UCSD Hispanic students and staff find a “”hostile”” on-campus environment and “”serious ignorance”” of their academic needs on the part of top administrators, according to a report card recently released by the campus’ Chicano/Latino Concilio.

“”The current conditions for Chicano/Latinos at UCSD are indeed dire,”” the report stated. “”A critical public institution with an incredible amount of educational resources is virtually inaccessible to the Chicano/Latino community of San Diego County.””

Participants in the report felt that no progress had been made in recent years.

“”The overall bottom line is that we feel, in the three important areas of students, faculty and staff, there’s been virtually no progress under the tenure and administration of Chancellor [Robert C.] Dynes, who is now President Dynes,”” said Patrick Velasquez, director of Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services, who was among the group that prepared the study for a community summit.

The percentage of Latinos and Chicanos enrolled as freshmen has remained at approximately 10 percent of their class over the last five years, the report claimed, though Hispanics make up more than 30 percent of parts of San Diego county. The study also found that only one out of every four Latino and Chicano students that are offered admission choose to attend ,blaming, among other things, the lack of Chicano-related issues in the curriculum, few Hispanic faculty members and “”racist”” articles in the Koala student newspaper.

“”Most important, the inability of the campus to increase the number of Chicano students is the result of deep-seated elitism that permeates faculty attitudes and determines policy decisions made by the UCSD Academic Senate committees,”” the report card stated. “”There is a strong belief that real diversity means Œlowering standards’ and that underrepresented students would be Œbetter off going to community college.’ “”

Some felt that the problem did not stem from the campus directly.

“”I frankly think some of the problems are not UCSD, but La Jolla,”” John Skrentny, a UCSD sociology professor, said. “”I think that this is a university that is in a very wealthy neighborhood and there is not much Latino culture around here. There is not much of ethnic culture around here of any kind.””

In addition to low attendance, the report found the six-year graduation rate for Chicano students to be 69 percent, 12 percent less than that of all UCSD students, blaming the gap on weak institutional support and poor social conditions. It also found that fewer Chicano students come back year after year.

“”[A low graduation rate] is a problem that exists not just at UCSD but across the country. Latinos have higher dropout rates than other students and the sociological evidence on that points to lower economic resources,”” Skrentny said. “”Students are expected to work ‹ to help pay for their education ‹ and often to work to help support their families. They have greater demands on their time and it’s harder to make the commitment to stay in school when you have these financial obligations on you.””

John Muir College freshman Maria Sanchez said she did not work.

“”My family doesn’t expect me to work, because education comes first,”” Sanchez said, adding that her family was not representative of the entire culture.

“”I wanted to see diversity,”” she said, explaining that she came to the campus from the largely Hispanic community of Pixley, Calif. However, she said the lack of Hispanic students at UCSD disturbs her.

“”There is very little Hispanic culture here, actually. There are not very many of us,”” Sanchez said. “”It makes me wonder why there aren’t many [Hispanics] here. Is it because we’re not as capable as the rest at earning a position here, because I know it’s very competitive?””

One of the major impediments in the recruitment of Hispanic students has been the unwillingness to hire and retain Hispanic faculty, the report stated.

“”There are 41 people in the campus who work at the highest level, as managers and top administrators, and out of those 41 people, only one is Latino,”” Velasquez said. “”The other really troubling issue with regard to faculty is that in the last four years, we’ve lost three young Chicano faculty who were denied tenure. These were relatively young assistant professors who went through the process, and who we felt should have been awarded tenure.””

The university, which did not respond to specifics in the report, said that it took the concilio’s conclusions seriously.

“”The university understands the concilio’s concerns, appreciates their commitment to diversity, and will carefully consider their recommendations,”” a university statement said. “”The concilio rightly points out that UCSD must continue to pursue efforts that ensure that the Chicano community of California is adequately represented among our employees and students.””

Despite its unfavorable conclusions, the report said that the campus has made necessary reforms and improvements, though with limited success. It pointed out the systemwide implementation of the comprehensive review admission, the establishment of the César Chavez celebration and the creation of the Diversity Council to recommend further improvements.

“”I’m more optimistic than the report card, but that’s reasonable,”” said Russell Doolittle, a biochemistry professor and chair of the newly reorganized council. “”I think that the Diversity Council is strongly in favor of trying to remedy the problems of disproportionate representation, and it is filled with great hope.””

Sixth College freshman Roger Ying, who came to UCSD from the formerly apartheid nation South Africa, said he saw racial unity on campus.

“”I think it’s quite diverse. Everyone gets along and there is no tension. Everyone seems to like each other,”” said Ying, who also described the friction he witnessed between Jewish, Muslim and Indian students at his old school.

Though the report card focused only on the Latino and Chicano populations, both Velasquez and Skrentny said that understanding race dynamics on campus must include all ethnic groups.

“”We can’t understand the problems of Latinos in isolation,”” Skrentny said. “”To really understand the environment for Latino students, you can’t just ask Latino students for their views, you have to ask for the views of others [as well]. That’s the way, I think, to solve the problem ‹ to get a comparative understanding.””