At the same time, however, the percentage of minorities in those groups was slowly rising. Proposition 209 was the 1996 statewide ballot measure that outlawed affirmative action. The report also describes a decline in applications for graduate study at UCLA among minorities since the removal of affirmative action. According to the report, the amount of fellowships given to minority graduate students has also decreased. The study examines two fellowships, Cota Robles and Project 88, which are specifically targeted at minority students.
Fellowships are money awarded to fund graduate study.
From 1997 to 1998, there was a decrease in offers of these fellowships to nearly all minorities. At the same time, the number of Cota Robles and Project 88 fellowships offered to white students increased from three to 41. Since the removal of affirmative action, the university has tried to increase diversity by recruiting minority students for undergraduate study, but it has done little for graduate study, according to the report. Turner believes that one of the first steps to attracting minority graduate students is to get a high number of minority faculty. Since 1969, the number of minority faculty at UCLA has hardly increased, Turner said.