MIKE CHIEN UCLA Law School outreach executive director
Leo Trujillo spends much of his time figuring out
ways to increase minority representation.
By Afshin Marashi
Daily Bruin Contributor
Law School outreach director Leo Trujillo and associate director
Tony Tolbert are a couple of law school Don Quixotes.
Like crusaders approaching the proverbial windmill, Trujillo and
Tolbert spend their time advocating, strategizing, and planning
ways to increase minority representation at the UCLA School of
Law.
Trujillo was hired to spearhead the outreach office in 1997, in
the aftermath of the regents’ SP-1, SP-2 and Proposition 209,
which eliminated the use of race and gender in admissions and
hiring in the University of California and in the state,
respectively.
Since then, Trujillo, with support from the law school, the UC
Office of the President, as well as private foundations, has
launched a series of initiatives to seek out, mentor and shepherd
potential applicants through the law school admissions process.
The law school’s decision to expand the outreach office,
according to Trujillo, is a major effort to re-diversify the law
school over the long term. Central to these efforts is what
Trujillo calls building “the pipeline.”
Outreach efforts are focused on students’ long-term growth
through mentoring and tutoring that can even start as early as
elementary school.
“I’m really happy with how the law school stood
up,” Trujillo said. “In the post-209 policy environment
we have to look in terms of a 30-year time frame.”
Central to Trujillo’s efforts is the Law Fellows Outreach
Program and other initiatives the outreach office coordinates in an
effort to find potential applicants at early stages in their
education and give them the support and resources they need to make
it into law school.
“He was the reason why I came to UCLA,” said Melissa
Crosthwaite, a “˜99 graduate of UCLA and now a first-year UCLA
law student
“He was very helpful. I knew I could call him and he would
always be willing to answer questions,” Crosthwaite said.
The law fellows program targets students from socially and
economically disadvantaged backgrounds who have not had access to
social support systems leading to careers in law.
Those admitted into the fellows program, usually undergraduate
sophomores and juniors, are provided with ongoing academic
counseling, mentoring, and hands-on advice during the application
process. Fellows also receive a full scholarship to take a Law
School Admissions Test prep course.
The 100 law fellows currently in the program also participate in
a series of “Saturday Academies” held at the law
school. The academies are mini-courses taught by law professors and
designed to demystify the law school experience for students in the
program.
Trujillo’s commitment to the outreach office stems from
the decline of students of color admitted to the law school in the
aftermath of the repeal of affirmative action, he said.
In 1996, 4,417 applicants applied to the the law school. From
that applicant pool 1,009 were admitted. Of those, 104 were African
American, 108 were Latino, and 186 were Asian American, according
to statistics provided by the UCOP.
Four years later, the numbers of African American and Latino
admits to the law school have declined 87 percent and 66 percent
respectively.
Of the 948 admits to the law school for the fall 2000 class,
only 13 were African American, 72 Latino and 159 Asian
American.
The law fellows program is designed to bring those numbers back
to affirmative action levels.
“I think in the long term we’ll see more and more
students coming out of the fellows program and entering the
first-year class,” Trujillo said.
Originally the program was aimed at UCLA undergraduates, but
this year the outreach office has begun to target pre-law students
at other southern California colleges and universities.
“The word of mouth factor has benefited the
program,” Tolbert said. “We see more and more
applicants interested each year.”
Thus far, however, it is unclear whether the fellows program is
having the desired effect.
Marlo Miura, a second year law student and co-chair of the Asian
Pacific Islander Law Student Association, praised the work of the
outreach office, but was cautious in judging the result of its
work.
“It’s hard to say,” Miura said. “I
wouldn’t say it’s enough, but it’s a
start.”
Since the fellows program has only existed for three years, most
students who entered into the pipeline are only now reaching the
stage where they are applying to law school.
Dalia Youssefzadeh, a current law fellow and applicant to the
law school, was also enthusiastic about Trujillo and the work of
the outreach office.
“They keep after you” Youssefzadeh said. “Next
week I’m going in to have him look at my personal statement
and resume.”
While the effects of the outreach efforts remain to be seen,
Trujillo said he is optimistic.
“What we’re doing represents a new approach to
outreach and recruitment,” he said.
Conventional law school outreach programs only have contact with
students in the months leading up to the application deadline,
according to Trujillo.
The new approach that Trujillo and the outreach office are
pioneering is designed to mentor students all the way through their
education.
The outreach office has begun to target high school students as
well.
“I envision spending 15 years with a single student …
helping them become UCLA students and then helping them become law
students,” Trujillo said.