The Education Department says an investigation has determined that a graduate mathematics program at the University of California at Los Angeles discriminated against Asian Americans. Michael Williams, assistant secretary for civil rights, said Monday that the 30-month inquiry found ``a statistical disparity in the rates of admission to the mathematics department on the basis of race'' and ``an inconsistency in how Asian and white applicants who received the same evaluation ratings were treated.'' Seventy-five other departments were cleared of discrimination allegations, while eight departments were found to have inconclusive records, Williams said. The Office of Civil Rights also is investigating undergraduate admission practices at UCLA and at Harvard. As a result of the findings, Williams said UCLA must offer admission to five Asian-American students who had been ``discriminatorily denied admission.'' The university also must establish a uniform system of admission and improve recordkeeping ``to allow us to determine whether or not it is observing the civil rights laws.'' UCLA Chancellor Charles Young said the university will appeal the violation finding because ``we firmly believe that racially neutral criteria were used to make these decisions and that the OCR has no basis to conclude that discrimination exists at UCLA.'' ---
