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  Students from five student-run outreach and retention centers on the UC campus gathered in front of California Hall on Thursday afternoon to express their frustration over the state of recruitment and enrollment for minority students at the university, and to present a list of demands to correct what they feel is the problem. 

  “I’m embarrassed to be at a university that prides itself on diversity,” said Dallas Goldtooth, a UC student and member of the Native American Recruitment and Retention Center. “I can no longer do a disservice to my people and tell them to come to a campus that doesn’t respect them.” 

  “The state of black affairs at UC Berkeley is one of emergency,” said Renita Chaney, a student and executive director of the Black Recruitment and Retention Center. “I will not continue to implore my community to face a hostile environment.”  

Figures released Tuesday by the university indicated the source of the protesters’ concerns, showing a severe decline in the number of minority students admitted this year, angering many who say the university and the state have not done their part to create campuses that mirrors the diversity of California. 

  According to the UC Berkeley news center, African American admissions are down 29.2 percent since this time last year, American Indian admissions are down 21.6 percent, and Chicano/Latino admissions are down 7.3 percent. While admissions for students under the broad category of Asian American went up 4.7 percent, the number of students admitted to the university who identify themselves as southeast Asian and Pacific Islander was down 12 percent. White student admissions went up 10.6 percent since last year. 

  The students and their supporters at Thursday’s press conference said they are particularly upset because the state has continually turned its back on outreach programs, forcing students to create and run their own services. 

  The five student centers represented at the press conference—the Native American Recruitment and Retention Center (NARC), the Black Recruitment and Retention Center (BRRC), the Pilipinio Academic Student Services (PASS), Raza Recruitment and Retention Center, the Asian/Pacific Islander Recruitment and Retention Center (REACH)—are all student run and perform a major part of the university’s outreach services. They were joined by bridges, a multicultural resource center. 

  “I do it because the university won’t do it or won’t do it right,” said James Valdez, about his work with Raza. “Instead they reap the benefits. If the university is serious about diversity, the university must start supporting us.” 

  Demands presented by the minority student groups included the appointment of a vice chancellor of minority affairs, active support for policies that support diversity, scholarships for students working with bridges and the student outreach centers, a multicultural student center, and a position for a member of bridges on any university committee that makes decisions concerning outreach and yield.  

Several administrators showed up to the press conference but none spoke. In a later interview, John Cumins, associate chancellor, said the university “was as concerned as [the students] about these unusually low numbers,” and pledged to “certainly take their demands seriously.” 

  Chancellor Robert Berdahl did not attend the press conference but did issue comments in a campus press release. “I am profoundly saddened and disappointed that so many of these students, especially African American students, will not receive the exceptional education and experience that this public institution has to offer,” the statement said. 

  Berdahl, who will retire at the end of the school year, said he will do all he can in his remaining time to ensure that numbers grow in subsequent years. 

  Many of the students at the press conference acknowledged the programs the university does run and said they realized that minority recruitment and enrollment problems are often caused by state policies. Starting with the voter-passed Proposition 209 in 1997, which banned affirmative action in California’s government agencies, the state’s public higher education institutions have faced a series of laws, voter initiatives, board of regents edicts, escalating budget cuts, and other setbacks in recent years that have hurt outreach and retention programs. This year, all monies currently earmarked for state university-sponsored outreach programs are slated to be cut once the governor’s budget passes. 

  Budget cuts, besides hurting outreach programs, also raise fees for students and cut back on the amount of financial aid the university can offer. 

  In 2003, Regent John J. Moores turned the spotlight on UC Berkeley when he released a report criticizing the university’s comprehensive review program, an admissions policy accepted in 2001 by the UC Regents. The policy forced UC admissions departments to look at more than a students SAT scores and grades, as well as to consider the students’ socioeconomic background, talents, extracurricular activities and community involvement. Many saw the program as a legal attempt to take into consideration some of the information that Prop. 209 had banned. 

  In the meantime, minority students say they have had other recruitment help from the university. According to Richard Black, associated vice chancellor of admissions, student recruitment and retention centers receive money from the university’s outreach budget, from Prop. 3, a student ballot initiative that added a fee to student registration, and also get a nominal fee that is usually around $50,000 from the chancellor. Because they are student organizations, the groups also get funding from the student government, the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC). 

  Nonetheless, students at Thursday’s press conference said running the outreach programs often amounts to a full-time job, which takes away from their academics. 

  “Students are really sacrificing their own academic work because they are organizing,” said Lisa Walker, coordinator for the Cross Cultural Student Development office, the office that does multicultural programming on campus. “They are doing tremendous amounts of work because they care about their community.”