 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
July 26 - August 1, 2002
|
|
|
Exiles, Students Urge Divestment From BurmaUC investments support military abuse, activists sayBy Andrew Chow
|
Critics Question UC’s New Admissions System |
|
Attorneys at the Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation, a public-interest, nonprofit law firm, are looking into allegations that the University of California’s new admissions system favors low-income Hispanic students over similarly disadvantaged whites and Asians. “We are anxious to hear from student applicants who might have questions about what’s going on and how they might have been treated,” said Harold Johnson, a Legal Foundation attorney. Questions about the new system, implemented this spring, arose after some low-income Asian Pacific American high-school students with near-perfect SAT scores were denied admission to UC campuses such as Los Angeles and Berkeley, while poor Hispanics with lower SAT scores were admitted. At UCLA, Hispanic admissions increased 9 percent this year over 2001 while APA admissions declined slightly, The Wall Street Journal reported July 12. White admissions at UCLA fell 7 percent with the new system. Under California’s Proposition 209, approved by voters in 1996, the UC system cannot give preference to racial or ethnic groups in its admissions process. “Though they’re giving the impression that they’re looking at the whole person, really this has been about getting more Hispanics into the system,” said David Benjamin, an SAT-preparation instructor in Irvine who has spoken publicly against the new admissions criteria. In addition to low income, the new criteria takes into account “life obstacles” such as familial hardships and attending underachieving high schools. But despite the new criteria, APA students still comprise about 40 percent of the UC system’s enrollment, compared to Hispanics who comprise about 12 percent. By contrast, California’s population is about 11 percent Asian and one-third Hispanic, according to the 2000 census. Johnson criticized the new admissions policy’s “murkiness.” “It’s a tax-supported university, and they should be letting taxpayers and applicants know what criteria they’re using and how they weigh these criteria,” he said. The Legal Foundation is also investigating whether racial preferences are being used in the admissions process. “Students with a strong academic background are losing out to those with weak academic backgrounds, and the only difference appears to be race,” Johnson said. Anyone affected by the new admissions policy can contact Johnson at the Pacific Legal Foundation, 916-362-2833, or visit the foundation’s website at www.pacificlegal.org. — Andrew Chow |
David S. Lee of Morgan Hill, an investment committee member and the only Asian Pacific American on the Board of Regents, did not return calls seeking comment.
Though the students called on all regents to support the divestment, such change will not come from the goodness of the regents’ hearts, Zarni said.
“They usually go with this ‘bottom line’ mentality — profit at any cost,” he said. “A lot of them have business backgrounds and are beholden to the oil industry. You can’t expect hardcore businessmen to take a moral stand on an issue like this.”
Though the University of California was among the first universities to divest from South Africa in protest of apartheid, the plight of Burmese people is more difficult for Americans to understand, said Zarni, who has received political asylum in the United States.
“Part of it is, they’re not paying much attention to what’s going on in Burma, and we don’t have the organic tie with the United States the way the South African blacks had,” Zarni said.
The issue is also a personal one for Zarni, who hasn’t spoken to his family in Burma for over a decade. Zarni’s father had to denounce his son’s anti-government views or risk retribution.
The divestment campaign, which started about two years ago in California, began with calls from Burma’s democratically elected leadership, including Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest in 1991.
Suu Kyi has maintained that investment by foreign corporations in Burma only helps the military regime remain in power.
“A lot of people in positions of influence and power ... they think they can get away with a lot of things. That includes moral indignation,” Zarni said. “Until the grassroots campaign picks up momentum and different segments of California call on them — like in the case of the South Africa apartheid movement — they won’t take action.”
Still, Zarni remains hopeful that the regents will divest from Unocal and Total within the next year. The Los Angeles trial’s outcome will likely encourage divestment, he expects.
“When their reputation is at risk, when their pocketbooks are shrinking, then they will pay attention,” Zarni said, adding the regents “may be good Americans, but they’re also business executives who respond only to the bottom-line language.
“It’s sad that the only thing they would allow to influence their decision is the bottom line, other than any other human consideration,” he continued. “We’re trying to grasp at their humanity. At least that’s something we have to try.”
Feature | National | Bay Area | Business
Sports | Arts & Entertainment | Opinion