UC Is Unbiased in Admissions, Analysis Finds

University of California leaders, responding to concerns about possible racial disparities in admissions practices, told UC regents earlier this week that a new analysis shows the university to be unbiased in its admissions and in compliance with federal and state law.

A report released in March 2004 had indicated that black and Latino high school students who applied to UC campuses the previous year were accepted in numbers somewhat higher than appeared warranted based on their grades, test scores and other factors.

The disparities, which were relatively small, had raised questions about whether the schools were complying with Proposition 209, the 1996 state law that bans racial preferences in admissions and employment.

On Wednesday, UC Provost M.R.C. Greenwood said new research, using what she said was a more reliable statistical method, eliminated or significantly reduced the previous disparities between expected and actual admissions rates. The new report examined data for freshmen admitted to UC in 2003 and 2004.

The small remaining gaps, Greenwood said, amounted to statistical “noise.”

“I can say with some confidence ... there is at this point no large unexplained difference that would lead to concerns that the university has a problem complying with Proposition 209,” Greenwood said.

Questions about UC’s admissions practices were raised in 2003 by Regent John J. Moores, who released a report critical of admissions at UC Berkeley. That analysis, which Moores wrote, found that nearly 400 students were admitted to UC Berkeley in 2002 with SAT scores substantially below the campus norm while hundreds with very high scores were rejected.

Moores and other critics questioned whether a new admissions policy, first used in 2002, had weakened the academic caliber of UC students. They also asked whether the policy, which allows admissions officers to consider personal factors alongside academic ones for each applicant, was an attempt to sidestep the state’s ban on the use of race in admissions decisions. UC officials have denied that.

On Wednesday, Moores, in a slightly testy exchange with Greenwood, continued to raise questions about UC admissions, particularly what he called a lack of openness about the process. But he said after the meeting that he accepted the provost’s explanations for the remaining differences.

Greenwood also presented preliminary demographic information for this fall’s freshman class.

She said Asian American students were expected to make up about 40% of the class and white students nearly 34%. Latino students will represent about 16%, with black students making up about 3%, she said.