Alumni Raise $1.75-Million to Attract Black Students to UCLA

As the number of blacks enrolling at the University of California at Los Angeles has dropped, alumni of the institution have raised $1.75-million for scholarships for black students, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Each black freshman, beginning next fall, will receive at least $1,000, and needy or academically talented students could receive up to $9,000 per year for four years, more than they would pay in tuition.

UCLA’s Black Alumni Association spurred fund-raising efforts after college officials announced last summer that only 100 black students, of 4,800 freshmen, would enroll at UCLA.

The Wasserman Foundation, Gilbert Foundation, and Richard Ziman, a real-estate executive, also contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars, the newspaper said.

UCLA will have no role in administering the funds because California’s Proposition 209 bars it from giving students preferential treatment based on race. But university officials said the scholarships will help UCLA compete for black students against private colleges and institutions outside California, which are not bound by the same requirements.