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Cultural misunderstandings sometimes arise between students and the faculty. Some cases of suspected academic misconduct reported by faculty members have revolved around language and cultural differences. |
Between cultures
Marquez said she felt culturally isolated when she first arrived at UC Davis. She was the only Mexican American woman on her residence hall floor. In some of her classes, she was the only minority student. "Culture shock was a big thing. Coming from a predominantly Mexican American community to a place with blond, blue-eyed people, that was hard for me. I was very homesick." But Marquez said she has made many friends of different ethnic backgrounds. And instead of going home to her family during academic breaks, she chooses to stay in Davis to continue her research. None of her five siblings has gone to college. Her family had a hard time understanding her excitement when she called to tell them about her acceptance to the Harvard summer research program, she said. "My mom still doesn't understand to this day. All she knows is I'm a student. She doesn't know what I'm studying. They don't value it as much." Marquez said very few classmates from Garfield High School "make it out of the environment" of gangs, poverty and other troubles in East L.A. She opposed Proposition 209 and disagreed with the UC regents' decision to prohibit consideration of race, ethnicity and gender in admission decisions. She said ending affirmative action programs will "take that opportunity away from someone like me." * Face of the future Among the eight undergraduate UC campuses, UC Davis falls somewhere in the middle in terms of student diversity--with the Berkeley, Los Angeles and Riverside campuses among the most ethnically mixed. Last fall, UC Davis' ethnic ratios came within a few percentage points of the systemwide averages. What will happen next year when new non-race-based admission policies take effect is unclear. The campus will admit 60 percent of its students next fall solely on the basis of their academic achievement. The rest will be selected for academic performance plus such factors as talents, leadership, participation in college-preparatory programs for disadvantaged students and overcoming hardships. A recent analysis by admission officials found that, if this year's freshman class had been admitted according to those criteria, numbers of Hispanics, African Americans and whites would have dropped. Latino enrollment would have declined 24.6 percent, African American by 23.1 percent, Chicano, 17.5 percent, and white, 5.1 percent. At the same time, 18.3 percent more Asian students would have been admitted. And American Indian enrollment would have increased slightly. The figures are estimates. Admissions officials say actual enrollments could be quite different if minority students rejected by UC Berkeley and UCLA choose to come to Davis. The Rand report on California immigration, issued in September, noted the decline in education levels of immigrants entering the state. The report recommended a change in federal immigration policies to include education levels as a consideration in admitting new immigrants. At the same time, the report said California must attend to the education of immigrants who are already here--not just to improve their job prospects but for the sake of the state economy. "Regardless of the policies developed to deal with future immigration, California must realize that those immigrants who are already here constitute about one-quarter of its existing population, and they and their children are responsible for approximately two-thirds of the state's population growth. As a result, their experiences will go a long way toward determining the state's immediate future.... The single most important determinant of immigrants' success in today's economy is education. Therefore, the state must ensure equality of educational opportunity through college for its existing immigrants and their children." James Cramer, an associate professor of sociology who teaches immigration courses at UC Davis, said the university is bringing together many students who grew up in racially segregated neighborhoods. "It's an exciting experiment," Cramer said. "Hopefully it's creating certain familiarity with other people and an ability to communicate and work with other people that will be essential in the workplace, and in the political realm, also." Cramer said the country went through similar waves of immigration and cultural strife a century ago. "Back then, Italians and the Irish were considered different races." The percentage of immigrants going into high schools then is similar to the number going into higher education now, he said. * Beyond the barrio Marquez said she is grateful to the high school teachers and counselors who encouraged her to go to college. "I've been very lucky. I love college. I love Davis, and I would love to stay." She has set her sights high for graduate school. Besides UC Davis, she applied to graduate programs at Johns Hopkins, Stanford and Cornell universities. "I think I value [education] a lot more. I think going through the experience I had, with my background, I value what I have now. It makes me much more motivated to continue." |
