In February 2009 the UC Board of Regents adopted a new freshman admission policy that vastly expands the applicant pool and significantly reduces the historic guarantee of freshman admission for UC-eligible high school graduates from the top 12.5 percent of the California graduating class to the top 10 percent. This new policy is slated to take effect for the fall 2012 freshman class. In doing so, the Regents initiated a major structural change to the California Master Plan for Higher Education, established in 1960.
In a failed attempt to persuade the Regents to delay action on this freshman admission policy, Asian American community leaders and the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus protested the lack of legislative and public input in the formulation of this new policy. Based on the data generated by UC’s own studies at the time of the Regents’ adoption of this new policy, these leaders and the Caucus expressed concerns over the adverse impact of this policy on UC-eligible racial minority applicants in general, and Asian American applicants in particular.
In response to a request by retired UC Berkeley Professor L. Ling-chi Wang, former Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Henry Der, and Chinese for Affirmative Action Executive Director Vin Pan, the UC Office of the President has completed and provided them a simulation study of what would be the effects of the new policy on freshman admission for each of the nine UC undergraduate campuses, based on 2007 high school graduate data collected by the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC). The simulation study looked at two possible scenarios for each campus: a small applicant pool increase and a large applicant pool increase.
Simulation Study Findings
If the newly-adopted UC freshman admission policy had been in effect for the spring 2007
The percentage of African American admission would have decreased at 8 UC undergraduate campuses – Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Irvine, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Riverside and Merced - under both scenarios. At Davis, the percentage of African Americans would have dropped under the small applicant pool increase, but increased under the large one.
The percentage of Asian American admission would have decreased at 8 UC campuses – Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Merced – under both scenarios. At Riverside, the percentage of Asian Americans would have decreased under the large applicant pool increase scenario, but increased under the small one.
The percentage of white admission would have increased significantly at eight UC campuses under both scenarios. Only at the Merced campus, the percentage of whites would have declined under both scenarios.
The percentage of Latino admission would have declined at Berkeley, Irvine, Santa Barbara and Riverside under both scenarios, and dropped at Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Cruz under one of two scenarios. The percentage of Latino admission would have increased at Davis and Merced under both scenarios.
Systemwide, the overall percentage of African American and Asian American admission would have declined under both scenarios. The percentage of white admission would have increased significantly under both scenarios. The overall percentage of Latino admission would have increased but is questionable, due to cautions by UC officials about interpreting the data for Merced where the percentage of Latino admission jumped wildly upward
Preliminary Response to Simulation Study Findings
Study findings strongly challenge UC’s commitment to diversity and fairness. The simulation study findings uncover how severe the impact will be on African American admission, much more than what was known at the time of the adoption of the policy. If the new freshman admission policy had been in place for 2007 California public high school graduating class, the number of African American admittees to UC would have dropped 27%.
The findings also suggest the need to understand fully the impact on Latino admission, and reinforce the initial concerns raised by Asian American community leaders and API Legislative Caucus about the negative impact of the new freshman admission policy on UC-eligible Asian American applicants. The number of Asian American admittees would have dropped 11%.
Additionally, in response to the state budget crisis, the UC Board of Regents is considering or has adopted measures that will have a devastating impact on freshman admissions: cut the UC budget by $800 million, reduce student enrollment by 2,000 in 2010 and more in later years, raise undergraduate fees by 32 percent, and allow a significant increase of out-of-state students to generate additional revenue. The new freshman admission policy, higher tuition and stiffer competition stemming from enrollment cutbacks and more out-of-state students will cause UC-eligible poor and racial minority high school graduates to experience greater difficulty in being admitted as a UC freshman student. Under these circumstances, UC’s expansion of the freshman admission applicant pool by 30,000 to 40,000, without guaranteed admission to all UC-eligible high school graduates under the current policy, amounts to making false promises and undermining the California Master Plan for Higher Education.
Conclusions
UC Board of Regents needs to reverse its decision on the new freshman admission policy or at the very least, halt its implementation, pending further study of its impact on UC-eligible racial minority and poor students, with adequate input and feedback by the Legislature and public.
The Legislature needs to call hearings on the impact of the new freshman admission policy and the new budgetary measures taken by UC on UC-eligible racial minority and poor high school graduates, and on the Master Plan of Higher Education to adequately serve Californians.
November 19, 2009
Henry Der, Former Chairperson L.Ling-chi Wang, Professor Emeritus
Former Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction
California Department of Education
Vincent Pan, Executive Director
Chinese for Affirmative Action
