UCSD and Racism

I thought I would use my forum to post a couple comments on a UCSD professor's comments on the Compton Cookout

After a quick introduction, Prof Yang rolls out this,

We have a 1.3% African-American student enrollment, not simply because of poor admissions, but because admitted students don’t choose to come to UCSD. Only about 1.3% of admitted African-American students come to UCSD (compare to 44% at UCLA).

I'll be comparing UCSD to UCLA a lot as
Sentences like these caused Mark Twain to say, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics." Gross misuse of statistics without context is intellectual dishonesty and this sentence highlights how statistics can be manipulated to make a point.

I'd love to know the number of white students that attend UCLA, one of the most prestigious universities in the nation, once accepted. UCSD is just not the same as UCLA. Next, let's consider the sample size of the statistic. In 2006 (I'm using 2006 numbers because they were the easiest to find), UCLA admitted 92 total black people. Now, I'm going to subtract 12 people off those 92 for athletic scholarships leaving us with 80 people who choose UCLA for non-athletic reasons. If we assume the 44% rate at which black people choose UCLA, that means only 181 black people applied to UCLA. So the argument that black people are beating down UCLA's door to get in while flatly rejecting UCSD for being racist is false. UCLA is 3% black (with a full D1 athletic department), UCSD is 2% black.

The author goes on and on about the "toxic campus atmosphere" yet fails to provide examples of what makes the campus atmosphere toxic. He offers a couple "solutions," lets look at them now.

1. Implement the Yield Report recommendations. It didn't show on the first page of my google search so skipped.

2. Put some teeth into the diversity office. Currently, the Chief Diversity Officer is a 50% position with no budget, no staff, and no formal power. Upgrade it to a Vice Chancellorship and equip it with a staff and budget. Such offices at UCLA and UC Berkeley are able to provide material support for research, teaching, and student affairs. They can take a preventive approach to racial incidents on campus. (This recommendation can also be found on page 10 of the Yield Report.) But don’t stop there. Give this office wide reform powers over all units on the campus, and we will gain at least one institutionalized motor for bridging the gap between the rhetoric and the reality of diversity.

Ok, So we should laugh that he considers an office that would somehow magically prevent racial incidents a solution "with teeth." I'd like to know what the office planned to do if they knew about the Compton Cookout, an off campus non-affiliated party, beforehand. What would they have done? Started the protests a couple days early? Theres nothing this office would have been able to do which is why it's so dumb to tout this as a "solution."

4. Create a committed commission on campus climate.
This reminds me of the Simpsons episode where the townspeople are mad about something and the mayor promises to form a commission and Marge excitedly asks, "A blue ribbon commission?!?!" Yeah, a commission will do as much as the Diversity office to prevent racial incidents.

The claim I would like answered is where is all this evidence of institutionalized racism within UCSD? If you're going to claim UCSD has a pattern of racism, where and when? What did the university do wrong? What opportunities were missed? Yes, people made a racist joke but people everywhere make racial jokes. People notice race and highlight the differences between them and do make jokes about it. Take a deep breath and relax.

I just don't see any examples of the university creating a toxic atmosphere or messing up in any way.