The status of recruitment and retention of undergraduate Hispanics in the University of California system remains a matter of major concern, despite many attempts to alert the administration to the seriousness of the problems over the past several years. There has been some slight progress in the admission of larger numbers of Hispanics and Chicanos on all campuses, but this cannot be construed as an indication that the University is successfully addressing the issue, for the fact is that the percentages are not a real reflection of the overall number of Hispanics graduating from high school or the number of Hispanics in California. Certainly the trend is in the right direction, but movement is unacceptably slow.

What makes this situation particularly worrisome is that greater resources have been allocated for student recruitment and outreach services to increase the breadth and scope of recruitment efforts Statewide. There are, however, some major problems that persist within the system that may impede the optimal use of these resources, including fragmentation of effort, lack of coordination, and minimal development of diverse programmatic strategies within campuses and systemwide. Additionally, it is not clear that an appropriate system of evaluation has been established that would enable campuses to review recruitment efforts as well as pre-enrollment preparation of students and parents for the University experience, and the effect of these services on retention. One could venture a guess that a significant percentage of Hispanic students who fail to complete their education in the UC system may do so not because of academic difficulty, but owing to personal, familial, and economic factors. Hispanic culture tends to emphasize familial responsibilities, and too often individual educational achievement becomes secondary to the demands of the family. Therefore, it is essential, even in outreach programs, to include parents as partners in the recruitment and retention processes.

The University of California some years ago supported public information spots through media, particularly for the Spanish speaking population. These were discontinued for reason of insufficient funding. UC should develop and implement programs which use media to bring the enormously important message of the personal and community benefits of education and the varied educational opportunities available to Hispanics in higher education. It is important that UC assume a leadership role in building an intersegmental public information coalition together with elementary and secondary school districts and community colleges.

It is quite common for schools K through 12 and for the two-and four-year institutions to rotate blame for the small numbers of low-income minority students at UC. The fact remains that all levels of educational institutions suffer the same internal maladies in varying degrees: detachment, fragmentation of effort, and lack of true commitment. At UC the responsibility for recruitment is assigned to a special unit of Student Affairs and often this unit is burdened with the total responsibility for correcting and improving Hispanic representation. It may very well be that the operational and staff support for recruitment of all students can be vested in these units, but the commitment to diversity and leadership in that vital area must involve the entire administration and faculty of the University. To this end, strategies must be developed to solicit and coordinate faculty influence and participation.

Retention of Hispanics in undergraduate programs continues to be a critical and urgent matter, particularly as it relates to the potential for increasing the quality and number of graduate applicants. There is a periodic wringing of hands about the state of retention of all students at UC. A major responsibility for retention is vested in special instructional units and support services for students. Again, these units undertake their tasks vigorously but often in isolation. Collaborative efforts with other campus-wide units, new strategies and the evaluation of current systems must become an administrative priority. It is unacceptable that the University of California, with its significant human and material resources, cannot make a meaningful contribution to the retention of students, particularly minority students. Every campus has numerous programs geared to the retention of students, and these programs either address themselves to the low-academic-achieving student or to honor students, in the majority as well as in the minority population. For the middle group of students who receive less attention, there is little data on dropout rates, and no tracking systems to determine at what point and for what reasons students discontinue their education at the University. In honors and mentor programs, as well as in intensive tutorial services, students have contact with individuals whom they see as their advocates, supporters, and instructors. This person-to-person contact is often the ameliorating factor which helps relieve the alienation, stress, and anxiety Hispanic students in particular experience.

At the present time there is not only an assumption by many that the needs of Hispanic students, like those of other minorities, are the province of special services programs, but also a vested interest among some in those programs to maintain that separation from the academic core of the University. This is unacceptable. Faculty must be brought to the center of these activities; they are, after all, the ones responsible for providing leadership in education and research. The goal for students must be full participation in the academic life of the University. Hispanic and other minority students should not only participate in the activities of their groups, they should also be members of the honor societies in their disciplines and they should be encouraged to pursue advanced studies. The many individual programs at both the campuses and University-wide must be reevaluated to determine how they can best contribute to the overall goals of the institution. All faculty must become responsible for the success of all students, especially minority students. Therefore, programs to assist Hispanics, indeed all students, should involve faculty.