMISSIONS OFFICIAL SAYS.

Byline: Mary F. Pols Daily News Staff Writer

The University of California regents' order to dismantle affirmative action policies doesn't go into effect for the system's undergraduate admissions office until fall 1998, but UCLA officials said Friday the freshman class this autumn already will reflect the change, with significant drops in some minority enrollment.

UCLA expects an 8.3 percent drop in African-American enrollment and an 18.5 percent drop for Latinos, said Rae Lee Siporin, director of Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools. However, Asian enrollment continues to grow, she said.

The decline in admissions is a direct reflection of diminished numbers of minority applicants, she said. Latino applications dropped 3.6 percent and African-American applications dropped 8.6 percent.

Siporin blames that drop on the regents' 1995 vote to end UC's affirmative action policy and the November passage of Proposition 209, which prohibits preferences for race or gender.

``My sense is from what we were hearing from students was that they felt the university was no longer interested in having minority enrollment,'' Siporin said. ``It is kind of hard to counter the kind of policy position the regents have taken and the students' perception that they aren't wanted.''

She said well-publicized drops in minority admissions at UC's professional schools - particularly UCLA's law school and Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law - also may be affecting some students' desire to attend the undergraduate school.

Regent Ward Connerly, leader of the movement to eliminate racial preferences, took issue with the UCLA official's comments.

``This is such horse rubbish,'' Connerly said. ``I hope we are not giving them comp time for all the extra time they are spending on spinning this story to portray these numbers in such a way as to suggest that we switch our position.''

``As a regent I'm getting sick and tired of it,'' he added. ``We passed the policy and we're not changing it.''

If students aren't applying because they don't feel welcome, Connerly said, that isn't the university's problem to solve.

``That's their problem,'' he said. ``I don't want to sound harsh, but nobody who is qualified to go to UCLA has any legitimate excuse to say, `I didn't apply because I didn't feel welcome.' ''

UCLA's minority admissions numbers are not reflective of the overall University of California system, although fewer African-Americans and Latinos applied or were admitted to the UC system for fall 1997.

Undergraduate applications, previously reported by the nine-campus system, dropped from 2,305 to 2,112, down 8.4 percent, for African-American students. For Latinos, the numbers fell 4 percent from 7,191 to 6,906.

Admissions, released Friday, totaled 1,531 for African-Americans, down 6 percent from the 1,628 admitted in 1996. Latino admissions fell half a percent from 5,744 to 5,715.

Admissions officials at UC's central office downplayed the decreases, choosing instead to emphasize ``statement of intent to register,'' or the number of students who plan to take UC up on its offer.

In a statement released Friday, the Office of the President of the UC system said minority enrollment showed gains throughout the nine-campus system. Of the African-American students admitted, 64.3 percent plan to enroll, up from 57.4 percent last year.

``These increases suggest that undergraduate minority students continue to find the university a welcoming environment,'' said UC President Richard C. Atkinson.

But Siporin said admissions officers at UCLA who were out talking to high school seniors kept hearing the same fears expressed by minority students.

``What students are saying is, `What does this mean, it seems like the university really doesn't want us,' '' said Siporin. ``I believe, although I can't prove it, that this was a misperception that a lot of under-represented students had.''

Having worked in the admissions office since 1979, she said she is dismayed that years of working toward diversity may go down the drain.

``We've spent a long time trying to get a class that was more reflective of the face of the state,'' she said. ``We kind of thought we had just gotten there.''

UCLA Latino Alumni Association President Christine Flores said she is reluctant to attribute the drop in Latino applications purely to the coming end of affirmative action in the UC system. But she said Friday's numbers are still cause for alarm.

``From our standpoint it is kind of a wakeup call for us, as alumni, to get out there and show kids that UCLA really is an institution that competes, where you can get a better education in many cases than at an Ivy League college,'' Flores said.

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chart: UCLA freshman admissions