Black Students at Berkeley:
Still Way Below the Level Prevailing Before the Ban on Affirmative Action Admissions

The University of California at Berkeley has released its final enrollment figures for the fall 2008 semester. There are 889 black undergraduate students on campus this fall. They make up 3.5 percent of the more than 25,000 undergraduates at Berkeley. Of the 889 black students, 547, or 61.5 percent, are women.

Berkeley reports that there are 328 black graduate students on campus this fall. They make up 3.2 percent of all graduate students at Berkeley. Of the 328 black graduate students, 201, or 61.3 percent, are women.

Berkeley’s updated numbers show 146 black freshmen on campus this year, up 10 from a year ago. Blacks are 3.4 percent of the first-year class.

There are also 73 black students who transferred to Berkeley this fall. They make up 3.6 percent of all transfer students.

In the years before race-sensitive admissions were banned at Berkeley, blacks were on average more than 6 percent of all students.