Thursday, May 14, 1998
UC regents meeting to address diversity
REGENTS: Board plans to consider socio-economic factors in
admissions
By Michelle Nguyen
Daily Bruin Contributor
In light of the ban on race-based affirmative action, the UC
Board of Regents will meet today and Friday to examine the most
pressing issue for the UC system – how to maintain diversity and
quality in undergraduate admissions.
The regents, the governing body of the UC system, will hear
recommendations from the the Board of Admissions and Relations
(BOARS) on the future of freshman eligibility requirements.
The passing of SP-1, the regent initiative that banned
race-based affirmative action in UC admissions and employment, was
followed by a drop in minority admissions at UCLA and UC Berkeley
for the fall of 1998.
Thursday’s meeting on freshman eligibility requirements could
lead to specific proposals and action in July.
Many people anticipate the solutions that will be proposed to
maintain diversity.
"I’m interested in hearing what the options will be. We have a
huge responsibility to find an option that works," said Max
Espinoza, next year’s student regent.
"I think we have to look at ways to go beyond our current
diversity. While the diversity we currently have is a great
accomplishment for the university, it is still short of reflecting
the diversity in our society," said Espinoza.
One possible recommendation that will be made to promote
diversity is the UC Merit Scholars program, a program supported by
UC president Richard Atkinson.
The program would consider the students in the top 4 percent of
their local high schools eligible for the UC system. The key word
is "local" competition.
"Students who are successful in competition with their peers
will be eligible," said UC Regent Ralph Ochoa.
Currently, some students fall through the cracks because they
have to compete against students statewide rather than within their
high school.
Currently, the UC system considers the top 12.5 percent of
students statewide eligible for admission. The plan will might help
bring students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, Ochoa
said.
Another point of contention in the debate over eligibility
requirements is how AP units should be weighed. In the past, UC
eligibility requirements weighed AP units substantially, but the
regents want to discuss how the UC system should account for the
inequities that face certain high schools, Ochoa said.
"We got the AP courses in large part to create an incentive for
students to take those courses and make it more facile for them to
matriculate into the University of California," Ochoa said.
"BOARS very expressly admits that in a number of our local
schools in certain socio-economic areas, they don’t have the
wherewithal to offer as many AP courses which might be offered in
high school in socioeconomic area," he said.
Now that race-based admissions have been eliminated, freshman
recruitment is currently the focus for bringing underrepresented
minorities onto UC campuses.
At the meeting, UC Berkeley and UC Irvine are expected to make
presentations on how they are recruiting new students.
"Outreach programs are not new to the campus of UC, but the kind
of vigor that has come in the wake of 209 is new. And we are
looking at it very seriously and anew. I’m one of the persons that
is leading that," said Ochoa.
The students will be sounding off about this issue as well.
The affirmative action coalition has scheduled a march that will
begin in Meyerhoff Park in front of Kerckhoff Hall and end at the
regents meeting.
"(The regents) are partially responsible because they got the
ball rolling. We need to bring light to the fact that that they’re
supposed to be representing the university. The effects of their
decision (make it) clear that it is damaging," said Graciela Geyer,
the newly elected external vice-president of USAC and Affirmative
Action Coalition member.
The coalition, which is supported by the student government
party Praxis, is planning to stage a mock trial in which they put
the regents on trial for their crime of passing SP-1.
Da MAX guy