Latino group asks UC to end affirmative-action
ban Latino group asks UC to end affirmative-action
ban
Published Tuesday, May 15, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News
BY BECKY BARTINDALE Mercury News
A group of 18 prominent Latino faculty members Monday called on the University of California's Board of Regents to repeal its 1995 ban on affirmative action and drop the tiered admission system that requires 50-75 percent of each entering class to be admitted based solely on academics. In an open letter to board Chairwoman Sue Johnson, the faculty members, representing all nine UC campuses, say they are ``deeply concerned with Latino inequity'' at the university.
The underrepresentation of Latinos in student, faculty and senior administrative ranks, compared with the statewide population, ``represents a crisis for UC and the state as a whole,'' the letter states. Regents are scheduled to vote Wednesday on a compromise proposal to replace the 1995 ban on racial preferences in admissions and hiring with new language. The replacement measure would affirm the university's commitment to diversity, acknowledge state law banning affirmative action and keep the 50-75 percent admissions requirement for now.
Student Regent Justin Fong said he will present a substitute motion Wednesday in San Francisco that calls for complete repeal of the 1995 measures, called SP-1 and SP-2. If the regents' goal is to send a message to Californians of all racial and ethnic backgrounds that they are welcome at the university, ``this is not clear,'' Fong said of the regents' replacement resolution. ``It reaffirms and reinstates SP-1. It does not repeal or rescind it.'' Fong said his proposal would effectively eliminate the 50-75 percent requirement and return responsibility for setting admissions guidelines to the Academic Senate, keeping with university policy.
Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, D-Mission Hills, who plays a key role in overseeing state funding for UC, endorsed Fong's approach Monday, saying the regents' proposal does not go far enough. A committee of the systemwide senate already is considering possible changes in admission requirements at UC President Richard Atkinson's request, including replacing the SAT college admissions exam with other tests and moving toward more ``comprehensive'' evaluation of all applicants.
That is the approach advocated by the Latino scholars, led by Eugene Garcia, dean of the Graduate School of Education at UC-Berkeley. Though the university must abide by the 1996 state law banning affirmative action, repeal of the university's 1995 vote ``would allow greater flexibility in considering the whole student in the admissions process,'' states the letter signed by the Latino faculty members.
In addition to the letter, the group submitted a plan to increase Latino participation at UC, developed by more than 100 Latino faculty members and administrators. The population of California ``is going to be increasingly Latino, and we have to do something to educate these kids,'' said Lydia Chavez, a UC-Berkeley journalism professor who signed the open letter
Contact Becky Bartindale at bbartindale@sjmercury.com or (408) 920-5459.
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