<p>Xiggi - I was thinking of the Merced story as well. Your post - and Calmom's - reminded me of this article on UC Riverside (Jan 2007):</p>
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...UC Riverside, sometimes viewed as a dumping ground for students who can't get into other UC campuses, has become the university of choice for many black and Latino students, whose numbers remain disproportionately low at other UC campuses.</p>
<p>While campuses like UCLA and UC Berkeley struggle to attract students from underrepresented minority groups, UC Riverside increasingly enjoys a reputation as one of the most ethnically diverse research universities in the nation.</p>
<p>"Maybe they should be looking at what UCR is doing right in attracting minorities," said Jayna Brown, an assistant professor of ethnic studies there.</p>
<p>Since 1996, state law has forbidden using race in college admissions. But at Riverside, administrators say they have worked hard over the last decade to reach out to eligible minority applicants, giving financial aid packages to promising students such as Curry, and creating race-based programs to assist minority students once they enroll.</p>
<p>UC Riverside Chancellor France A. Cordova, hailed as the first Latina chancellor in the UC system, notes that more than half the students say Riverside was their first or second choice.</p>
<p>"We are not UC rejects," says Samantha Wilson, 19, a white student who chose Riverside because of its diversity. "We are UC on the rise."</p>
<p>On the campus of 17,000 students, the university's success in achieving a diverse student body is obvious. At midday, the Commons is filled with young people of many ethnic backgrounds, some sitting in mixed groups, some with others of the same heritage.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>"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."</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>By law, UC guarantees a spot for every California high school student who graduates in the top 12.5% statewide.</p>
<p>But there has long been a pecking order among the campuses, with Berkeley and UCLA at the top and Riverside near the bottom.</p>
<p>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...
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