UC President Plans to Reexamine Admissions

The issue of which students are admitted to the University of California resurfaced Wednesday as UC President Richard Atkinson told regents he wants to evaluate new approaches to admissions in light of developments since the school scrapped affirmative action.

Atkinson did not go into detail about what he has planned, other than to say that he will convene a conference on the issue in December, is sending a letter to faculty outlining his views and hopes to “encourage a focused discussion on admissions.”

Regents voted in 1995 to stop considering applicants’ race or gender, a controversial decision that was championed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson.

Since then, the percentage of blacks, Latinos and American Indians enrolled at UC schools has dropped from 22% to 16%, even though high school graduation rates for those groups increased slightly.

Regents were presented with those numbers in May. The report evoked some dismay in light of the hundreds of millions of dollars allocated in recent years to recruitment and training programs.

Regent Ward Connerly, who wrote UC’s new admissions policy and went on to head the successful campaign for Proposition 209, which dismantled most state affirmative action programs, reacted cautiously to Atkinson’s announcement.

“When I heard the president’s report, I, in the back of my mind, had a question mark about the conference and what this is all about,” Connerly said. “I think we should all assume that it is in good faith and that this is simply an effort to honestly look at the standards.”

On the other hand, Regent Bill Bagley, who was among the 10 who voted against dropping affirmative action, commended Atkinson for raising the politically thorny issue of admission policies. “Dick Atkinson is trying to address the problem,” he said.