CSUB provost: Supreme Court's Affirmative Action decision has no effect here

Jul. 15—The U.S. Supreme Court late last month reversed longstanding precedent by ending affirmative action in college admissions nationwide.

But in California, including Bakersfield and Kern County, the court's landmark decision does not directly affect students aspiring to attend a community college, a California State University or the University of California.

A ballot proposition amended the state constitution to prohibit state governmental institutions from considering race, sex or ethnicity, specifically in the areas of public employment, public contracting and public education.

Despite that decades-long prohibition, CSU then-interim Chancellor Jolene Koester, UC President Michael V. Drake and California Community Colleges Chancellor Sonya Christian released a joint statement June 29 expressing disappointment regarding the court's decision:

"The benefits of campus diversity are clear," the leaders said as part of a longer statement. "It leads to higher quality education for all by reflecting a plurality of ideas and perspectives, and it results in increased community benefit when diverse graduates enter the workforce."

Late last week, a Californian reporter sat down with Vernon B. Harper Jr., provost and vice president for academic affairs at Cal State Bakersfield, to talk about why local students are not affected by the court's decision. We also asked Harper how local colleges and universities, CSUB in particular, help students from underrepresented backgrounds feel welcome and find opportunity and success on campus.

And finally, Harper cited Money magazine's ranking of CSUB as one of the best universities in the nation. Awarding the local institution 4.5 out of 5 stars in its 2023 Best Colleges in America rankings as well as in its Best Public Colleges and Best Colleges in the West lists. More than 700 institutions were evaluated based on 26 factors involving quality, affordability and student outcomes.

TBC: Why does the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to end affirmative action not affect CSUB and other public colleges and universities in California?

Harper: In 1996, California passed Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action for colleges and universities. More specifically, ethnicity and race cannot be used in the process of admitting students ... to the three (public) systems in California.

TBC: How do local colleges and universities, CSUB in particular, help students from underrepresented backgrounds feel welcome on campus, and how does CSUB work to make sure those students find opportunity at the university and stay until they graduate?

Harper: I'll start from the very beginning. We like to think of that as outreach and recruitment. We believe very strongly that a diverse student body is something that is valuable and reflective of the community. The public mission that we have of public higher education, not just in California but in the United States, begs the notion that we reflect our population.

Populations change, they moderate over time. Different groups rise and others fall in different regions all across the country. As someone steps back and looks at higher education, (you have to ask yourself) what principles do you hold? The principle we collectively hold here at the university is that we should reflect that community. The composition of Bakersfield, of our service area, Kern County, has changed dramatically ever since the university's founding. We want to continue to represent how Bakersfield and Kern County actually look. We believe in the whole notion that we should represent our community.

So the first step in making sure that that's the case is through our outreach efforts to go to local high schools, diverse high schools, and make sure that those students know that we have a place for them here at CSUB. We have a seat open for them to pursue their dreams, to graduate ... So that's a critical first piece.

Now, when students are actually here at CSUB, we have a whole host of centers and things to support them, but probably the most prominent is what we refer to as the MAGEC Center. That's the Multicultural Alliance and Gender Equity Center, a dedicated facility to support students from diverse backgrounds in their first experiences here at the university. All our research, scholarship tells us that students perform best when their educational environments reflect the diversity of their households and reflect the diversity of their communities, so creating these types of centers and these types of environments creates a welcoming place for the students so that their first experiences here at the university are representative of the areas from which they come.

TBC: What happens next?

Harper: We do want a multicultural experience for our students, whatever cultural background our students come from. But we also want them to transition from that cultural background and interact with different cultures. And we believe there is tremendous value in that exchange of ideas and cultures. It better prepares them for the world that they are going to work in, but it also gives them the opportunity to reflect on themselves, their identities and the identities of others — and developing that really critical type of empathy for others makes you a more effective leader in the future.

That's not an opinion. That's an empirically demonstrated fact. Developing that type of empathy for others through interaction with other cultures make people better leaders.

TBC: CSUB has worked hard to improve recruitment and outcomes for underrepresented students at the university. How is that going?

Harper: Our graduation has increased almost 100% in the last four to six years. We are proud of that. We have a long way to go because we want 100% of our students to graduate within four years. Our annual retention of students, the number of students who stay here ... that has also increased. Those two statistics are, of course related — the more students who stay, the more students that graduate.

The program that we operate under is referred to as Graduation Initiative 2025, which has guided not just our campus but our system over the last 10 years and has really focused our efforts on making sure that the student experience, as well as the curricular experience, is one that facilitates them graduating.

We have looked at every corner of our operation and the student experience over the last six or seven years to make sure that students are being supported, and through each and every step, that they have better navigation through a complex organization. Curricula can be complicated, but they're also rigorous, so in order to get students through that particular process we have added individual supports, advisers, student success coaches, all those things in order to help students graduate.

TBC: What percentage do Hispanic students now represent at CSUB? What about African American students? How do those numbers compare with a decade ago? Are you satisfied with those numbers?

Harper: We are 68% Latinx or Hispanic, about 4% African American. Of course there are numerous ethnicities in there as well.

We know that our Latinx population has grown tremendously over time since the founding of this institution. I believe it started at under 10% ... so it grew to almost 70% over time. It's very, very impressive. It changed the character of the institution in a very good way. We are a proud HSI, a Hispanic-serving institution, and we are very committed to making sure that we are a place for all students. But we absolutely want to reflect the diversity here in Kern County.

TBC: Dr. Harper, has CSUB succeeded in creating an environment of equity and inclusiveness for all students? Or is there more work to do? Please explain.

Harper: Do we have an environment that I believe is respectful of diversity — cultural, ethnic, gender diversity? Yes.

I hope and I believe we attempt to make sure that every single student feels supported in their experiences here at the university whatever identities they may bring.

But there is more work to do. We have plans on the table. We want to launch a new facility, a welcome facility for students that has been in the plans for many years. We want to offer bilingual experiences for students, especially in Spanish, in these welcome centers

Those are types of things that we have on the table that we want to deploy with resources. That's why resources that we receive from the state of California are so important for to continue to expand services for diversity of the students on our campus.

I do believe we are recognized as being one of the best institutions at this. Money Magazine just recognized us as being one of the best institutions in the country for social mobility. We consistently get that rating.

Rankings from U.S News and World Report have increased dramatically over the last seven years, in terms of us being a destination campus for students. So we have been successful.

One of the quotes that I use is, "Never let your success be entrenching. Never let success make you feel comfortable." There is always more work to do as you approach your next day, and that's one of the things weare really focused on here at the university, being better every single day.

Reporter Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC