Tuesday, March 2, 1999
Passage of 4 percent plan awaits approval by regents
ADMISSION: Board hopes proposal will raise minority
representation in UCs; others doubt much will change
By Dennis Lim
Daily Bruin Contributor
At 15 years old, Federico Campo does not fully understand all
the technicalities behind college admissions, but he does know what
he likes, and he likes the 4 percent plan.
"It sounds like a fair plan," said Campo, a freshman at Dos
Pueblos High School in Santa Barbara. "It will certainly give me
and others an incentive to try harder in school." Campo’s high
school sends, on average, 10 people to UCLA every year.
The 4 percent plan, which guarantees University of California
eligibility to students who graduate in the top 4 percent of their
high school, based on GPA, could drastically change the number of
Dos Pueblos students sent to UC schools and possibly Campo’s
future.
If voted in at the UC Regent’s March 18 San Francisco meeting,
the plan will go into effect in 2001, affecting current high school
sophomores.
After the passage of Proposition 209, the representation of
minority students drastically fell at schools such as UC Berkeley
and UCLA.
The Master Plan of Education, the overriding set of laws UC
officials must follow when making policies, stipulates that UC
schools must admit the top 12.5 percent of students in California
high schools.
After Proposition 209 the percentage of California high school
students receiving admission fell to 11.1 percent, according to a
report released by UC Provost Judd King and Assistant Vice
President of Planning and Analysis Sandra Smith.
These diminishing numbers caused many UC officials to rethink
their policies on "race-blind" admissions, and out of the
brainstorm came the 4 percent plan.
The 4 percent plan would add about another 1.5 percent of
California high school students, returning UC schools to the
required 12.5 percent. Out of that 1.5 percent would also come
minority students who succeed in the high school environment, but
who do not perform as well on standardized tests such as the SAT or
ACT.
"Prop. 209 forced us to focus on issues of diversity and
representation," said UC President Richard Atkinson. "So as a
result a lot of the thinking around this plan focused on those
issues."
Though this plan is limited in that immediate effects will have
little impact on the admission of minority students, Atkinson and
other regents said they believe the plan will increase the number
of minority students in UC schools over time.
"It will increase minority admissions in the next three to four
years because the plan will affect the students from rural,
low-income, inner-city schools where you find many of the
challenged minority students," Atkinson said.
But not all students Campo’s age think the same way. There are
those who say the 4 percent plan, or any other plan the regents
develop, will do little to alter minority admissions.
"I don’t think it’s enough," said Kristopher Dulay, a sophomore
at Berkeley High School and a member of the Coalition to Defend
Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary. "I don’t think anything
will ever take the place of affirmative action for helping
minorities out."
At the February meeting of the UC Board of Regents, Gov. Gray
Davis conceded that Dulay has a point, but insisted the 4 percent
plan does not necessarily deal with race, but issues of school
resources.
"Through this plan what we’re saying to these kids who go to
schools that don’t offer AP courses, honors classes or the most
senior teachers is that you will be rewarded if you succeed," Davis
said.
Other regents agreed with Dulay, but they pointed out that the
plan will give all top performing high school students an equal
opportunity at admission to a UC school.
"I want to make this difference between eligibility and
admission," said Regent Meredith Khachigian.
"If you’re a high school senior in the top 4 percent of your
high school you will be eligible to get into a UC, but not
necessarily the one you want," she said.
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