Unintentional Whitening of U. of California?
For several years now, the University of California has been debating plans to drop the SAT Subject Tests (formerly called the SAT II or achievement tests) and to find ways to consider more minority applicants. The debate has focused on the relative merits (or lack thereof) of the SAT and how to promote diversity while not violating the state’s ban on affirmative action.
In the past few days, however, a new issue has started to attract attention: concerns that the admissions policy changes that are expected to be approved by the Board of Regents today could lead to a significant drop in the numbers of Asian-American applicants who are admitted — with the major gains going to white applicants.
According to data prepared by the university and just starting to receive attention, 36 percent of those admitted to the university system in 2007-8 were Asian Americans. Applying the new admissions standards, that percentage would drop to 29-32 percent. In contrast, white applicants made up 34 percent of those admitted in 2007-8. Under the proposed reforms, they would have made up 41 to 44 percent of the entering class. The bottom line is that Asian Americans would shift from being the largest group gaining admission to the University of California to the second.
Some Asian American groups are calling on the Board of Regents to hold off on any vote today, raising questions about the fairness and wisdom of the changes being considered. (A board subcommittee approved the plan Wednesday, unanimously.)
“All of us share the goal of trying to preserve excellence as well as to promote diversity. But the gains for Latinos and African Americans in these projections are very small, while the decreases for Asian Americans and the gains for whites are quite large,” said Vincent Pan, president of Chinese for Affirmative Action, a national group based in California. “There’s almost a swapping out of Asian students for white students. Let’s not rush this thing.”
But university leaders are playing down the demographic projections and defending the admissions plan, which emerged from the Academic Senate, a system-wide faculty group. Mark G. Yudof, president of the university, said in a statement of the proposal: “It also sends a clear message to California high school students that if they work hard, take challenging courses and do well, they will get to make their case for admission to UC.” The university system has been praised by faculty and student groups for the planned shift.
Admission to the University of California is enormously competitive, and families in the state long to be able to send children to its prestigious campuses, where they can be educated at top research universities at a fraction of what they would pay for a private institution. In California, race and admissions have been tangled and divisive for years. The success of Asian American students in winning admission to UC campuses has meant that those institutions are in many ways more diverse than much of American higher education. But the state’s ban on affirmative action in public university admissions has depressed the admission of black and Latino students.
The proposal before the Board of Regents today would do the following:
- End the requirement that applicants submit two SAT Subject Test scores.
- Narrow from the top 12.5 to the top 9 percent of high school graduates the percentage who will be guaranteed admission to the university system (although not necessarily to the campus of their choice).
- Expand the definition of applicants eligible for a full admission review to include all who complete 11 of 15 required high school courses by the end of their junior year, and achieve a grade-point average of at least 3.0
The last shift is expected to greatly expand the pool of those entitled to a full admissions review, where personal qualities and other factors may help some win admission. Indeed those deemed eligible for a full review would go up in all racial and ethnic groups. But the gains in eligibility are not necessarily going to translate into gains in admissions for all groups — or into gains that reflect the gains in those eligible for a full review.
Projected Impact of Admissions Changes on Different Racial and Ethnic Groups
| Group | Projected Increase in Eligibility for Review | % of 2007-8 Admits Under Current Policy | Estimates of Percentage of 2007-8 Class Admitted Under New Rules |
| Black | +117% | 4% | 4-5% |
| Latino | +86% | 19% | 19-22% |
| Asian | +26% | 36% | 29-32% |
| White | +77% | 34% | 41-44% |
