LOS ANGELES--In their first major alteration of the admissions policy since abolishing affirmative action in 1996, the University of California Regents on Friday approved a plan that would guarantee admission to all California high school graduates who finish in the top 4 percent of their classes.
The new plan will supplement the school's 40-year-old policy that places all applicants in a pool, with admissions officials considering only the top 12.5 percent for entry to the university system. Enrollment of African-American and Hispanic students has dropped dramatically without affirmative action, and the old admissions policy came under fire because it failed to recognize the vast differences in the quality of California high schools.
With Friday's unanimous vote, the University of California in 2001 will become the second major university to try such an approach to broadening the admissions pool. The University of Texas last year began a policy to admit students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. Experts believe that other public colleges may launch similar efforts with affirmative action programs under attack nationwide.
A University of California faculty group concluded in a study that only 5 percent of the newly eligible students seeking entry under the university's new plan would be African-American and 20 percent would be Latino. Whites and Asians, who already make up the majority of a typical freshman class, would comprise 56 percent and 11 percent, respectively, of the students admitted under the new plan.
As with current policy, students admitted under the new plan would be guaranteed a spot on one of the eight university campuses, but not necessarily at the prestigious Berkeley or UCLA campuses.
California Gov. Gray Davis and education leaders who pushed for a change in the policy don't regard the new admissions program as a quick fix but rather as a long-term attempt to boost the numbers of under-represented minority groups by upgrading the quality of their high schools.
Under the program, students still will be required to take the SAT tests as well as meet the same standards as before for grade point averages and credits in rigorous academic subjects.
Davis believes the plan will force academically weaker high schools to improve curricula, hire better teachers and offer more college-prep and advanced-placement courses so their students will have a better chance of competing for UC spots.
The plan "says we understand that some schools are better than others, but that is not the student's fault. All the student can do is do as well as humanly possible," said Davis.
"The 4 percent admissions program will say to every student in every high school, `Keep dreaming big dreams, keep working hard. If you really excel, we will reward your effort.' "
Somewhat surprisingly, the plan received little opposition among regents. Ward Connerly, who led successful campaigns to abolish affirmative action at the university and throughout California, voted for the 4 percent plan.
But some experts from a across the country expressed skepticism, saying that such an admissions program might backfire and ultimately weaken the university's reputation for academic excellence.
"I initially worry that this will wind up inadvertently setting up some students for failure if they come from a high school weak in academic preparation. Being eligible for admission is one thing, but being able to do the work is something entirely different," said Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel for the American Council on Education, a non-profit group that represents 1,800 public and private colleges and universities.
"Casting these students in water in which they're ill-prepared to swim isn't productive in the long run," he added.
In Texas, state legislators passed a law requiring the University of Texas to admit students from the state who graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. University of Texas officials launched the plan last fall and so far minority enrollment has risen only slightly. Critics have charged that the policy is a de facto affirmative action program that admits less-qualified minorities while denying admission to some better-qualified white students.
University of California officials are trying to avoid that type of controversy.
The new plan will not displace students eligible for admission through the statewide 12.5 percent pool. University admissions officials were able to select only the top 11.1 percent of California students through the statewide pool because many eligible seniors opted not to apply.
The new 4 percent plan will add only 3,600 students. This will boost the overall percentage to 12.5 and help officials fulfill the obligations of the policy.
California Department of Education officials say that about 90 of the state's 863 public high schools, most of which are in inner cities and rural areas, don't offer advanced placement courses.
Officials at UC campuses plan to work closely with high schools in their area to ensure that they offer the courses that would qualify students for the university. The outreach efforts also will involve training teachers and mentoring students. Moreover, Board of Regents member Connerly is proposing that the university award scholarships to all top 4 percent students. The university's student fees are $4,400 a year.
"Many kids in rural areas and in the inner city are high-achieving students, but they don't know what they need to (do to) get into UC," said Connerly, who initially opposed the proposal but changed his mind after realizing it would not circumvent the university's anti-affirmative action policy.
"If we can give them assurance that they will get a scholarship, man that would make a great incentive."