Tan is a third-year Asian American Studies student. He is next
year’s USAC Academic Affairs Commissioner. To get more involved
with the commission, contact him at [email protected].
By Bryant Tan
Last Wednesday, we made history. Students rescinded Standing
Policies 1 and 2. Though officially repealed through a unanimous
vote by the University of California Regents, students and
community members were behind the vote ““ they were
instrumental in organizing support and pressuring the regents to
address the issue six years after its initial passage.
What many of us likely do not know ““ as some of us were
only in middle school when the regents originally passed SP-1 and 2
in 1995 ““ is that the original vote in favor of the policies
was 14-10, far from a consensus. Wednesday’s unanimous vote
to rescind the anti-diversity policies was both historic and
monumental.
 Illustration by Ed Oyama Beyond the symbolic message it
sends to California high school students ““ specifically, that
underrepresented students are welcome in the UC system ““ it
enables the university to admit students through more comprehensive
criteria.
The full repeal of SP-1 is key in allowing for the possibility
of admitting both a diverse and strong student body. Section 5 of
SP-1 created a two-tiered admissions system that forced the UC
system to admit 50-75 percent of each class solely on academic
criteria, such as a student’s GPA and SAT scores. The
academic senates of each campus are now accorded the remainder of
this year to review admissions policies and determine admissions
criteria for upcoming years.
Again, it is our time as students to shape history. As your
Academic Affairs Commissioner, I pledge my commitment to push for
comprehensive review of all applicants into this university.
Through comprehensive review, students will be given just
consideration for all life factors that influence their education
““ particularly personal hardships that prevented them from
fully achieving their academic potential.
Before we admit students to UCLA, we should know whether they
are the first generation in their family to pursue higher
education; whether they had to hold down jobs to support their
families while in school; whether they had access to tutoring
programs and AP courses; whether they played soccer or were editor
in chief of their school paper. These are things we all include in
our applications to UCLA ““ we deserve to have them
considered.
Rescinding SP-1 enables us to start doing such a thing for every
applicant, instead of the 45 percent currently practiced by our
university. It will ensure a stronger and arguably more qualified
student body at UCLA, as each applicant will be fully scrutinized
under already rigorous and competitive criteria.
It will also enable us to admit a student body more reflective
of Los Angeles and California, allowing a greater number of
students of color, who significantly experience greater barriers to
their education, to enter this university.
Prestigious private colleges and universities like Harvard, Yale
and Stanford, already use a comprehensive admissions system and
accomplish academic excellence, prestige and diversity. If the UC
system desires a similar level of prestige, it should follow
similar admission practices.
The task will not be easy, especially for UCLA since it receives
over 40,000 applications each year, the highest number for any
university in the country. It calls on the administration to make
every effort in providing the resources necessary for comprehensive
review of all students.
Comprehensive admissions will require a greater number of
readers, reviewers, interviewers and recruiters. An investment in
the admissions process will be beneficial for us all.
Let us take part in this process. Keep pressuring our faculty,
the administration and the UC Regents into admitting a more diverse
student body through a comprehensive review process. Do not let
them hide behind Proposition 209, which will continue to prevent us
from considering an applicant’s race, ethnicity, and gender
in admissions.
By effectively organizing in support of the repeal of SP-1 and
2, students demonstrated their power to effect change. Again, it is
on all of us to push for a comprehensive admissions process.
The UC Regents hope that by rescinding SP-1, they set out a
welcome mat for underrepresented students back into the UC system.
But that welcome mat is tattered. A real welcome mat will come once
we have a comprehensive review of all applicants.
It is unfortunate that higher education is not provided for all
people of California. We live in a society that chooses to
incarcerate more African American men than it educates. Our state
has built 20 prisons in the last decade and only one
university.
Despite a system that keeps the odds stacked against people of
color, we know that progress does happen. We have accomplished
something very important in the repeal of SP-1 and 2. But it does
not end there.
Through the repeal of SP-1 and 2, we encourage the rest of our
country to re-evaluate and reinforce the value of pro-diversity
programs like affirmative action. And we hope that universities
across the country that followed the UC’s original passage of
anti-affirmative action policies follow suit once again and
reaffirm not only their commitment to diversity, but also
educational justice.
Over the coming months and years, a dialogue will continue about
diversity, affirmative action and admissions. Engage yourself in
that dialogue and become empowered to fight against the injustices
of our world.
I invite you to join the Academic Affairs Commission to continue
promoting dialogue and working to create a comprehensive admissions
process for UCLA. Applications to join the staff are available at
309 Kerckhoff Hall.