Though university officials can offer countless reasons for the historic gap in GPA and SAT scores between accepted black, Latino and Chicano applicants and their white and Asian peers, they cannot explain why different standards run along racial lines.
In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 209 with 54 percent of the vote. The law changed the California state constitution to ban all public agencies, including universities, from using race or gender as factors in hiring or admissions.
Therefore, it is university policy to evaluate academics before any other factor in an increasingly complex and convoluted admissions process.
But the fact is that since 1995, UCLA has consistently accepted minority students at a lower standard.
Almost continuously, accepted white and Asian applicants had stronger GPAs and SAT scores than their minority counterparts.
If the university is going to admit this many of students of minority racial backgrounds with lower scores year after year, it is practically getting around the block against affirmative action, which is news that should alarm those who set up measures such as Proposition 209 in the first place.
Of course, it is possible to argue for why minority students, on average, demonstrate lower performances based on widely accepted academic standards.
GPAs can often be inflated coming from wealthier schools which offer more opportunities for honors and AP courses, and SATs, which have been criticized as merely an analysis of a student’s test preparation rather than an actual test of scholastic aptitude, may favor students in wealthier areas with access to costly test preparation.
Low-income communities lack these academic advantages, and minorities from these communities are without a doubt affected.
But even though there is a means of rationalizing every discrepancy in scholastic performance of students coming out of the K-12 system, we must assume that UCLA favors academic performance above all other factors.
But the fact is that the statistics tell a different story: It seems that UCLA has yet to truly let go of affirmative action.
With this in mind, as well as the fact that minority admissions are on such dire straits, it might be time to put the issue of affirmative action back in the hands of voters.
It is distressing when the general public complains about UCLA’s dearth of underrepresented minorities, demanding the university accept more black, Latino and Chicano students, when it is the general public that forced Proposition 209 on the universities to begin with.
But now the public seems to have problems with either solution ““ with groups clamoring against affirmative action and others fighting against a race-blind admissions process.
It has been 11 years since Proposition 209, so maybe it is time to reevaluate that decision and take another vote. Leaving the solution up to the hands of voters will give a more definitive answer to the ongoing debate.
But until then, UCLA should follow the letter and the intention of the law and stop admitting students of different races on grossly different standards.