A budget submitted last week by Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson to the University Office of the President would cut Early Academic Outreach Program funding by approximately 80 percent from last year, while allocating an additional $200,000 for the UCSD Preuss charter school, according to A.S. President Jenn Pae and Student Affirmative Action Committee Chair Emily Leach.
The administration is still waiting for the final approval of the budget plan from UCOP and cannot comment on the details, Watson said.
When the state Legislature decided to restore money for outreach this year, the deal included an implicit agreement to allocate a certain amount of money to EAOP, according to Leach.
The cut for EAOP was expected to be roughly 50 percent of its budget last year — or a final budget of about $700,000 — for each UC campus, Leach said. However, UCSD has initially proposed to allocate only $250,000 to the campus program, according to EAOP Director Rafael Hernandez. This figure would represent less than 20 percent of last year’s budget.
“UCSD has a goal of diversity — every organization should,” Leach said. “These cuts not only affect outreach programs, but they also affect the racial demography of the UCSD campus.”
According to Leach, three years ago, 10 out of 33 black students accepted to UCSD had participated in EAOP. Black students comprise roughly 1 percent of the campus population. UCSD EAOP has also been one of the most successful of all UC outreach programs, constituting nearly 20 percent of all UC-wide outreach under the program, Leach said.
The campus’ EAOP staff would fall from 26 members to four after the cuts, which would limit the numbers of middle- and high-school students the program would be able to help, according to Hernandez.
“We definitely see the difference, and I think the community will see the difference as well,” Hernandez said. “Our focus is on academic development programs, and now we can serve fewer students.”
At the same time, student leaders have said that the budget for Preuss School will increase by $200,000 this year, though Watson would not confirm the number. The school serves underrepresented sixth- through 12th-grade students from low socioeconomic backgrounds in the area. Students from the school’s 2004 graduating class now attend universities such as Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of San Diego and UCSD.
“The Preuss School is wonderful, but it should not be promoted at the expense of UCSD EAOP,” Leach said. “It is a shame that this scramble for the pot of outreach money has unfolded on our campus as a battle between EAOP and Preuss.”
UCSD is the only UC campus with a charter school on its property.
“It’s disconcerting that there’s no provision to account for that uniqueness,” Hernandez said.
Watson acknowledges that the recent university budget cuts have created challenges for the allocation of outreach funding.
“Given the amount of money available, the question is how to allocate it to a number of good and worthy programs,” Watson said. “We face real challenges on campus. I don’t think anyone is satisfied with the number of underrepresented students on campus. I think all the outreach programs have contributed and tried to bring the numbers up, but a lot more needs to be done.”
Pae said that student leaders would be working with the administration for a feasible solution to the issue.
“This outreach funding was fought for by students on behalf of students,” Pae said. “The objective should be to impact as many students as possible.”
