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The Regents of the University of California
 

campus briefs

MORE STUDENTS MAKE THE GRADE

More California public high school students are meeting the University of California’s eligibility requirements, according to a May 19 report by the California Postsecondary Education Commission. In 2003, 14.4% of the state’s high school graduating class met UC’s entrance requirements, above the 12.5% target set by the 1960 California Master Plan. The numbers suggest, UC leaders said, that high school college-preparatory courses and UC’s own K-12 academic improvement programs are effective. The report also found that eligibility rates were up significantly for African-American and Latino students, although their rates are still far below the statewide average. The Academic Senate’s board on systemwide eligibility and admissions is already working on ways to adjust UC’s eligibility standards to get closer to the 12.5% target. The UC regents will hear about possible changes in July.

REMEMBERING SEGREGATION

The children of Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, the main plaintiffs in a 1946 landmark desegregation case that ended de jure segregation in California, shared their experiences at a symposium at the Faculty Center May 21 organized by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. The Mendezes and other parents successfully sued the Westminster School District on behalf of 5,000 students of Mexican descent. Their lawsuit helped pave the way for victory in the Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit 50 years ago. Joining the discussion on race and racism were faculty, attorneys, a judge and a filmmaker.

A MUSICAL TRIBUTE

The late Ralph J. Bunche, Nobel Prize-winning statesman and a UCLA alumnus, will be honored June 10 with a premiere performance of the “Ralph Bunche Suite,” composed by UCLA professor and jazz legend Kenny Burrell. The work will debut at a concert sponsored by the Friends of Jazz at UCLA and the Department of Ethnomusicology. “This musical work is dedicated to the heroic deeds and the incredible humanity of this citizen of the world,” Burrell said. Tickets to the concert, which begins at 7 p.m. in Schoenberg Hall, are $7, $3 for students and senior citizens. For details on the concert, contact Susan Townsley at (310) 206-3269. For information on UCLA’s Friends of Jazz, visit www.friendsofjazz.ucla.edu.

GETTING IT STRAIGHT

A May 11, 2004, Datebook listing of the Young Alumni Reunion should have included the UCLA Fund as a cosponsor, along with the UCLA Alumni Association.