Nearby are offices set up by the university to serve targeted groups. There are places for black students, Chicano students, Asian Pacific students, Native American students. There is a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center and a Women's Resource Center. Similar programs exist at many colleges, but the effect is palpable.
"It's the face of California," said Ellen Wartella, UC Riverside executive vice chancellor and provost. "It's not the campus of last resort. It's the place that minority students feel comfortable coming to because we are diverse."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday January 16, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 44 words Type of Material: Correction
UC diversity: An article in Monday's Section A about ethnic diversity at UC Riverside and the University of California reported that about 100 African Americans were admitted to last fall's freshman class at UCLA. UCLA admitted more than 200 African Americans; about 100 enrolled.
This year, the UC Riverside undergraduate student body is 7.1% African American, 43% Asian American, 25.1% Latino and Chicano, and 18.7% white.
In 2005 -- the last year for which system-wide figures are available -- UC student bodies overall were 3.1% African American, 39.9% Asian American, 14.3% Latino and Chicano, and 35.8% white.
Riverside has the highest percentage of African Americans of any of the 10 UC campuses and the highest percentage of Latinos of any UC campus except the small, new Merced campus, which has slightly more.
By law, UC guarantees a spot for every California high school student who graduates in the top 12.5% statewide.
But there has long been a pecking order among the campuses, with Berkeley and UCLA at the top and Riverside near the bottom.
Berkeley and UCLA typically draw students from the top 3% of the state's high school graduates, a pool that is more white and Asian American than California's population as a whole. Riverside draws a more diversified student body, but accepts nearly every eligible student who applies.
Some critics accuse the UC system of racial bias in its admission policies and charge that it funnels minority students to Riverside. Some question why other UC campuses don't look more like Riverside.
"It's separate, but certainly not equal," said Darnell Hunt, a professor of sociology and director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA. "It's the resegregation of the UC system."
UC officials deny that minority students are intentionally steered to any particular campus. The problem starts much earlier, they say, with unequal educational opportunities in California's public schools.
"I want to be careful not to blame the high schools, but not every student has the same access to high-quality education," said Susan Wilbur, director of undergraduate admissions for the UC system.
