PluralNet is an informational platform that serves to  heighten the awareness of the campus community and the public about the important efforts made by student groups and administration to maintain and increase student diversity at the University of California, Los Angeles.  At UCLA, diversity is key to achieving excellence.  This site is a resource for students, faculty, staff, and the community who are interested in outreach and diversity issues at UCLA.

 

In the wake of new policies by the University of California (UC) Regents (SP-1 and SP-2), the passage of California Proposition 209, and the drop in the numbers of historically underrepresented students particularly at the UCLA and UCB (Berkeley) campuses, the PluralNet team set out to find ways to address student diversity at UCLA.  Through research and interviews with student and administrative leaders, we realized that increasing awareness of just what both groups were doing in this area was critical.  This website is a synopsis of our findings.

Rather than joining the debate on affirmative action, we have come to the conclusion that the matter of a diverse campus at our nation's most prestigious universities is complex and achievable.   We set out with the goal of improving communication between some UCLA student groups and administration (in the wake of campus protests regarding Proposition 209).  We believe that one way to achieve this would be to present the varied efforts and projects currently undertaken by these groups in an unbiased format.  Student diversity in higher education is a debate frought with both myth and reality, passionate opinions and hard facts.  Most agree in the goal of a diverse campus, but there is vast disagreement on the means of getting there.  What is often missing are the commonalities - the essential shared truths that most of those involved agree on and believe in.

Our focus here is specifically on UCLA.  While much of what you'll read here is important, our most significant conclusion - one supported by both UCLA student leaders and administration - is that diversity and excellence can and do coexist.  In fact at UCLA, the last 20 years will attest to the fact that diversity is a crucial ingredient to creating excellence in the first place.

Other Significant Findings

• The meaning of "outreach" and "community service" is interpreted somewhat differently by student organizations and campus administration.

• Student organizations and campus administration are involved with a variety of outreach programs in an effort to increase and maintain diversity at UCLA and across the UC system.

• Some student organizations are advocating for legislative changes, specifically a new initiative that would overturn Proposition 209 and the repeal of SP-1 and SP-2 by the UC Regents.

• Often the primary focus of student groups' outreach efforts is college eligibility and their particular community.  Often the primary focus of administrative outreach efforts focuses on UC eligibility, and at UCLA and UCB the focus is even narrower on students being "competitively admissible".  For a more thorough discussion of this point, click Similar Goals - Slightly Different Focus.