UC to Study Ban on Use

The Oakland Tribune

By Michelle Maitre, Staff Writer

July 20, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO — It's been 10 years since California voters approved a law banning the use of affirmative action, and University of California regents want a better understanding of how the law has affected their campuses.

Regents, meeting at UC San Francisco's Mission Bay Community Center, agreed Wednesday to convene a study group to report on the impact of Proposition 209, approved by 54.6 percent of voters in 1996. The law prohibits the use of race in university admissions, public hiring and contracting.

Regents said the study results, to be presented no later than May, could help guide ongoing policies to ensure a diverse student body while still obeying the law.

The number of black, Latino and American Indian students who applied to UC schools dropped after the law took effect, falling from 21 percent of the applicant pool in 1995 to 18 percent by 1997.

Today, the number has rebounded. Statewide, students from those minority groups make up nearly 22 percent of the freshmen admitted to one of UC's nine undergraduate campuses in fall 2006, according to university figures.

But the data also show that the ethnic breakdown varies greatly at individual campuses. For instance, only 288 of the 8,637 students admitted to UC Berkeley in the fall were black. At UCLA, which admitted 10,487 freshmen, only 210 were black.

Student Regent Maria Ledesma, who requested the Proposition 209 study along with Regent Frederick Ruiz, called for a "holistic" examination of the law's effects that would consider the impact on enrollment statistics alongside factors such as whether it influenced students' application decisions.

"African Americans are disappearing from UC at an alarming and precipitous rate, and I'd like to know the cause of it," said Regent Eddie Island, who said some blacks feel they aren't welcome at the university because of the ban on race-based preferences.

Regent John Moores said the university should pay closer attention to programs it implemented after the law's passage, including a "comprehensive review" admissions policy that takes personal experiences into account alongside academic achievement, as well as a plan under which the top 4 percent of students from every high school are eligible for UC admission.

"A lot of people understand in their bones that there's been a huge effort to game the system," said Moores, who prefaced his remarks by having the university attorney remind regents of the oath they took to uphold state law.

Regents continue their meeting today and are expected to discuss a number of items relating to ongoing attempts to reform compensation fpractices.

A series of critical audits found that officials circumvented policies to provide perks and bonuses to highly paid executives.

The full board is also expected to ratify about $770,000 worth of raises for senior managers. University documents say the raises are intended for managers whose pay lags market rates. A regents subcommittee considered the increases in closed-session Wednesday.

Regents are also expected to hear an update of a proposal requiring employees to contribute to their retirement plan for the first time in more than 15 years.

Union employees oppose the contributions, saying they aren't justified. About 100 employees disrupted Wednesday's meeting for about 10 minutes with chants of "Hands off our pensions."

Visit http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu for more information.

Contact Michelle Maitre at mmaitre@angnewspapers.com.

News and Announcements | AAD Home Page

Carl Gutiérrez-Jones,
Department of English
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Email: carlgj@english.ucsb.edu