Admissions Investigators at UC Handled VIP Requests

University of California President Richard Atkinson and the official he assigned to investigate alleged admissions favors in the nine-campus system themselves have handled VIP requests in recent years, records show.

During Atkinson’s 15 years as chancellor of UC San Diego, his administration fielded about 90 requests for admission, designating some for “special handling.”

His office’s involvement in several requests is reflected in thank-you notes to Atkinson, computer printouts and a letter he wrote promising to “expedite” a request for the U.S. ambassador to Argentina.

Under a university policy, officials say they have destroyed older records detailing admissions requests and the outcomes. But in 19 of the most recent cases involving undergraduates, almost half the students were admitted after inquiries by politicians, a former UC regent and a donor, although officials say none earlier had been denied.

Provost C. Judson King, head of UC’s inquiry into VIP admissions, acknowledged that he routed half a dozen special admissions requests a year when he was an official at UC Berkeley.

King, who told a legislative hearing last month that he favored a uniform admissions appeals process, is scheduled to report the findings of his two-month inquiry to the UC regents Thursday.

“I don’t believe that I took any actions that . . . would have influenced an admissions decision,” King said. The provost explained that he was merely forwarding the requests--including one for a former student’s son who later was admitted to a graduate program.

Atkinson declined to discuss the issue Tuesday, but UC spokesman Rick Malaspina said the president did not interfere in admissions.

“As chancellor, he and his office would take numerous requests from all sorts of people and sources but routinely refer them or the letters to the admissions office of the campus and not seek to influence those decisions,” Malaspina said.

Malaspina said Atkinson hardly had any recollection of cases cited by The Times.

At the regents meeting in March, Atkinson said he sought to ensure that applications from prospective students were treated fairly. “But at no time did San Diego give any special consideration, and I would assert that if we did . . . it would be wrong.”

One ethics expert says the past role of top UC officials in campus admissions leaves their current inquiry open to criticism. “At the very least, the appearance of impropriety occurs whenever any agency is investigating itself in any way,” said Michael Josephson, who directs the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Marina del Rey.

“What if Atkinson did anything wrong? Is his employee [Provost King] going to be able to point that out?”

State Librarian Kevin Starr, an academician who has criticized admissions favors, said the in-house inquiry is like having “the fox investigate the chicken coop.”

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But King said “the university owes it to itself to perform an investigation [into admissions favors]. We would be derelict not to perform the investigation.”

The controversy over admissions favors, prompted by a Times investigation, has focused on the UC system’s two flagship campuses, UCLA and UC Berkeley.

The seven other campuses also have been gathering data for King’s review and a parallel inquiry by the Senate Select Committee on Higher Education.

UC San Diego has submitted records covering most of the tenure of Atkinson, who presided over the growing campus from 1980 until last August, when he was selected by the regents to become UC president.

In about five cases per year, written inquiries will prompt an admissions file to be flagged for “special handling,” UC San Diego Interim Chancellor Marjorie C. Caserio said last month in a letter to King. “In rare cases, a student who is UC-eligible but does not meet [higher] campus selection criteria may be granted admission based on letters of recommendation,” she said.

Richard Backer, UC San Diego assistant vice chancellor for admissions, said in an interview that the “special handling” file in the admissions office was a “catchall” that included letters from students as well as VIPs.

A UC spokesman said Atkinson was unaware of the “special handling” file in the admissions office.

In a 1988 letter to then-U.S. ambassador to Argentina Theodore E. Gildred, Atkinson said he was pleased to learn that two foreign students were interested in enrolling at UC San Diego.

Noting that the campus “is a bargain compared to private universities,” Atkinson wrote Gildred: “I would, of course, be happy to work with . . . family to facilitate the application process and would do whatever is possible to expedite their admission to the university.”

Gildred could not be reached for comment. Backer said he has no record of the students and does not know whether Atkinson did anything on their behalf. The names of the students and other identifiers were deleted from documents released by the university.

UC spokesman Malaspina said Atkinson, by promising to expedite the application, meant he was going to forward the request to the admissions office. “He would never insert himself in the admissions process,” Malaspina said.

In another case, UCLA officials confirmed that Atkinson’s office inquired about a student denied admission to the fall 1995 class at UCLA. A handwritten notation on a status report indicates that the UC San Diego chancellor’s office called to find out why the student was rejected and noted there was a connection to a “big donor.”

The involvement of Atkinson and his office in admissions is also reflected in several computer printouts obtained from UC San Diego under a state Public Records Act request by The Times.

One 1994 inquiry--which Backer said former Regent William Coblentz initiated--was marked for “special handling” on the instructions of the then-admissions officer. The following notation then appears: “Inquiry from chancellor--ADMIT.”

Backer said the contact by Coblentz could have played a role in the student’s admission but he could not say for sure. Coblentz, a prominent San Francisco attorney, said he could not recall the case, adding that he made a number of requests to UC campuses.

In 1992, Assembly Democratic Leader Richard Katz of Sylmar wrote a recommendation on behalf of a prospective UC San Diego student. The letter was marked for “special handling,” but the name of the student was deleted by UC San Diego for privacy reasons.

Asked about the designation, Katz said: “We didn’t ask for that.” The assemblyman said he did not recall the request but guessed that it was for a constituent.

The student was admitted but did not attend, Backer said.

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In 1993, Regent Bill Bagley, a former assemblyman, wrote Atkinson on behalf of then-Assembly Republican Leader Jim Brulte. “This is really a special request,” Bagley told Atkinson.

In an interview, Bagley said the letter was written a few months after Brulte and his GOP caucus had helped kill a proposed constitutional amendment that would have overhauled the way regents are selected. But Bagley said he has no recollection of the student.

Backer said it was unclear what, if anything, Atkinson did. He said he could find no record, indicating that the student either was not admitted or was admitted and chose not to attend.

One 1993 request was made after a student was already admitted. Melvin B. Lane, former Sunset magazine publisher, asked Atkinson’s help in securing an acquaintance’s transfer from one UC San Diego college to another. After the transfer, Lane wrote a thank-you note: “I make no assumptions as to why and how this happened, but want you to know that it made a young man very happy.”

Another top UC administrator, Vice President Bill Baker, who defended the university at Senate hearings in Sacramento, wrote an admissions request letter in 1992 to UCLA officials on behalf of former Regent Coblentz. His handwritten note stressed that Coblentz was “very influential and very helpful to UC.”

After initially being rejected, the student, who had good grades and high SAT scores, was admitted but did not attend UCLA, records show.

Baker said he merely acted as a conduit for the request and has no idea if his role influenced the applicant’s case. “I got a letter. I passed it on,” Baker said.

UCLA spokeswoman Jan Klunder said there is “nothing to suggest that [Baker’s note] made a difference but a recommendation of a regent could have aided this student or he could have gotten in on his own.”

Times staff writers Ralph Frammolino and Amy Wallace contributed to this story.