The Latino Eligibility Taskforce: A Strategic Intervention to Expand the Latina/Latino Educational Pipeline into the University of California

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 11:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Our Presence Is Not Inevitable: Reflecting on Chicana/o Interventions at The University of California

Abstract

In the mid 1990’s Latino students became the numerical majority of K-12 public school enrollments in California. However, less than 4% graduated from high school having completed the requirements that would have made them eligible to attend the University of California (UC). Across the state, 12.3% of all high school graduates were eligible to attend the UC. Scholars noted that the Latino population was growing at a much faster rate than any other ethnic group and the profound underrepresentation threatened the economic and social mobility of California and the nation (Hayes-Bautista, Chapa, Schnick, 1988). Consequently, in 1992, former UC President David P. Gardner formed The Latino Eligibility Task Force (1993-1997) to examine the problems Latino students face and to recommend ways to expand their eligibility and participation in the University of California system. The result was a multiyear, transdisciplinary, and systemwide development of five comprehensive reports that delivered research, data analysis, interventions, and recommendations for the University of California community.

As we approach the 33-year anniversary of the establishment of The Latino Eligibility Taskforce, its history, influence, and contributions remain buried in archives. Since then, much has changed across the higher education landscape for Latinos, but the core issues from the 1990’s remain the same across the UC system. Latinos are still the largest growing population, enrollment and retention change minimally (depending on the UC campus), the Latino student experience is disparate and vastly different on each campus, and some UC campuses carry the critical HSI designation while others do not. This presentation reflects on the strategic interventions proposed by The Latino Eligibility Task Force and recalls the unapologetic vision to ensure a UC education is an opportunity accessible to Chicano/Latino students in California.

Author

• Fernando Peña, University of California - Riverside