UC Admissions
As the University of California notifies freshmen applicants of their admission status, a pattern of discrimination becomes increasingly obvious. Asians and whites are rejected in favor of blacks and Hispanics with far lower GPAs and SAT scores and fewer advanced placement courses. In fact, only 60% of the incoming freshman class is accepted solely on the basis of competitive GPA/SAT criteria.
UC officials invariably cite Assembly Concurrent Resolution 83 to justify such admission policies. ACR 83, however, calls for actions that “will strengthen the college preparation of low-income and under-represented minority students.” It does not call for racial preference in admission policies.
Racial admission quotas were expressly prohibited by the Supreme Court in the 1978 Bakke decision. While UC speaks in terms of “goals” and not the forbidden word “quotas,” there appears little distinction between the two in practice.
Practicing discrimination in the name of fighting discrimination is wrong. To assert otherwise is to deny equal protection of the laws and affirm the proposition that two wrongs make a right.
ALAN BENSON
Canoga Park
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