Davis Asks UC to Admit Top 4%

Pushing a plan that would enroll slightly more black and Latino students at the University of California, Gov. Gray Davis on Thursday called on the university’s Board of Regents to admit the top 4% of students from each public high school in California.

Davis, in his first appearance before the regents as governor, immediately took on critics who have suggested that the top 4% plan is a way to get around the statewide ban on affirmative action.

“Critics say this is a backdoor effort to circumvent Proposition 209. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Davis said. “It’s a frontdoor effort to empower every child to do their level best.”

Although the proposal was developed by UC faculty, the governor has adopted it as his own, saying that he wants to inspire more students in rural and inner-city high schools to apply to UC. Those students are sometimes overwhelmed by the statewide competition for limited seats at the prestigious nine-campus university.

“It will no longer matter what high school you attend, it will only matter if you excel in the high school you attend,” Davis said, delivering his message to a phalanx of television cameras. “If you have the guts, the heart, the determination and the will to be in the top 4%, you will be a very good student in the University of California.”

Granting UC eligibility to the top 4% of the state’s 863 public high schools is part of a package of proposed changes in the rules that determine who qualifies for admission. Other proposals include cutting in half the extra grade point awarded to students taking honors and Advanced Placement courses, shifting the emphasis from the SAT exam to the SAT II achievement tests, and requiring all applicants to take an art or music class in high school.

Regent Meredith Khachigian said she worries that the top 4% proposal will raise “false hopes” among students that they will be whisked into UC Berkeley, UCLA or other popular campuses.

But UC officials stressed that the top 4% would be eligible for admission in one of the eight undergraduate campuses but not necessarily the campus of their choice.

The top 4% of each high school would be UC-eligible provided they complete 15 required college prep courses and take the usual standardized tests. Class rank would be determined by grades in college-prep courses alone. SAT scores would not count.

The vast majority of those in the top 4% of their high school classes already are eligible for UC admission through the regular statewide competition based on grades and standardized test scores.

A UC analysis shows that the top 4% plan would bring in only an additional 3,600 students who wouldn’t otherwise qualify, including about 700 black and Latino students. Coincidentally, that’s about the size of the decrease in the number of “underrepresented minorities” accepted last year, the first time in decades that UC picked its freshman class without racial preferences. The freshman class is about 46,000 students.

Davis, who embraced the top 4% issue as a way to increase UC’s ethnic diversity during his campaign for governor, said he realizes that it would bring only modest changes in the racial makeup. “Whether or not diversity is increased, we are expanding opportunity to more students,” he said. “In absolute numbers, more minorities will get in.”

The proposals drew criticism from conservative regents, but in an uncharacteristically muted fashion after Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, state Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin and UC President Richard C. Atkinson all joined the governor to rally behind the proposals.

Board Chairman John Davies and other regents appointed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson raised concerns that the changes would dilute the academic quality of UC students and displace some students who otherwise would be admitted.

They also worried that shaving extra grade points awarded for AP courses would rob students of the incentives they need to tackle the most challenging classes and risk getting a B, rather than going for the easy A in routine classes.

Davis asked that the top 4% proposal be separated from the others to make sure the message doesn’t get muddled. The matter will be decided in March, when it comes up for a vote.

Davis has made the top 4% proposal a component of his proposed reforms for California’s public schools. Some high schools, which traditionally send few students to the University of California, do not offer the classes students need to prepare for the university.

If the top 4% are automatically eligible, he said, parents will pressure school boards to improve college prep programs.

“There is a lot of untapped potential we have not harvested,” Davis said, “because we have not offered the opportunity to extraordinarily good students who don’t realize they can be admitted.”

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Getting Into UC

The University of California faculty propose changing eligibility requirements for entrance into the eight undergraduate campuses.

Class Rank

Status quo: California high school seniors now compete with their counterparts statewide to qualify for UC admission.

The proposal: To grant UC eligibility to students in the top 4% of their individual high school class. These students would be guaranteed a spot at one of the eight undergraduate campuses. Students would make the top 4% based on grades in required college prep classes, but they would also have to take the SAT and SAT IIs. The change would be phased in by 2001, when today’s high school sophomores enter college.

The intent: To attract more students from inner-city and rural high schools. Although it would bring only a slight increase in blacks and Latinos, UC officials hope it would inspire more “underrepresented students” to consider UC within their reach and motivate lagging high schools to improve their programs.

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Standardized tests

Status quo: SAT math and verbal scores, combined with grade-point averages, determine who qualifies for admission. Applicants must take three SAT IIs, but those scores are used to determine who gets into the most competitive campuses, not who qualifies for the UC system.

The proposal: To give the SAT II three times the weight of the SAT I in the formula that determines who qualifies for admission to any of the campuses.

The intent: To shift emphasis from the controversial SAT to the SAT IIs, which measure proficiency in math, writing and other subjects.

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AP Course Grades

Status quo: Students can now earn up to 5 points for an A in an advanced placement or honors course, resulting in grade-point averages that exceed 4.0.

The proposal: To cut the extra points in half, so that an A in an AP course would be worth 4.5. Would phase in by 2002.

The intent: To make it fairer for students attending schools in low-income areas that do not offer as many AP and honors classes as at wealthier schools.

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Mandatory Art Class

Status quo: All UC applicants must complete 15 college prep classes: four years of English, three years of math, two years of science, two years of history/social science, two years of a foreign language and two electives.

The proposal: Replace one elective with a mandatory class in visual or performing arts, such as choir or art history. Would be phased in by 2003.

The intent: To align UC’s course requirements with those for Cal State admission, making it less confusing for college-bound high schoolers.