UCLA Study Finds Blacks Are Vastly Underrepresented in California Higher Education

A new study by researchers at the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles presents evidence that African Americans remain grossly underrepresented in the state’s higher education system. Among the findings of the study:

• The underrepresentation of blacks in higher education in California is a result of historic, systemic, and persistent racial inequalities in the state’s K-12 educational system.

• The state’s system of higher education is largely segregated by race.

• Proposition 209, which bans the consideration of race in college admissions, has had a disproportionate negative impact on African Americans.

• The current state budget crisis is disproportionately impacting African-American opportunities in higher education in California.

Walter Allen, Allan Murray Cartter Professor of Higher Education at UCLA and coauthor of the report, warns, “The diminished, declining opportunities for blacks and other underrepresented students of color in California higher education threaten the state’s economic, democratic and cultural vibrancy. Failure to offer equitable opportunities not only places African Americans at risk, it risks America’s future.”

The report — Till Victory Is Won: The African-American Struggle for Higher Education in California — can be downloaded by clicking here.

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