Posted on June 30, 2010

Black Freshmen Numbers Up at UC San Diego Despite ‘Compton Cookout’ Controversy

Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2010

Despite much-publicized racial tensions on the campus last semester, UC San Diego has managed to slightly raise its still small numbers of African American freshman for the fall, according to statistics released by the campus Tuesday.

Some students and faculty had feared that black enrollment on the campus could be negatively affected by the “Compton Cookout,” an off-campus party in February that mocked African Americans and led to protests about UC San Diego’s small numbers of black students. That led to extra efforts to recruit African American students without violating the state’s ban on racial affirmative action in college admissions.

Although still less than 2% of the incoming freshman class of 4,206, 68 black students have said they plan to enroll at UC San Diego as freshmen in the fall, up from 50 last year. Among the 2,943 transfer students, 87 are black, up from 46 last year.

Students who described themselves as Asian Americans will make up 48% of the campus’ freshman class; whites 20%, Latinos, 16%; Filipino, 4%. {snip}

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