U.C.Santa Cruz Needs S.I.O.

I am currently a college student who is attending the UNiversity of California in Santa Cruz. I would like to voice a major concern about the threatening lack of diversity in this school. With the passage of proposition 209 in 1996 affirmative action as a part of college admission was ended in the UC school system. This drastically cut the diversity of this school. In response to the restrictions of prop 209 a student led organization, Student Initiated Outreach (S.I.O.) formed to try and relieve this cutback. SIO has 3 student outreach programs DHE an outreach program for African American students, ORALE an outreach program for Chicano and Latino students, and ASF an outreach program for Filipino students. These 3 programs invite high school students of these ethnicities to the UC Santa Cruz campus for 3 days. During these 3 days these hig school students are shown what it is like to live on a university campus. These 3 days are a great experience for high school students who are uncertain about attending UC Santa Cruz. Unfortunately the UC board of regions has decided to cut the funds for SIO and with these cuts the 3 student outreach programs can not be afforded. As a participant an d volunteer of ASF I can say that these 3 programs are essential and beneficial high school students. UC Santa Cruz has to keep these student outreach programs.