Minority groups reluctant to attend UC med schools

LOS ANGELES (U-WIRE) - In reaction to decreases in enrollment in University of California medical schools for underrepresented students, the UC Office of the President has created a task force to examine the effects on education and access to health care.

The task force will look into the effect on medical education, access to health care, the reasons for the decline and outreach solutions.

Last year, enrollment for underrepresented students decreased 12.5 percent despite the fact that the number of offers of admission given rose by 30 percent, according to UCOP numbers.

"I think that this year the situation has shown a real disparity between the students admitted and those that chose to enroll," said UC Vice President for Health Affairs Cornelius Hopper, who is heading the task force. "These are obviously qualified people who choose to go elsewhere."

University officials said they are concerned, not only about what effect this drop could have on the education of future physicians, but also what effect this drop will have on access to health care in some minority neighborhoods.

"It's been shown that underrepresented minority physicians tend to locate in underrepresented minority communities," Hopper said. "And by coincidence, these are communities that tend to be underserved."

Although previously unaware of the trend, Mike de la Rocha, the president of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, suggested that one of the reasons for this decline is the atmosphere in the UC system spurred by SP-1, SP-2 and Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action in the UC system.

UC Regent Ward Connerly agreed that some underrepresented students may desire a community more reflective of their own.

"It could be that historically black colleges are having some success," Connerly said. "They're saying 'Come here, you'll have a more friendly environment.'"

"I'm told by students that go to those institutions that it's a very attractive offer," he added.

But Connerly, one of the main proponents of SP-1 and SP-2, said the decline is not primarily due to any changed environment in the university caused by the end of affirmative action, which didn't happen until 1995 - two years after the trend began.

Rather, Connerly said increased avenues for underrepresented students are perhaps more of a reason for this decline.

"Black kids, for example, may not be as interested in the profession," Connerly said. "Now with people trying to get black kids to go into engineering and the computer sciences - there are more avenues open."

Student Regent Michelle Pannor said one of the reasons underrepresented students might not be enrolling is that the university may not be able to provide as much financial aid as other private and public universities.

"The reason they're not coming is not because they think we have bad medical centers," Pannor said. "It must have something to do with the affordability."

But, according to Gerald Levey, the dean of the UCLA Medical School and provost of medical sciences, the fees at UC medical schools are a bargain compared with many private medical schools. In addition, officials at UCLA are working to further increase the amount of money available for financial aid, Levey said.

"We now have our overall endowment pool for scholarships approaching $37 million," he said.

According to Levey, the number of underrepresented students at UCLA has not followed the trend that exists in the UC system.

"This year we had three more underrepresented minorities than we had last year. We also have more underrepresented minorities than any other school in the UC system," Levey said.

Of the 121 new students attending medical school at UCLA, 26 are underrepresented minorities.

Presidents from both the undergraduate and graduate student governments said they would address the decreasing enrollments. De la Rocha brought the matter up at Tuesday's USAC meeting.

Dora Cervantes, the president of UCLA's Graduate Students Association, said she is committed to improving outreach efforts for graduate students.

"One of GSA's priorities for this year will be improving outreach methods and highlighting the importance of addressing these issues," Cervantes said.

Hopper said that the rest of the members of the task force will be announced early next week.

The task force will consist of representatives from all the UC medical schools as well as others who could contribute to the study.

"We're looking for individuals who have experience in admissions, outreach and education," Hopper said.

Cervantes said the study should include input from graduate and professional students.

Hopper said he anticipates the task force will finish its study and have a report for the UC president by spring.

10-15-99