Tuesday, 5/13/97 Proposal aims to stop back-door admissions
REGENTS: Meeting at UCLA will decide fate of preferential
treatment
By Brooke Olson Daily Bruin Senior Staff The UC Board of Regents
will reflect on the touchy question of VIP admissions during its
meeting this week at UCLA. Two regents – Ward Connerly and Student
Regent Jess Bravin – have drawn up a proposal to forbid UC offices
from considering applicants’ links to wealthy donors in admissions
decisions. The proposal enjoys the support of both state
legislators and several regents. Regent Roy Brophy, a Sacramento
real estate developer, has already pledged his support to the
proposal. But the proposal faces a tough road from several UC
administrators, including the chancellors of several universities,
who contend that such a measure may be detrimental to the private
funding of the university. "This proposal may have a very negative
effect," said UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien in an interview
with the San Francisco Chronicle. "Somehow we need to have some
trust in chancellors and admissions directors. Otherwise, the
university cannot function." The UC came under fire last year after
a months-long Los Angeles Times investigation showed that top UC
administrators used their influence to get children and friends of
donors admitted to the universities. The Times documented hundreds
of requests made to UCLA alone through the back door during the
last 15 years by more than 80 former and current public officials,
including Gov. Pete Wilson, Chancellor Charles Young and several
regents. In one instance, a regent tried to influence a student’s
admission on behalf of a legislator who had just helped the
university defeat a bill, records showed. In a letter addressed to
Young, the regent tied the legislative action to a specific
admission request. Regents have acknowledged that their
behind-the-scenes actions were unfair. In some instances, students
who did not meet UC academic requirements were admitted to the
university ahead of better qualified applicants. Nearly 70 percent
of the cases involving VIP students verified by The Times won
undergraduate admission, compared to less than 50 percent for all
undergraduate hopefuls. Other university officials, such as Young
and Berkeley’s Tien, have downplayed the significance of private
political pressure. Legislators began investigations into the UC
system after The Times made the reports public. UC officials also
took to investigating themselves. UC President Richard C. Atkinson
launched a systemwide review to determine the extent of admissions
favoritism to the children and friends of regents and other
prominent figures. For months, UCs were overwhelmed with requests
for an ethics code to end favoritism as special legislative
committees conducted their own internal investigation of the
university. The debate over the current proposal promises to be
contentious, as it centers around two issues that have become
increasingly sensitive at public universities: admissions and
fund-raising. Last year, regents passed a measure that said public
officials – including regents – should not seek to influence
admissions decisions. But the measure was silent on how
contributors could lend their influence. Connerly, who also
authored last year’s bill, said the measure would be important in
establishing fairness within the UC system. Tien said he fears that
additional constraints will only hamper the university’s
fund-raising efforts, even scaring off potential donors who would
worry that their contributions could count against them in the
admissions office. "This will actually open up more issues,
problems, innuendos, misconceptions, maybe even lawsuits," he said.
The regents meet Thursday and Friday at UCLA.