The UC Board of Regents voted Thursday to increase the minimum
GPA required for eligibility for admission to the University of
California, though members of the board were divided in the
decision.
The motion to increase minimum GPA from 2.8 to 3.0 effective for
the incoming fall class of 2007 passed by a 9-4 vote with one
abstention.
UC President Robert Dynes said though lowering eligibility is an
"excruciating task," it is the solution that makes the most sense
at this time, given the budget difficulties. Many of the regents
who supported the increase said they do not want to restrict access
for students, but this is the option that least hurts minority
student eligibility.
Estimates by the UC Academic Senate show black student
eligibility will decrease 2 percent ““ 3 percent while other
groups will see only 1 percent ““ 1.5 percent decreases in
eligibility.
Regent and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los
Angeles, voted against the increase and said "we ought not further
diminish the number of students admitted to the university."
The vote was followed by the chants of "education is a right,
not just for the rich and white," by students who attended the
meeting.
UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council President
Allende Palma/Sarracho called the decision a "crushing blow to all
students" and a "direct attack on access."
The regents voted in accordance with the UC Academic Senate’s
recommendations for the GPA increase in order to lower eligible
rates among California high school students from 14.4 percent
““ the amount of students admitted to the UC last year.
According to the 1960 California Master Plan for Higher
Education, the UC is expected to set freshman eligibility criteria
so that the top 12.5 percent of California students are eligible
for admission.
In 2003, the percent of students eligible for the UC exceeded
12.5 by nearly 2 percent, according to a 2003 eligibility study
done by the California Postsecondary Education Commission.
Traditionally, the UC has adjusted admission criteria to increase
eligibility. Last year was the first year that eligibility rates
have exceeded 12.5 percent, according to commission studies.
Originally, the Academic Senate recommended an increase in GPA
to 3.1 in order to meet the 12.5 percent eligibility rate.
With some uncertainty in how a GPA increase will specifically
affect eligibility, the recommendation was changed to 3.0 in order
to avoid lowering eligibility to less than 12.5 percent.
The UC guarantees all eligible applicants admission to a UC
campus. Due to the California budget crisis, some regents said
there are not enough resources to admit all the eligible students
under the current criteria without compromising the quality of
education in the UC system.
"We are in this position because we don’t have the money," said
Regent Sherry Lansing.
Regent Norman Pattiz said the regents "have a fiduciary
responsibility to this university."
"It would be wonderful for us to have a blank check to do
whatever we wanted to do," he said. "But we don’t have a blank
check."
The regents who voted for the increase believe the GPA increase
is the solution which emphasized academic achievement without a
disproportionate impact on any particular group of students.
Regent Judith Hopkinson, who voted for the GPA increase, said
the financial situation of the UC requires a decrease in
eligibility. While diversity is "equally significant" to the
regents as it is to students she said, diversity can be helped with
outreach programs and she does not believe the GPA increase will
significantly affect minority students.
Other regents expressed concern over the uncertainty of how the
new SAT test and the procedural eligibility changes passed in July
will affect eligibility percentages in the future.
Dynes assured the board that eligibility criteria could be
immediately changed if future data shows it will be needed.
Though described as the plan with the least negative impact on
groups already underrepresented at UC campuses, the GPA increase
has received much opposition from students and groups, including
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and
the UC Student Association.
Students who came to speak at the meeting believed the increase
in the GPA requirement will limit access to underrepresented groups
at the UC.
Jennifer Pae, a UC San Diego student who skipped her first day
of class said the UC should be coming up with better solutions to
the budget problems that affect California.
"The quality of education is nothing without access," Pae
said.
But, some regents pointed out the Master Plan guarantees an
education to all high school graduates in California.
"To assume that you can only get an education at UC is demeaning
to the Cal State schools and some of the finest community
colleges," Lansing said.
In response to regents’ comments, Palma/Sarracho said the UC
campuses are some of the top research institutes in the nation and
students "shouldn’t have to settle for anything else."
"I’m the fourth Latino president at UCLA," Palma/Sarracho said.
"I do not want to be the last."