Some UC Berkeley students who recruit minority students to campus said Thursday they are too ashamed to continue their mission because of the drop in admissions for under-represented groups.

At a news conference outside Chancellor Robert Berdahl's office, leaders of student-run minority recruitment programs on campus said they were appalled at the fall 2004 admissions figures released Tuesday and issued a list of demands to the administration.

The nine-campus UC system was compelled to reduce overall enrollment under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's austere state budget, but under-represented minorities suffered larger-than-average reductions in freshman admissions at Berkeley while white and Asian American students saw their numbers increase.

"I'm ashamed to promote this institution as a place that promotes equal access to all communities," said junior Daniel Goldtooth, a coordinator for the Native American Recruitment and Retention Center. "I can no longer tell a Native American student to come to Cal. ... I can no longer do a disservice to my community by telling them to come to a campus that does not support them."

As about 80 supporters listened, a half-dozen speakers from different ethnic outreach programs also criticized the governor's elimination of funding for UC diversity outreach.

"The governor believes it's acceptable to allow our university to become an elitist institution," said Anu Joshi, student body vice president for external affairs. "It's not."

African American students offered admission at UC Berkeley dropped 29 percent, from 298 to 211 last fall. Chicano/Latino admissions fell 7 percent, to 955 from 1,030. And Native Americans declined 22 percent, to 40 from 51.

The students demanded establishment of a vice chancellor of minority affairs, improved campus efforts for diversity, scholarships for students who work long, unpaid hours for the minority recruitment programs, a long-promised multicultural student center, and decision-sharing between the administration and students on outreach programs.

Associate Chancellor John Cummins said, "We are as concerned as the students are about these unacceptably low numbers. We will certainly take their demands seriously." He said a process will be set up next week for students, faculty and staff to meet to deal with the problem.

In a related move, 20 white male students at UC Berkeley issued a letter demanding that UC Board of Regents chair John Moores resign because of his criticisms of Berkeley's admissions policies as unfairly favoring minorities. Moores was reprimanded in an 8-6 vote by the regents last month because of his stance.